A blog related to original AI artworks. I make AI artworks using coined words and emoji as prompts.

Awarded and Selected in Two February Exhibitions

I applied to two exhibitions held in early February, and four of my works have already been selected, with one of them receiving an award. One exhibition is the "23rd NAU 21st Century Art Federation Exhibition", and the other is the “57th Toka Exhibition”. I submitted two works to each exhibition, and all were selected. The award was received at the Toka Exhibition.

Both exhibitions are held annually at the National Art Center, Tokyo around this time of year. The NAU 21st Century Art Federation Exhibition is organized by the NAU 21st Century Art Federation Association, and the Toka Exhibition is organized by Toka-kai. This year, NAU runs from February 5 to 16, while Toka Exhibition runs from February 6 to 17.

The four selected works are as follows. Click on the images below to read the descriptions (including explanations by ChatGPT-4o).

Toka Exhibition:

NAU:

Last year, when I visited the Chubi Exhibition and Shin Art Exhibition, where I had award-winning and selected works, I noticed that many of the exhibited pieces were large-scale. Therefore, this time, I decided to make my works as large as possible. Within the standard poster printing range, B0 size is considered the maximum, so I decided to join two B0-size posters to create a work measuring 140 cm × 140 cm. To ensure the images retained their quality even when enlarged, I selected artworks with as many fine details as possible. However, the awarded work is actually one without much fine detail. The AI-generated images were originally 1024 × 1024 pixels, but I upscaled them using super-resolution. I enlarged them eight times, but there seems to be little noticeable difference between 4× and 8× enlargement.

I used two 140 cm × 70 cm frames purchased from AliExpress to achieve the required size. The reason for using two frames instead of a 140 cm × 140 cm frame was that such a large frame was unavailable, and I also considered that folding it in half would make it easier to carry on the subway. Upon checking just before transportation, I found that the maximum size allowed on the subway was 250 cm, so it was just within the limit.

To connect the two frames, I first joined them with OPP tape. Since the tape is thin, I used a double layer to reinforce it. This setup allows the frames to fold. Then, I fixed them together from the back using three clamps before attaching the artwork. When transporting the piece, I removed the clamps temporarily and reattached them upon arrival at the venue.

This process was determined as I worked on it, so there were several mistakes along the way.

For attaching the artwork, in the Chubi Exhibition and Shin Art Exhibition, I used the double-sided tape that was pre-attached to the frames. However, this time, I avoided using it so that I could remove the artwork later and instead secured it using push pins. For two edges, I folded the artwork behind the frame and secured it with the silver push pins that came with the frame. However, I didn’t want to use those pins on the sides, so I used white plastic-covered push pins instead. The remaining two edges were not long enough to fold behind the frame, so I just pinned them directly. Since they are only pinned, some parts of the artwork slightly float above the frame, but I had no other choice.

As a substitute for a signature, I attempted to place a QR code linking to the artwork’s page on this site on the dark areas of the image. However, at the National Art Center, Tokyo, attaching QR codes is prohibited, so they were blacked out.