BlueBeam

Helping the Yawanawá

[BlueBeam @Punk9611]

After 68 weeks of writing about Winds of Yawanawá by @refikanadol and the Yawanawá people, here is my synthesis on why AI art is truly art and why it should not be dismissed as just a complex screensaver @jerrysaltz

A thread 🧵 👇

[BlueBeam @Punk9611]

@AdamWeitsman @LucaNetz @pudgypenguins @Chubbicorn230 @ppmcghee @BoredApeGazette @nowmedia 🔥🔥🔥

[BlueBeam @Punk9611]

@dangiuz Amazing 💙

[BlueBeam @Punk9611]

@oranj0x Is that a CryptoPunk? I don’t remember ever seeing that hoodie before

[BlueBeam @Punk9611]

@burtontabaac @RCarhartHarris @FrontiersIn 👏👏

[BlueBeam @Punk9611]

@oldschool711 @TrustlessState @Lighter_xyz @will__price

[BlueBeam @Punk9611]

@Tyler_Did_It 🔥🔥🔥

[BlueBeam @Punk9611]

@farokh GHG!! 🔥🔥

[BlueBeam @Punk9611]

@Scott_Steger @Fountainxyz @cryptopunks 🔥🔥

[BlueBeam @Punk9611]

@AdamWeitsman @beeple @eli_schein Congrats, Adam 👏

[BlueBeam @Punk9611]

@CozomoMedici @refikanadol Amazing piece 🍃🍃

[Cozomo de’ Medici @CozomoMedici]

Gm

Winds of Yawanawa #545 by Yawanawa & @refikanadol

[BlueBeam @Punk9611]

@farokh GHG!!!

[Refik Anadol @refikanadol]

GM from LAX! Dataland’s presence is welcoming each new visitor of Los Angeles with our Machine Hallucinations! Opening June 20!

[BlueBeam @Punk9611]

@farokh 🔥🔥🔥

[BlueBeam @Punk9611]

@farokh GHG!

[BlueBeam @Punk9611]

@KarlTrewhelaArt @TC_Poole @SHL0MS

[BlueBeam @Punk9611]

I did like the experience brought by @SHL0MS .

Now, what I experienced from it is probably different than you. We all come from our own views and backgrounds.

Was I surprised by the reactions and comments? Not really. Being relatively new to social media, I always find it fascinating how people comment arrogantly as if they own the topic, while having absolutely no clue what they are talking about. What this experience showed clearly is that the average dude on X knows almost nothing about Monet or art in general. We couldn’t do the same with the Mona Lisa or Starry Night, but with one of Monet’s Water Lilies series, it became the perfect trap for all the Mr. Know It Alls of social media. Good job by SHL0MS here.

A similar experience happened months ago, this time through a @dangiuz painting, but from a completely opposite perspective while generating a similar buzz, reaching over 2M views and 60k likes. This one wasn’t planned at all, which made the whole thing even more fascinating. Grok itself wasn’t able to distinguish what was AI made from what was human made. In doubt, Grok preferred to assume it was AI generated. For those interested, here’s the post below my comment.

I do love conceptuality in AI art. I’ve spent over a year studying it, and throughout that journey I came across many discussions, always in different formats, but with the same recurring actors: AI haters. One of the most impactful moments for me, and honestly a wake up call, was when Machine Hallucinations entered MoMA. The polarization between @jerrysaltz and @refikanadol became almost anthology material. One of the real triggers of the “AI can’t be art” movement over three years ago. More recently, the February 8, 2025 “Cancel the Christie’s AI Art Auction” letter became another major example highlighting the polarization of this debate.

These conversations, no matter the format or forum, always tend to bring out the extremes of both camps.

For the pro AI art crowd: just because something is visually stunning and technically perfect doesn’t automatically make it creative. That is where AI generally still lacks. As shown in the SHL0MS experiment, fooling the masses or baiting neophytes is not automatically a sign of creativity. Magritte, through La trahison des images, already showed that representation itself, no matter how perfect, cannot be experienced the same way as reality. With a real Monet, you can feel every brush stroke if you push the experience deeply enough, and that is something impossible to fully replicate online. Also, as powerful as AI is, it remains a mirror of humanity. Nothing more, nothing less. AI would never have created Monet in 1870 because without datasets, AI is empty. Comparing AI directly to Monet or Duchamp often becomes a lack of discernment.

And for the “human art only” crowd: your fear of being replaced and forgotten blinds you from reality. AI is a tool. It can help in every sphere of life, not only creation. Don’t reject it, embrace it, and elevate creativity to its fullest potential. Those who understand how to use it will eventually reach new limits. Don’t be lazy though. While I personally believe AI may eventually surpass us through patterns and intellectual evolution, we are still only at the beginning of this revolution, and nobody can truly predict where the limits are. But what my instincts tell me is that human and machine collaboration can become something very real. Those who embrace AI, not as a shortcut for laziness, but as a tool to push creative limits further, may eventually revive a new Renaissance in both art and science.

Is SHL0MS’ inferior image a prank or a conceptual masterpiece? To me, it sits somewhere in between. But I will always appreciate work that sparks discussions and challenges perspectives. And in that regard, the work is undeniably a success.

https://t.co/EepopbPyzn

[𒐪 @SHL0MS]

i just generated an image in the style of a Monet painting using AI

please describe, in as much detail as possible, what makes this inferior to a real Monet painting

[BlueBeam @Punk9611]

I tend to write for myself first. Organizing thoughts and writing is good for the mind, and helps strengthen ideas and concepts. If people enjoy it afterward, that’s just a bonus.

No one is forcing you to read long posts, you know. Crazy enough, people used to write entire books to express themselves not that long ago. That was before the average attention span got reduced to tweet format

[BlueBeam @Punk9611]

@beeple Joy

[BlueBeam @Punk9611]

And for those who immediately assume that whatever is posted online is now AI generated, automatically discrediting the person posting it, I’m adding some contextual posts I wrote over a year ago. Funny how, the more the discussion evolves, the more relevant they become today.

[BlueBeam @Punk9611]

🧵3/ Art has always evolved through creativity, but history shows some works don’t withstand the test of time. With AI art, are we witnessing a revolution or the most sophisticated copycat ever?