Singularity first emerged in October 2022 when an architectural studio, Jules Wilson Design, in the US approached me for a commission with a $50,000.00 budget for five original pieces. The project was for a new work / live development in Las Vegas, featuring luxury apartments, bars, shops, and restaurants. My pieces would be featured in the main lobby area. While they were familiar with my style, they proposed a concept different from what I usually do. They said, "The project is very much rooted in the landscape of the desert and the aesthetic of John Lautner Architecture. We are aiming for a 70s mid-century aesthetic and would love to introduce a desert/man-on-the-moon/space dust concept in the lobby for the art." They provided two landscape-style image references. I initially mentioned that I don’t do landscape art, but they explained that it was more of a starting point for me to put my own spin on it.

Strangely enough, I had worked on an astronaut concept a couple of years ago but had shelved it. I dug up the old, forgotten mood board and added new references to it. The idea was to have an astronaut as the subject and apply my style on top of it with lots of weathered, decaying surfaces and street textures. However, I realised that my current multidisciplinary skill set didn't cover what I wanted to achieve. I knew I didn't want to simply photograph a model in an astronaut suit; I wanted more creative control. To do it right, I decided to start learning 3D software. I agreed to the commission and the challenge, even though I didn't yet possess the skills needed. So, I quoted that it would take seven months to complete the commission: three months for research and development, learning the required skills, two months for digital design while still learning along the way, and two months for creating the physical art. This timeline aligned with the construction of the building work in Las Vegas, and the deadline was confirmed for October/September 2023.

I then embarked on an intensive and steep learning journey. However, I knew I didn't want to really be a 3D artist, much like I didn't want to be confined to being a photographer, painter, or collage artist. I aspired to be a culmination of various things, techniques, mediums, and technologies—whatever it takes to create the desired outcome, the tone, the vibration, the feeling one gets walking through the pitch-black exhibition space with projection light, sound, and smell cutting through the dark unknowns.

While working on the digital concepts, I found inspiration in sci-fi films and books, reigniting my passion for the cyberpunk genre. I began reading William Gibson's Neuromancer trilogy and became instantly hooked. Around this time, OpenAI's Chat GPT-4 gained widespread attention, and the timing felt surreal. The themes of cyberpunk felt increasingly relevant in this new reality. Neuromancer, written in the 80s before the internet became a household technology, coined the term "cyberspace" and introduced the idea of the matrix and predicted virtual reality headsets as part of society's everyday culture. It felt remarkably contemporary, especially with the book's central theme of the birth of AGI (artificial general intelligence) and humanity losing control of it.

As I developed my new visual style, I also worked on the meaning and context of the art. This led me to start writing my own novel based on the first Singularity canvas piece I finished titled "Nicole IV." Nicole is a friend who used to model for me many years ago when I first started out as a fashion photographer. I bumped into her at a spa after not seeing each other in over ten years. It was a bizarre and happy surprise. That's when I asked her to model for the Singularity concept. She is Nicole in the art and in the book, but she is a fictional version of herself. It is the first time I have attempted to write, so I am in no rush to finish it, but I am taking it as seriously as the rest of my art. I plan for it to be another extension of the mixed media approach. It’s fun to ask, how far can I take this multidisciplinary concept? My goal is to build a fictional future world for the art to inhabit.

The Singularity concept delves into our relationship with technology, our desire to create it and connect with it, the birth of AGI, and a fictional exploration of the repercussions for humanity. When generative AI art started trending on social media I went through a dark existential crisis period, which lead to depression, heavy drinking. I wondered what purpose humanity would have if we lost what we thought defined us as a species: our creativity. If all jobs become automated by technology, how will we live? Without a sense of purpose, we are nothing. It is clear that AI will replace many industries and jobs, but it will also inevitably create new jobs in return. However, with every new technology, there is always a destructive painful period as society and culture catches up. It was the same for the printing press, the industrial revolution, and the invention of computers. But unlike previous technologies, which were tools to aid humans, this is the first technology that can create, even replace humans and a technology that can manipulate humans at a far higher level than social media algorithms already do so well. I feel fortunate to have left my freelance photography career at the time I did, as I predict that commercial artists will be among the first industries to be fully replaced. If a company can use an AI generative art app for a small monthly fee, why would they spend infinitely more on a human artist who takes longer to create the art? The only exception, I believe, would be using a big-name artist for PR and social media reasons. However, I feel that handmade art for collectors, galleries, museums, will have a different outcome. Soon enough, people won't be able to tell if any of the content they see online is real or AI-generated; it's already happening now and it’s going to get much worse. But as it becomes more common, I believe that anything seen online will likely be assumed to be fake or more accurately, AI generated. The only things we will perceive as real will be the things in front of us that we can reach out and touch. AI-generated art will be everywhere, and something so abundant means there is no real value in it as a collector's item. However, I believe human-made physical art will continue to increase in value, with society placing even more appreciation on humanity's creations, the ideas, the time and passion it takes to develop and craft. In a culture seeking perfection in selfie filters and pristine AI photography campaigns I find my own technique celebrating the opposite. My work is riddled with imperfections, creases, tears, mistakes; proof that a clumsy, real, living, breathing human was at work.

As I further developed my art, I felt more hope and curiosity about the new world we are heading toward at breakneck speed. In my Singularity art, the subjects are encased in a suit of technology, plugged in, immersed in the Matrix, sometimes suspended and tangled up by the technology they created. They are trapped in a sea of information and disinformation, manipulated by AI intelligence to keep us hooked, yearning for more immersion, ensnared in the AI simulation.

I didn't want the art to be overly literal in its visual language, but this is the meaning behind the Singularity works. A happy coincidence I found is my technical approach harmonises with the theme and the questions raised. I start with a real existing model, transform her into a digital version of herself, and place her in the virtual world, the matrix world, where I can compose and manipulate her before exporting her back out into the physical world, to be exhibited, to be enjoyed by the spectator. In 2017, I developed a light art projection mapping technique. My interest was to blend sound design with light to evoke emotions, and the technique naturally emerged. It combines digital with physical, which I already enjoyed doing, using my skills in photography and digital collage mixed with physical collage to create a hybrid of mediums and approaches. I meticulously map the art using software and projection light to separate the layers: the background, the model, the foreground layers, and animate the light to synchronise with the sound collages or DJ sets. I found it enjoyable because it was another extension of the mixed media approach. With the development of the 3D techniques for Singularity, the light art projection mapping has evolved even further. It not only separates the layers but also illuminates the actual elements themselves, the space suite, the face, the cables the details, blending digital light art with physical collage art on canvas. The result to my mind is astonishing and unlike anything else I've seen in the art world. I will debut this new approach at my next live art show at W London. You can find information and a link to tickets on the events page of my website.