September Tulips 1- 6
October Tulips 1-3. 2024.

Oil on canvas. Each 31 x 41cm.

Tulip Mania 1-12. 2024.

Oil on canvas. Each 31 x 41cm.

These paintings draw inspiration from illustrations of tulips created during the Tulip Mania period. My method involves collaging and altering these images to serve as the foundational material for a bespoke stable diffusion AI model. This process allows me to train a subsequent generation of images, effectively cultivating depictions of tulips from 200 years ago--varieties that were never captured in photographs.

In my tulip paintings, I explore the interplay between nature and technology, combining traditional approaches with experimental machine painting. Using CNC-controlled machines I’ve built and programmed, I capture the essence of flowers like tulips and daffodils, particularly when they’re in season. These flowers, which I often buy from the supermarket, reflect my fascination with both their natural beauty and their cultivated, commodified state. By painting them through this process, I delve into themes of beauty, artificiality, and the role of technology in art .

Each painting starts with a photograph, which I treat as a drawing of sorts. I then use software I’ve developed to analyse the image, translating it into a dithered palette based on real-world oil colours. When my machine paints, it brings together the precision of digital glitches with the unpredictable qualities of paint, creating a layered, textured effect that blends the natural with the artificial. Through these works, I aim to showcase the balance between the analog and digital, between human intention and machine execution, allowing tulips and other flowers to serve as symbols of this evolving artistic relationship.