Angelina

Margaret Murphy’s series Los Angelizing delves into the exaggerated cultural perceptions of Los Angeles, shedding light on the city's hidden complexities. Through the use of AI, Murphy amplifies depictions of the subtle extremes of the city’s iconic imagery, challenging viewers to reconsider their preconceptions of the city’s identity and its inhabitants.

Los Angelizing is an homage to Murphy’s passion for both the city of Los Angeles, where she has lived since 2016, and the medium of artificial intelligence that Murphy has been incorporating into her artistic practice for the last two years. Influenced by artists such as filmmaker David Lynch and photographer Martin Parr, known for their surreal and absurdist depictions of humanity, Murphy interprets her own portrayal of AI while leaning in to the tool’s exaggerated quirks. Murphy takes these entrenched stereotypes to a visual extreme that is equivalent to how they are often spoken about or understood outside of LA.

Los Angeles is a city defined by its stereotypes that are exaggerated by popular culture and media. People who live in LA are often met with questions that feel frivolous and uninformed like “How do you deal with the traffic?” “Aren’t you scared of the Earthquakes?” “Don’t you miss having seasons? “Do you go to the beach every day?” “Do you drink the expensive smoothies from Erewhon?” It’s hard to convince a critic, but there really is no point in trying. LA is a city that reveals itself only to those who make the effort to see and love it for all of its caricatures – real and exaggerated.

AI is similarly misunderstood and sensationalized. People are concerned about their art being used without their consent to train models, the environmental impact of AI, deep fakes, loss of jobs, and the elimination of the human hand in visual media. Yet it is hypnotizing to be able to illustrate such playful chaos so easily.

This same kind of absurd surreality permeates every minute of living in LA – both good and bad: the wildflower super blooms after rainy winter floods, unhoused communities mere blocks away from gaudy displays of wealth, cotton-candy pink sunsets made possible thanks to the smoggy air, low-grade earthquakes that may give you an adrenaline rush but inspire thoughts about when the next “Big One” will hit, the dated architecture reminiscent of a forgotten movie set. It is difficult to fully understand and appreciate the contradictions of Los Angeles until you live here.

Perhaps it is this penchant for the absurd that makes it easy to marry Los Angeles and AI. The criticism both face often feel unwarranted or misplaced to anyone who is comfortable with the two. They can be seen as intimidating and dangerous, indulgent and lazy, surface level and vapid – despite exemplary representations and rich histories to suggest the contrary. Each has a diverse and vibrant culture, often overlooked yet inevitably playing a massive role in shaping the global vernacular. Of course they both have their darker sides, valid of criticism – it’s part of their balance of strengths and flaws, like humanity itself.