Romare Bearden, Mechanical Reproduction & Generative AI

One of my recent book cover art commissions was released by the author on social media (see below) and someone commented/asked whether or not the original artists were credited since it’s “AI Art”. Part of my response was to ask this question: Did Romare Bearden credit the original photographers in his collage work? <blockquote> Art Is Always Made from Other Art — Bearden via <a href="https://www.moma.org/magazine/articles/797" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">MoMA</a> </blockquote> <img alt="" src="https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:700/0*cULUDJ43XDJzVOeP.jpg" style="height:420px; width:700px" /> Romare Bearden in Long Island City studio. c.1980s. Courtesy the Long Island Pulse Since high school, I’ve taken inspiration from Romare Bearden to create collages. Bearden used Photostat machines and film projectors to make large-scale photo reproductions. Photostats, which were introduced in the early 1900s, makes copies of ‘graphic matter’ photographically on sensitized paper. Bearden made a practice of copying, redrawing, and reworking his images. Mechanical reproduction was a key stage of his process and today we use other kinds of machines: computers. <a href="https://nettricegaskins.medium.com/romare-bearden-mechanical-reproduction-generative-ai-6df2c4f2750a">Click Here</a>