AI imagines how famous artists would illustrate the climate crisis

kem bromley art supplies & lacuna 5 leverage the power of art

Ken Bromley Art Supplies has teamed up with Lacuna 5 to raise awareness of the climate crisis — the greatest threat of our generation — through the power of art. A series of AI-generated images envision how famous artists from history would depict some of the most pressing issues that threaten our environment, from deforestation to plastic pollution and factory farming.

When coupled with the names of famous artists such as Van Gogh, Yayoi Kusama or Claude Monet, the AI technology has created completely unique pieces of activist art, including a portrait of Swedish teenage environmental activist Greta Thunberg in the signature pop art aesthetics of Andy Warhol.

Claude Monet: Toxic power plants | all images courtesy the author

how would famous artists illustrate the climate crisis?

Earlier in November, political leaders from across the world convened at the COP26 summit to accelerate global action towards climate change prevention. Increasingly in recent times, there have also been several incidents involving climate activists destroying famous artworks to protest that ‘protecting life is more important than protecting art.’ With this in mind, UK-based Ken Bromley Art Supplies and content marketing agency Lacuna 5 leverage the medium of art to raise awareness of the climate emergency and inspire the general public to protect the planet.

Using AI, the project imagines how iconic artists from history might depict the climate crisis if they were alive today. In Salvador Dali’s surrealist dreamscape style, the program imagines a depleting landscape destroyed by deforestation, while another composition depicts a Frida Kahlo self-portrait, with the defeated artist surrounded by a sea of plastic waste. In another scene, the program emulates the Impressionist brushstrokes of Claude Monet, with serene pastel hues of purples and blues illustrating a toxic power plant emitting a large cloud of smoke over an idyllic natural landscape.

Van Gogh: melting ice caps

Rembrandt: burning forests

Hokusai: flooding

Frida Kahlo: plastic pollution

Salvador Dali: deforestation

Roy Lichtenstein: destruction of coral reefs

L.S. Lowry: over-population

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Andy Warhol: climate activist Greta Thunberg

Pablo Picasso: meat production and cruelty

Yayoi Kusama: factory farming

project info:

name: AI-generated climate crisis paintings by famous artists from history
designers: Ken Bromley Art Supplies, Lacuna 5

designboom has received this project from our DIY submissions feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.

edited by: ravail khan | designboom