[Show You the Exhibition] How AI Can Invite "Koro" to Describe Ni Zan's Creation in Jiangnan | Painter | Ni Zan

Recently, the Chinese Art Palace is holding an exhibition of "Unexpectedly Water in the Middle - Modern Jiangnan Landscape Art Works".

One of the landscape paintings "Ni Yunlin and Koro" generated with the assistance of artificial intelligence is very unique. It restores the landscape paintings of Chinese Yuan Dynasty painter Ni Zan into landscape paintings, and on this basis, transforms them into landscape paintings in the style of French painter Cologne, allowing the audience to fully appreciate the different perspectives and creative techniques of Chinese and Western painters in depicting nature.

Make AI a medium for Chinese and Western painting

Jiangnan has been the focus of attention and expression for literati and literati since ancient times. For artists since modern times, they are no exception. Regardless of whether they were born in the Jiangnan region or not, anyone who has stopped in Jiangnan always holds a deep attachment and a different kind of sentiment towards Jiangnan.

Entering the exhibition hall of the "Surprisingly Water in the Middle - Modern Jiangnan Landscape Art Exhibition" at the Chinese Art Palace, the scenery of Jiangnan depicted by modern and contemporary artists such as Huang Binhong, He Tianjian, Zhu Qizhan, Wu Hufan, Lu Yanshao, Xie Zhiliu, Song Wenzhi, Yan Wenliang, Liu Haisu, Lin Fengmian, Yu Yunjie, Wu Guanzhong, Zhu Dequn, Zhao Wuji, and others, one by one, catches the eye. Some of these artists were born in Jiangnan and spent their entire lives painting Jiangnan; Some have traveled overseas, but upon returning, they are still enamored with Jiangnan; Some are studying or living in Jiangnan, using their own creations to retain the Jiangnan in their hearts. These art enthusiasts who love the scenery of Jiangnan have inherited and demonstrated the enduring charm of Jiangnan through their different painting languages.

In the exhibition hall, there is a group of works that are particularly eye-catching. This group of works called "Ni Yunlin and Koro" consists of three paintings: the one on the right is a print of the famous "Six Gentlemen" painting by the Yuan Dynasty literati painter Ni Zan. The middle one is a "real" landscape image that the technical team used AI assisted generation technology to imagine and depict on the basis of the "Six Gentlemen" painting, helping the audience imagine the appearance of Ni Zan's landscape in reality. On the basis of this landscape map, the technical team also instructed AI to learn the style of the representative figure of Western landscape painting, Colo, and create a landscape work based on focal perspective observation.

Chinese and Western painters have formed distinct painting styles due to their different perspectives in viewing and depicting nature, providing viewers with an intuitive contrast in understanding the differences between Chinese landscape painting and Western landscape painting.

The curation team also selected 20 key process diagrams from nearly a thousand AI assisted creative process diagrams, which detailed the complex instructions and processes required for artificial intelligence to create this set of works, triggering viewers to think about people and technology, art and technology, landscape manufacturing and technology.

The main process of AI transforming Ni Zan's "Six Gentlemen's Painting" into a landscape map

Restoring the Landscape in Ni Zan's Writings

Ni Zan is known as one of the "Four Masters of the Yuan Dynasty". He was far away from the court in the chaos of the late Yuan Dynasty and early Ming Dynasty. He lived a wandering and reclusive life in the area of the Taihu Lake Lake, and his travels were concentrated in Hangzhou, Jiaxing, Hunan and Suzhou. He infused the beauty of lakes and mountains into his blood, and in his later years, his portrayal of nature in mountains and rivers became increasingly personalized. He expressed his emotions through mountains and rivers, and his works carried strong symbolic significance.

Colon was a famous French landscape painter in the 19th century and one of the representative figures of French romantic landscape painting. He is skilled at observing scenery under natural light inspired by nature, creating paintings that perfectly combine tones and colors, while also being poetic and lyrical, expressing his love and admiration for nature. He once painted many outstanding landscape paintings near Babyson Village in Fontainebleau.

The two painters are from different regions and eras, but both derive nourishment and inspiration from nature. Faced with the scenery of mountains and rivers, they use different materials, techniques, portrayal angles, and express their inner emotions, which undoubtedly reflects the vastly different views of Chinese and Western painters on nature. The two of them would never have imagined that hundreds of years later, under the guidance of AI technology, they would complete a cross time "divine exchange".

So, how did the curation team come up with the idea of using artificial intelligence to complete this special dialogue between China and the West?

