Figures.
‘I’ve always asked myself who is human. One evening in the mid-2010s in a small French town, we dined outside with my large family. As it got darker, we could barely see each other. People spoke, and I listened, thinking about how we are both different and similar. At that moment, a figure composed of cubes appeared in my mind. I immediately realised this cubic figure is a powerful symbol because it captured many ideas about humanity in one image, including ideas we don't want to think about, like how imperfect, simple, and fragile beings we finally are.
I turned to paint these figures of cubes, but their development revealed to be tough. It took me years and dozens of tests before I found the right process, which turned out to be complex and structured. Initially, I drew the cubic representations by hand, but quickly used a computer, which gave me more flexibility for image manipulation. Finally, I combined both methods to achieve the desired result.
This was long before AI technology could create images in mere seconds. But even now, AI still struggles to replicate my figures of cubes, generating awkward-looking pictures with imprecise geometry, shadows, and poses. My experience leads me to believe that this will persist because even if computer technology was crucial to make these representations of cubes possible, the key of their achievement relies on meticulous artistic adjustment.‘—Ilya Yod.
