‘Xie Hua’ (写 畫) Collection 1/1

Through the process of deconstructing and recontextualising the ancient Chinese instructional text on technique and aesthetics, the Mustard Seed Garden Painting Manual, first published in 1679, I have invited AI invigorated responses creating artworks that illuminate, reanimate and imagine the past in a glorious homage to tradition and technological experimentation.

In China there is an historical kinship between writing (xie | 写) and painting (hua | 畫). Literati scholar-painters would describe the act of painting in terms of the verb to write, xie (写), or even praise good literati painting by calling it writing. This intersection is explored in ‘Xie Hua’ (写 畫) Collection with artworks written from imagination into reality through the conduit of AI.

The addition of my artist seal 蔡金娜 (Choy Gina) indicates authorship and enhances composition. While the DALL·E watermark is rotated vertically as a second seal to reflect the medium of AI.