The curator of this exhibition, Sheng Ke, told reporters that the theme of the exhibition is "The Landscape of Jiangnan Since Modern Times", aiming to reflect the changes in Jiangnan landscape from modern times to the present. The final section of the exhibition aims to discuss the relationship between the water centered landscape of Jiangnan and contemporary people from a conceptual perspective, so some works are related to the current technological development. "The application of artificial intelligence is currently a widely discussed topic in society, and the impact of AI drawing on art creation and image production is a question we are pondering. Therefore, we have chosen this perspective closely related to the current social development to create this special exhibit."

In order to find a work that fully embodies AI imagination, the curation team has set their sights on the traditional Chinese literati landscape. Because literati landscape painting depicts the landscape in the painter's mind, the scenes in the painting may not necessarily correspond one-to-one with the real nature. Imagining and restoring through AI technology is very attractive. The works of "Yuan Sijia" are the representatives of literati landscape paintings, while Ni Zan, who lives in seclusion around the Taihu Lake Lake, often depicts the waters in the south of the Yangtze River, which is very consistent with the theme of this exhibition focusing on the water in the south of the Yangtze River.

The "Six Gentlemen" painting, which is housed in the Shanghai Museum, is a classic work passed down by Ni Zan. It was created at the request of his friend Lu Shanfu. The postscript by Huang Gongwang on the screen, "Looking at Yunshan across the autumn water from afar, and looking up at ancient trees embracing the slope," well summarizes the characteristics of Ni Zan's landscape. The composition of this painting is divided into two sections. The close-up view is the slope bank of the river, with six different types of trees forming the main body of the picture. The open river and the distant mountains above the picture echo each other, which is Ni Zan's most typical composition. Huang Gongwang also wrote in the postscript: "Surprisingly, compared to the Six Gentlemen, he is upright and stands out without bias," reflecting the literati painting characteristics of the painter's use of trees to symbolize human qualities, which is complementary to the theme of this exhibition, "Surprisingly, in the middle of water.".

Faced with the painting of the Six Gentlemen, one cannot help but imagine what kind of scenery Ni Zan's "mountains and waters in his heart" would look like in reality. So, the curation team ultimately decided to use this artwork as the foundation and use AI technology to create a realistic photo like image that reproduces the landscape in Ni Zan's heart.

AI completes the process of Koro style landscape painting by learning Koro's paintings

Better utilization rather than relying on AI

Why would the curation team allow AI to replicate Ni Zan's landscape and then learn from the style of Cologne to create a Cologne style artwork?

Sheng Ke told reporters that the reason for choosing Koro is because his landscape paintings and Ni Zan's paintings both have strong lyricism. As one of the representative figures of Western landscape painting, his works fully reflect the characteristics of Western painters depicting nature. By comparison, the differences in the viewing methods and concepts of nature between Chinese and Western painters can be well demonstrated.

Koro's scenery strictly follows visual reality, and he is skilled in using the technique of focal perspective, presenting features of closeness, size, and distance in his works. He is also skilled at using the relationship between light and dark and color to shape objects, and pays attention to rationality and light and color effects in the expression of trees, water patterns, and mountain shapes. Although it is a lyrical work expressing praise for nature, Koro's works are still based on visual reality.

Chinese landscape painting emphasizes the importance of immersing oneself in nature, integrating the natural elements seen from different angles and times into one painting. Painters often focus on the unity of objective objects and subjective emotions, as well as the unity of painting quality and character. Ni Zan's "Six Gentlemen" cleverly organizes different objects from a swimming perspective, with nearby rocks and trees and distant hills following a scattered perspective relationship. In terms of color, pure ink and wash cannot express the true and natural colors, and the depiction of water surfaces is also lacking in detail, reflecting the reclusive and nostalgic seclusion of literati painters towards mountains and rivers. He compares trees to humans, serving the expression of objects to inner feelings rather than real nature, reflecting the Chinese landscape painter's concept of integrating humans and nature, where you have me and I have you, which is the unity of heaven and humanity.

Shengke told reporters that with the upgrading of artificial intelligence technology, the effect of AI application in the field of images is surprising, and the visual effects and detail control have been relatively perfect. Applying it to artistic creation undoubtedly can give birth to more artistic forms. However, AI can only play a instrumental auxiliary role at present. To truly realize human creativity and achieve the desired effects for artists, the human factor is still crucial and requires long-term accumulation and thinking by art creators.

The curation team showcased 20 key process diagrams of AI generated works alongside the works of Ni Yunlin and Koro. In fact, nearly a thousand images were generated throughout the entire creative process, and each process requires technical personnel to input instructions for adjustment. "With the continuous learning of AI, I believe this process will gradually shorten. However, without anyone's guidance, the works it creates are random, a kind of image stitching or copying. I believe that in the future, there will be many artists who are good at utilizing and do not rely on technology to better express their creativity and ideas with the help of new technologies." Sheng Ke said.