Journalist banned by AI art bot for viral images of Trump in prison

Christopher Hutton

March 22, 03:39 PM March 22, 03:39 PM

An artificial intelligence-powered art bot app banned a journalist after he created images of former President Donald Trump being placed under arrest that were widely distributed on social media.

The AI-generative bot Midjourney banned Eliot Higgins, the founder of the open-source journalist collective Bellingcat, on Wednesday, Higgins said. Higgins had produced 50 images of Trump being accosted by police and in prison in response to his expected indictment. The app responded within 24 hours by banning him.

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Higgins initially started by creating pictures of Trump being arrested by police in New York, as well as his family's reaction and his life in prison. The pictures eventually turned into a Shawshank Redemption narrative, according to Higgins. And soon, they went viral.

“I put it out there. I didn't intend to do any clever criticism or anything like that. But then it kind of took on a life of its own,” Higgins told Buzzfeed News.

Midjourney also banned the word "arrest" from being used in prompts.

Higgins isn't angry with the app for banning him.

"I suspect it was pushing my luck when I did the thread, let alone when it went viral," the reporter noted.

A Manhattan grand jury was scheduled to meet on Wednesday to vote on whether to indict Trump over allegations that he paid hush money to Stormy Daniels. However, that meeting was postponed.

Bellingcat is an international open-source journalism group best known for its reporting on Russia and Ukraine.

Midjourney, which is an independent research lab for artificial intelligence, did not respond to requests for comment from the Washington Examiner.

Hazard at Guess: Banksy encourages shoplifting at this retailer

Misty Severi

November 18, 08:48 PM November 18, 08:48 PM

British street artist Banksy encouraged shoplifters on social media Friday to target a Guess store in London after claiming the store used his designs without permission.

The street artist posted an image of the Guess storefront on Instagram. The Regent Street location displayed his "Flower Thrower" graffiti along with clothes bearing some of his famous works, according to his social media post.

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"Attention all shoplifters," Banksy posted on Instagram. "Please go to GUESS on Regent Street. They've helped themselves to my artwork without asking, how can it be wrong for you to do the same to their clothes?"

The store has since closed to shoppers, increased security, and covered up its windows display, according to the BBC.

The artist is currently in Ukraine, and he showcased seven new art pieces in the war-torn country. Included in the new pieces are a woman in rollers and a gas mask holding a fire extinguisher and a man resembling Russian President Vladimir Putin being thrown to the floor by a child in a judo match.

Another one, located on the side of a residential building in the suburb of Irpin, showcased a gymnast wearing a neck brace and performing with a ribbon. The gymnast was balanced on a hole in the wall.

The artist also interviewed a mother and her child outside the remains of a school.

"It was a bomb here and many people died," the mother explained. "My child used to go to this kindergarten. ... We don't have any tears left."

Banksy first rose to prominence in the 1990s but returned to mainstream attention in 2018 when footage of one of his art pieces shredding itself at an auction went viral.

Banksy has gained fame in part because of his anonymity. The artist recently won a trademark court case that has allowed him to remain anonymous after a judge ruled in 2020 that he could not hold a copyright while remaining anonymous.

A new lick of paint: Van Gogh the dog paints with his tongue

Misty Severi

November 07, 02:35 PM November 07, 02:35 PM

A one-eared dog named Van Gogh is just like his namesake, the legendary Dutch impressionist Vincent Van Gogh, though he has a different method for creating his artwork.

The dog, a Boxer-pit bull mix who was rescued from a North Carolina dog-fighting ring and had to get his ear amputated after severe injuries, uses his tongue to create art from his home at the Happily Furever After Rescue in Connecticut. Van Gogh the painter also famously had one ear after cutting off his left ear in a fit of madness.

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Jaclyn Gartner, the founder of the rescue, got creative when teaching Van Gogh to paint with his tongue. Gartner said she placed paint and canvas into a plastic bag coated with peanut butter, which he then licks off and smears around.

“So his painting is him licking peanut butter off,” Gartner told CNN. “And while he’s licking peanut butter, all the paint is smeared around and makes the design.”

The dog, who has created 30 paintings, even had his own art show, but only two people showed up, according to the rescue. However, he has seen massive success since and has sold all of his paintings at an average of $40 each. He has also been commissioned for more.

When he's not painting, Van Gogh loves cuddles, car rides, walks, and playing with toys, according to his PetFinder page. Van Gogh is undergoing the process of adoption, though no announcement has been made.

Even though Van Gogh is going on to a better life, dog fighting remains a pervasive crime in the United States, with 16,000 dogs estimated to die as a result of the practice each year, and 40,000 people are believed to be involved in the illegal sport. Dog fighting is considered a felony in all 50 states, according to the Humane Society. In certain states, even being a spectator at a dog-fighting event is considered a misdemeanor.

Mondrian painting hangs upside down for 75 years, curator says

Misty Severi

October 28, 06:17 PM October 28, 06:17 PM

An art piece by Dutch geometric and abstract painter Piet Mondrian has been hanging upside down for 75 years, according to a curator and art historian in Dusseldorf, Germany.

The artwork, an intricate interlacing lattice of red, black, yellow, and blue adhesive tapes called New York City I, hangs with the taped lines thickening at the bottom, which are supposed to be at the top and represent a simplified version of a skyline, curator Susanne Meyer-Buser said.

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“The thickening of the grid should be at the top, like a dark sky,” Meyer-Buser told the Guardian. “Once I pointed it out to the other curators, we realized it was very obvious. I am 100% certain the picture is the wrong way around.”

A photograph of Mondrian’s studio that was published in the magazine Town and Country in June of 1944, shows the picture sitting the right way up on an easel. A similar painting called New York City by Mondrian that currently hangs in France also hangs with the thickening of the grid at the top, adding to the theory that the painting has been hanging upside down since it was first displayed at New York City's Museum of Modern Art in 1945.

“Was it a mistake when someone removed the work from its box? Was someone being sloppy when the work was in transit?” Meyer-Buser asked. “It’s impossible to say.”

Fixing the problem, however, is not possible, according to the curator, because it could ruin the artwork because of the wear and tear on the painting.

“The adhesive tapes are already extremely loose and hanging by a thread,” Meyer-Büser said. “If you were to turn it upside down now, gravity would pull it into another direction. And it’s now part of the work’s story.”

The painting has been displayed in the art collection of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia in Dusseldorf since 1980 and will be a central part of a new exhibit that opens over the weekend. Mondrian is considered one of the greatest modern artists of the 20th century and is known for his contributions to modernism, minimalism, expressionism, and abstract styles. He has also dabbled in cubism.