GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Is it art?
That's a question you might ask yourself after looking at Andrew Toppers ArtPrize entry, but it's one he doesn't mind hearing.
His piece, Nature through AI, is a manipulated, computer generated image based on photographs he's taken.
For Topper, this is a new way to experiment with an old hobby.
"I started taking photographs, probably 15 years ago, of nature," he said. "A couple of years ago, I learned about this process that allows digital images to be converted or transformed through AI into painting like objects."
The process is called neural style transfer. As a professor at Grand Valley State University with a computer science degree, Topper is very interested in that new kind of technology.
"I was a software engineer," he said. "That was my first career. I did that for a number of years. I understand the way things can work within software that gave me an inclination to try to find some of these things that were documented initially, and certainly in academic journals.”
All of the images you'll find in his collection are transformed from his photography portfolio, which means, no matter how you look at it, there's a great deal of artistic expression.
Still, Topper knows some people might look at his display and question its place in ArtPrize.
"I get it," he said. "I mean, there's fine art, and then there's art. Fine art is the kind of stuff that is very traditional. You spend years learning a painting technique, or learn how to sculpture. That is a kind of art that this isn't. But I also think there's art for what I would call the masses, which is, art that doesn't necessarily fit in that first category. It does show some creativity, some sense of the value of a beautiful thing. One of my favorite quotes is, 'Beautiful things don't ask for attention.' I think, one of the things I've tried to do is bring these to the forefront so other people can see them in a different way. The goal, obviously, is to increase concern and support for preserving and protecting nature. All the sales of my art will go towards organizations that do that.”
This is Topper's first time entering ArtPrize. He said he was shocked but honored to be included in the event.
You can find Topper's piece hanging up in the south lobby of Embassy Suites by Hilton on Monroe Ave. in downtown Grand Rapids.