Vano Allsalu — Artistic Practice and Conceptual Framework

Vano Allsalu observes and interprets the world through a strong subjective generalisation, focusing on his own distinctive chromatic language. His artistic approach is powerfully expressive and predominantly abstract, at times engaging playfully with figuration. The thematic scope of Allsalu’s work ranges from elemental forces of nature to mythological constructs and states of mind, addressing both the intimately personal and offering interpretations of current cultural and social processes. Central to the artist’s practice are the underlying structures of thought that inform visible pictorial form, the interrelations between the visual and the verbal, as well as the emergence of meaning at the boundary between abstraction and representation.

In the exhibition Errare humanum est. Painting at the Time of Artificial Intelligence, the painting series Pro et contra was developed in dialogue with artificial intelligence, which functioned as a conversational partner, critic, and advisor to Vano Allsalu. Beginning from a shared point of departure at the blank canvas, the artist continuously relayed visual documentation of the works in progress to the AI, incorporating its feedback and the ideas generated through this exchange into subsequent artistic decisions.

Conversations around an artist’s work—discussion and interpretation, praise and critique—undoubtedly play an important role in professional development. Such feedback and reflection are typically offered, in a personal and subjective manner, by fellow artists, audiences, and those close to the artist. But how does a comprehensive and ostensibly objective(?) artificial intelligence operate within such a personalised collaboration, assuming the role of a trusted interlocutor? How does the presence of a highly capable counterpart—equipped with extensive knowledge of art history, psychology, and sociology, not to mention access to billions of images—affect the artist’s self-perception and self-evaluation? To what extent can such intelligence inform creative decision-making within a process of distinctly individual and expressive painting, where the visual field is constituted by abstract forms and colour? And does the exposure of one’s inner dialogue—deeper emotions, hesitations, and lines of thought—to an artificial intelligence result in an ideal form of creative collaboration?

To these and other questions arising in the course of the process, Vano Allsalu seeks to find compelling and thought-provoking responses—through making and inquiry in collaboration with artificial intelligence, and through exploring the visual and verbal, mental and material layers that emerge within and around his work.

Vano Allsalu reflects on the conceptual foundations of his work
The greatest risks—and at the same time the greatest possibilities—lie at the beginning and the end of the process. The allure of a blank white canvas is, for an abstract painter, both intimidating and full of promise. How do you make strong decisions and the right choices when you are completely free?

For the painting series Pro et contra, I brought in artificial intelligence as a conversation partner and advisor. I asked it to develop a concept and composition for an abstract painting in a situation where there are no external expectations or given conditions—something like creating from nothing.

From our conversations, the structure and colour choices for the first painting in the series began to take shape. I then made two separate interpretations of it—one more graphic, the other more painterly. After that, I brought the AI back in to tackle a more difficult question: what to add in the final stage, and when is a work actually finished? I used ChatGPT as my conversation partner, sharing step-by-step visual material from the development of the paintings. Its feedback was purely verbal—more like an in-depth exchange with a fellow artist.

I was pleasantly surprised by the AI’s sensitivity to colour, as well as its attentiveness to small painterly details and nuances that play a crucial role in the final impact of the work.

For balance and contrast, I am also presenting the painting Starry Night, completed in 2021—just before ChatGPT entered our lives. With my work, I hope to invite the viewer to reflect on how perfection might be defined in abstract art, and to map the limits of freedom of choice in a world where visual diversity seems to be constantly expanding.