FAR-OFF REALMS

Art&Culture, Photography

Suspended between vintage past and surrealist future, The Brigadoon Dispatch is a portal to new realms of creativity.

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FAR-OFF REALMS

WORDS BY Olivia Finlayson

AI is on everyone’s minds and lips. Since Chat GPT bleep-blooped its way onto the scene, we’ve all become eerily acquainted with AI’s mind-bending boundlessness. And as impressive as the game-changing chatbot is, we’ve stumbled upon AI-generated artwork that leaves Chat GPT in its dust.

The Brigadoon Dispatch by artist Ryan Taylor is a portal to an otherworldly realm. A dimension caught between a vintage past and a fantastical future. A world where surrealist beasts roam the streets, prowl the factories and surface from the depths of sacred lakes to commune with impeccably dressed women.

You’d be forgiven for thinking The Brigadoon Dispatch was Gucci’s latest campaign. Richly textured, layered, moody and luxurious, Taylor’s work begins with prompts given to AI software. These prompts, precisely written by the artist, blend artfulness and technical commands.

Taylor: “It’s essentially a précis writing exercise – the input needs to be evocative yet concise to conjure the right results. It’s a mix of high-level control and whimsical luck for what you may get.”

These unexpected results serve as fuel on the flames of Taylor’s creativity, laying the groundwork for the magic of The Brigadoon Dispatch. It’s an aesthetic Taylor describes as ‘surreal-documentary-absurd-whimsical-fantasy’—and no one could disagree. Each image is paired with its own brief, eccentric story, suffusing each scene with fresh wonder. “I let the images sit and stew in the back of my head until I can clearly conjure a creative story for each one,” tells Taylor.

A dreamscape to get lost in, The Brigadoon Dispatch—with its bubblecats, two-legged pouffs and transcendently soft furs—stirs feelings hard to articulate. A longing to belong to its strange and wonderful world, and the tug of nostalgia, like you’ve been there before.

—
@the_brigadoon_dispatch

Prints available at Etsy
etsy.com/ca/shop/TheBrigadoonDispatch

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