Sheng Lin works and lives in the Bay Area, California. He studied contemporary art at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and fashion at Central Saint Martins in London, England. Upon coming back from the UK, Sheng studied computer science at 42 Silicon Valley in Fremont, California. Currently experimenting with the possibilities of Artificial Intelligence in portraiture, he brings chaos in a controlled environment, meticulously selecting images to input through algorithms. What appears to be random is instead perfected to create a specific outcome, a curation of the complex relationship between human and inhuman emotional experiences.
“My portraits are of no one and of everyone. They are emotional amalgams of many faces, prompting an uneasy sense of recognition as they manifest the gracious brow of our favorite actor or slip into another age or gender. Alluring but somewhat sickly, these portraits, as series, create an alternate society or an uncanny kinship group. The portraits are conceived through purely digital parentage, giving me a canvas to create a new, emotive identity in each image.
My Subject series, in particular, responds to Ukraine artist Julian Savko’s Portrait of the orphan Sashko Budyak (1974). Sashko’s subtle yet complicated expression reminded me of my time in Serbia, on a short missionary trip to help children overcome challenges associated with poverty. This portrait series uses Sashko’s face as a basis, hinting at a kind of misfortunate childhood through subtle changes in facial expressions. The generated images encapsulate the original painting while reinterpreting it to include my personal experience in Serbia.”
