Opening of Dominik Mahnič: Steering the Brush exhibition
Dominik Mahnič, an academic painter with a M.A. in video and a prominent figure of the street-art movement, incorporates the dialectic between classical painting and avant-garde achievements of new technologies and artificial intelligence into his artistic reflection. On Tuesday, 19 September 2023 at 7 p.m., we invite you to the Match Gallery for the opening of his exhibition Steering the Brush.
In collaboration with programmers Vid Vidmar and Peter Veselinović, Mahnič has brought to life a technology that allows artificial intelligence to contemplate and automate the gesture of painting. In doing so, we trace the evolution of painting machines since 2016, whose fundamentals range from the Brushograph, Aerograph to Acrylograph, and are rooted in the mechanisms of 2D scanning, CNC machining and 3D printing.
With the latest iteration of the Brushograph, which incorporates software augmentation with artificial intelligence generators, the artist enters into a dialogue with the machine through expressive desires, which the machine then brings to life under visual control.
The exhibition at the Match Gallery highlights the contrast between the creations of the Brushbrush and those that emerged directly from Mahnić's hand in the light of this innovation.
Nevertheless, the artist's intention is to keep technology as a means of painting in the background, emphasising the basic autonomy of painting. In the end, the artworks should speak for themselves, without the need for a technological context.