“Malade Imaginaire” appears to be a lovely mosaic of 100 vibrant gardens. A logical environment for Shkipin’s 100 butterfly-like specimens from “Blooming Valetudinarian.” But planted alongside the abstract floral structures are twisted limbs and biomorphic forms that belie the serenity of a calm and peaceful garden. Given only partial and conflicting visual information, we struggle to place the proper emotional response, forcing us to spend additional time deeply examining the artist’s individual ecosystems. Shkipin leverages the popular neural network CLIP to generate his images; however, this is just a starting point. Leveraging his classical training as a painter, the artist then painstakingly retouches each carefully curated image to achieve the desired effect.
