Artists sue AI art generators over copyright infringement

A group of artists — Sarah Andersen, Kelly McK­er­nan, and Karla Ortiz — have filed a class-action lawsuit against Midjourney and Stability AI, companies behind AI art tools Midjourney and Stable Diffusion, and DeviantArt, which recently launched its own artificial intelligence art generator, DreamUp.

The suit alleges that these companies “violated the rights of millions of artists” by using billions of internet images to use train its AI art tool without the “consent of artists and without compensating any of those artists.” These companies “benefit commercially and profit richly from the use of copyrighted images,” the suit alleges. “The harm to artists is not hypothetical,” the suit says, noting that works created by generative AI art are “already sold on the internet, siphoning commissions from the artists themselves.”

Read the full article here. 

Dora Patin

As I noted earlier this week, this March, we will return to our 17th year in a row (less the year of the attack of the Covidian monster) to the Affordable Art Fair in New York City, we're bringing in a whole new group of artists from the DMV, most of whom I first met via their artwork when I juried the 2022 Paint the Town event in the pretty area of downtown Kensington, Maryland.

Let me repeat myself: jurying any art show always exposes the juror to new talent, and when I juried this show, as 2022 Paint the Town I often do, I selected some of my fave artists to bring to NYC for an art fair.  In my mind we wanted to "curate" a booth for the fair that showcased realist work at its best. Booth curation is a somewhat subjective process (pun intended).

And one of my prizewinners (in fact the Best in Show winner!) Dora Patin is coming to NYC with us in booth D-10 at the fair!

I think that Patin is a painting prodigy.  She has only been painting for a handful of years, and yet her trompe l'oeil paintings are breathtaking in their ability to fool the eye. She's yet another great testimony to the teaching skills of Glen Kessler at The Compass Atelier.

Note the facility in delivering one of the hardest subjects to fool the eye: paper. 

In this new series focusing on cards, Patin flexes her painting skills to deliver superb work that not only fools the eye, but also subtly reminds us that it is a painting.  These are opposite goals on the horizon of an artist as he/she commences a new work, and yet, in these works she accomplishes both of them easily. This is sooooo hard to do, and yet she accomplishes it with deceptive ease.

The Optimist by Dora Patin
c. 2023, 5x7 inches, oil on panel

Monarch by Dora Patin
5x7 inches - Oil on Panel c. 2023 

Luck or Skill? by Dora Patin
c. 2023, 12x12 inches, oil on panel

Patin's works will be in booth D-10 at the Affordable Art Fair New York City, March 22-26 in Chelsea.

Jennifer Kahn Barlow

As I noted earlier, this March, we will return to our 17th year in a row (less the year of the attack of the Covidian monster) to the Affordable Art Fair in New York City, we're bringing in a whole new group of artists from the DMV, most of whom I first met via their artwork when I juried the 2022 Paint the Town event in the pretty area of downtown Kensington, Maryland.

Let me repeat myself: jurying any art show always exposes the juror to new talent, and when I juried this show, as I often do, I selected some of my fave artists to bring to NYC for an art fair.  In my mind I wanted to "curate" a booth for the fair that showcased realist work at its best. Booth curation is a somewhat subjective process (pun intended).

And one of my prizewinners is coming to NYC: Jennifer Kahn Barlow! She is "an oil painter inspired by food.  She is stirred by vibrant, texturally dynamic, and unique cuisine, which leads much of her subject matter to be of confectionary, the gooier and more colorful the better."

She is that... but what Kahn Barlow truly is goes beyond that - she's a master artist who elevates and transforms the visual aspect of food to the visual beauty of food as only a well-executed work of art can do. 

Blossom Stack by Jennifer Kahn Barlow

In Blossom Stack there are three stacks of color disguised as macaroons... the brushwork comes through first and foremost - it's a painting first and a painting about dessert second.  At the risk of repeating myself: Only a really good artist can elevate the mundane to the sublime through the gift of art!

Kahn Barlow's works will be in booth D-10 at the Affordable Art Fair New York City, March 22-26 in Chelsea.

Jennifer Lynn Beaudet

I was at Strathmore yesterday to review the Compass Atelier show on the second floor - amazing show. The review will be in the next issue (February) of the Crier Media Newspapers.

I first came across Jennifer Lynn Beaudet’s work at the Paint the Town event last year which was my honor to jury -- as I recall she was an honorable mention winner at that show.

Her work at Strathmore is amongst the best in a show where there is not a single bad painting.

This artist has that hard-to-describe ability to capture the human essence of her subjects in paint. 

Connections - 24x24 oil on canvas by Jennifer Lynn Beaudet

That sentence is so easy to write and so immensely difficult to deliver on canvas. Her human subjects in two dimensions of paint are able to transmit visual clues and nuances that help to decipher and understand something individual about them.  

This is an exceptional gift that few artists have in such abundance as this artist does, and she flexes this gift via her artistic muscles in nearly every work in this show!

Big Warrior Goddess at Strathmore

I was at Strathmore today to review the Compass Atelier show on the second floor.  On the main floor, the O Street Studios artists had their own show, and this terrific print by Kimberly King caught my eye.

Kimberly King - Big Warrior Goddess

Seen at Strathmore Mansion

I was at Strathmore today to review the Compass Atelier show on the second floor.  On the main floor, the O Street Studios artists had their own show, and this this wall of striking abstract work by Cianne Fragione caught my eye.

Cianne Fragione at Strathmore 

Go to this opening tonight

The Compass Atelier has what I consider the best artist schooling in the DMV -- better in fact that all the major Universities in our area.  That's a big statement to make, but it comes from me, and thus I am ready to back it up as needed.

Want proof? Then go tonight to the opening of the first of two thesis exhibitions at the beautiful Strathmore Mansion galleries on Rockville Pike.  

I plan to visit the show and write about it.  The Mansion's galleries are at 10701 Rockville Pike in North Bethesda/Rockville, MD 20852 within walking distance of the Metro stop by the same name and with plenty of free parking.

MASTER ARTIST PROGRAM - THESIS EXHIBITIONS (GROUP 1)

JANUARY 14-FEBRUARY 11, 2023

ARTISTS RECEPTION: THURS, JAN 19  7-10PM

SUZI BALAMACI

JENNIFER LYNN BEAUDET

ANNE BROONER

SHEILA HADLEY

KARA LIN

CHRISTINE MERRY

ROB PEARLMAN

DEBORAH POLLACK

SAMEER SHARMA

MICHAEL SCHOPPMAN

SOPHIE SPENCER

DIANNE STEWART

ANDREA VAN DEN HEEVER