Gallery

REWORLD explores ideas around the concept of possibility. The artworks present events that could be possible, showing multiple alternative possibilities, happening at the same time, or the same event seen happening from multiple viewpoints.

REWORLD also looks at us functioning in a society: how easy it is to lose your own identity and become someone else, to lose yourself in the crowd. Are we the same as everyone else? On some level, there is a natural desire to do so. To belong, to be part of a larger cause. To mean something to someone.

Delicately, or not so delicately musing on the themes of decay, loss, southern gothic and the supernatural. Through the use of AI, my work challenges preconceived notions of what is possible with technology and art and aims to blur the lines between reality and artificiality. Drawn towards Baudrillard’s theory of Simulacrum, my work illuminates the solely synthetic: creating a simulation of what’s of the simulation. Creating the uncanny.

Generating AI images through natural text prompts and image extension mechanisms creates complex uncanny, neo-surreal images that can shift artistic styles seamlessly. As AI tools train on millions of images, there are endless, unpredictable possibilities for aesthetics and content. This allows for a queering of the imagery where bodies quickly morph one into another or into animals or objects – undoing normative representations of gender, kinship, and embodiment with ease; and simultaneously illustrating the dissociated affect inherent in both mediated relations and traumatized individuals.

My artwork explores the infinite intricacies of the universe and the human experience. I create whimsical and surreal renditions of reality, offering stolen glimpses into a parallel world that is bizarrely like our own yet so distant. Through my practice, I challenge conventional notions and evoke thoughts, emotions, and ideas that traverse the complexities of existence.

As a human-machine collaboration, I utilize artificial intelligence algorithms to create life-like film photography capturing significant moments and events from this uncanny world. These synthography artworks express the depths of an alternate reality, encouraging viewers to unearth stories from within each image and question the limits of our own existence.

With a fusion of contemporary technology and artistic expression, my work invites an exploration of the ambiguities of the human condition through images of a world that ceases to exist. Despite the abnormality, this world has a peculiar harmony, as if every event, no matter how random, is part of a larger, interconnected whole. It is a place where the impossible is a daily occurrence, and it serves as a reminder that there are unbounded possibilities beyond our current understanding of reality.

Some questions that are always at the forefront of my art practice: how do my images relate to the images that precede and surround them; what expectations are we bringing to images, and how are these expectations established and reinforced; what purpose do these expectations serve and how can we interact with these expectations?

AI image generators are a fascinating new tool for exploring these questions because they create images based upon a dataset of hundreds of millions of preexisting imagery but are otherwise unfettered by the preexisting expectations of visual culture. That is, they make new images based on predictions from all the images (and image tags) that precede them. However, they are not otherwise bound by human logic or cultural codes and therefore make images that reflect these codes in surprising and often challenging ways, like a funhouse mirror. There is a beautiful collapse of category distinctions and a dynamic interplay between un-indoctrinated naivety and an appreciation of precedent.

In 2017, I began to explore the frontiers of AI as a creative collaborator and playmate. To explore these questions, I created a Recurrent Neural Network (RNN), which can generate their own outputs from datasets. The BBC offers one such dataset; 16,000+ sound effects and their arbitrary, descriptive titles, such as ‘large bird taking off’, and ‘electric monotony’. I feed my RNN the BBC's text and it engages in a game of probability to create its own outputs with surprising results. ‘River pig loading’ and ‘Applause from piece of space’ are two such examples. I then playfully create images that visually articulate an interpretation of each output’s linguistic meaning. In other words, I move from sound, to text, to AI, to text, to image. As the technology improves, I am engaging in an ever-challenging battle of creative authorship with the machine

"Temporary" is a thought-provoking collection of post-photographic images that delves into the emotional journey of grief. Through a visual representation of the five stages of grief - denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance - this collection offers a unique perspective on the complexity of human emotions. Each stage is expressed through visual storytelling and the carefully crafted use of color – aimed to encourage and inspire individuals to connect with their own emotions and seek comfort in the knowledge that they are not alone on their journey.

"Simon Raion's photographs seduce the viewers' gaze while, at the same time, distancing us (even as the figures in the frame fluctuate between succumbing to and fighting against the frame). Raion offers us oddly stagnant scenes that appear to be overcrowded sweatshops, or isolation wards, or shantytowns, or cluttered dorm rooms, or questionable massage parlors, or industrial wastes. But we have the uncomfortable sensation that we are being confronted by the ubiquitous but unseen Other in a Sartrean universe which is our own. An Other who refuses to be color-coded into gender-specific hues or interactions. How many pink-garbed people can pile into a pink car going nowhere, in images that partake equally of Edward Hopper, Hieronymus Bosch and Marx (Brothers)." Dr. Linda C. Ehrlich

Loss, memory, and dreams are the central themes of my work. My constant goal is to capture the ephemeral, disconcerting, melancholic, and surreal nature of dreams and memories through the distortion and destruction of analog and digital images. I have always been fascinated by the power that dream images and memories have on me. This fascination has led me to experiment with photography, trying to represent the atmospheres of these intangible worlds. The use of digital intervention and artificial intelligence has allowed me to create these dreamscapes, where vision is rarely clear, and identities are blurred by the noise of the mind. The physical destruction of the image serves as an analogy to the ephemeral and finite condition of memory. I work with the tools of the present while staying firmly anchored to the past.

As an artist, I have always been drawn to the power of visual storytelling. Through my work, I aim to create images that challenge the viewer's perceptions and encourage them to think deeply about the world around them. I have a diverse background in traditional mediums, such as Photography, 3D and graphic design. Still, when I discovered the world of AI art, I felt liberated from these mediums' constraints. In The Great Freeze, I am creating an imaginary event where everything got covered in snow. The collection explores how a photography documentation of this event around the world could look like. My goal is to harness the power of AI to tell stories that inspire, provoke, and engage the viewer on a deep level. With AI, I can create images that push the boundaries of what is possible, exploring new concepts and compositions that would be impossible to achieve through traditional means.

My work in Synthography explores other worlds, civilizations, or even parallel worlds. I'm creating visual stories based on intuition. This new technology is helping me to shape new narratives and a unique atmosphere as if I had the power of breathing underwater. It gives another layer to my work; as Claire Silver once said, "Photography is a camera for what is. AI is a camera for what isn't."