The Divine Mandate: From Sun Kings to AI

The Divine, 2023

In the ancient world, kings were not just men; they were considered gods. Their actions carried the weight of destiny because they dared to enforce a change upon the world. Some succeeded and some failed—perhaps because they didn't fully grasp the magnitude of the task—but they all shared a common thread: their future was projected by their "way of being." Their treatment of others, their reaction to their own history, and their refusal to be ordinary elevated them to a level of recognition that bordered on the immortal.

Artists have always craved that same level of recognition. We want to reach that height by shattering the norm. Look at Pablo Picasso: he began with the mastery of the realistic, then systematically broke it down until he reached the minimal. He didn't stay comfortable; he evolved until he was seen differently by the entire world.

To reach this, you have to break from the norm. Stop being lazy. Feed from your boredom. Go to the extreme.

The past is our greatest teacher. It provides the memories we must acknowledge to understand where we stand. As an artist, I experiment with a wide array of styles and techniques because the experimentation itself is what keeps me moving. There are days when the laziness creeps in—the "not wanting to do it"—but then I ask: What if the next thing I create is a new movement? We are seeing this happen right now with Artificial Intelligence. It has become its own movement, fundamentally altering how we create. There is a fear, a valid one, that we might lose the physical sense of making art on paper or through traditional mediums. But we cannot stop here.

Here is the climax of our era: Respecting the nature of the medium—whether it is charcoal or code—is the only way to master it. You cannot fight the evolution; you must grow along with it. To be a "god" of your own craft, you must be the past and the future at the same time. You must hold the physical tradition in one hand and the digital revolution in the other.

Be the past to build the future. Respect the nature, but command the change.