Nikau Davis, ‘The Love Interest’ 2021. Graphite and ink on paper. 29.7cm x 42cm. Image courtesy: the artist.

Artist statement

‘The Love Interest’ is part of a hyper realistic graphite and ink  portrait series ‘Periferal’, depicting invented, impossible people. ‘Periferal’ is a world building exercise, with realistic, fluid  linework giving tangible form to immaterial digital sources - reference images of fake people generated by AIs,  and ‘personal’ biographies generated by a code. By assigning  concrete, corporeal identity to the immaterial, the work explores fabricated realities and the illusion of consciousness.

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