About John Wong
John Wong, also known as Nothing is Real, is a multidisciplinary artist, AI artist, and filmmaker based in the UK. Drawing from a diverse background in various artistic mediums, including AI art, film, painting, and generative art, my work explores the intricate interplay between patterns and spaces, ancient fortune-telling algorithms and modern superstitions, the distance of nature and realities, and the solitude found in the routines of everyday life. My artistic journey has been punctuated by significant milestones, such as the screening of my film "The Tourist" at the 27th Hong Kong International Film Festival in 2002. Additionally, my involvement in international art scenes, including the ARX5 cultural exchange in Australia and Singapore in 1998-1999, has further enriched my creative practice. Recent highlights include the creation of the algorithmic immersive installation "RuShi", which received the prestigious Best of Show Award at SIGGRAPH 2019 in Los Angeles. My work has also been showcased in prominent exhibitions such as the Microwave International New Media Arts Festival 2018 and ISEA2019 in Gwangju. "RuChu AR" (2020) was selected for the "Peer to Peer UK/HK" online exhibition in 2020 in the UK and Hong Kong. In 2023, I had the honor of participating in an artist development program in Greater Manchester curated by CTRL (Creative Technology Research Labs) in collaboration with The Lowry & Submerge Festival. In 2024, my AI art, "Green Pale", was exhibited in "The Ideal Error" at Shoreditch Arts Clubs, London. This exhibition, presented by exactly.ai in collaboration with World of Women (WoW), was part of the London Digital Art Week. “Permanent Rose_3” exhibits in Awita New York Studio. Inspired by The Beatles' timeless lyrics from "Strawberry Fields Forever," my artist name, Nothing is Real, pays homage to their enduring influence on my creative journey. “Let me take you down, 'cause I'm going to, strawberry fields, nothing is real!…"
Artist Statement
In the growing world of AI art, we find ourselves sketching and creating entirely through prompts, heralding a new era of AI-realism. This technological advancement democratizes the creative process, allowing us to easily alter and create our realities. Standing at this crossroads, we confront fundamental questions: What is art now? Who is the artist? What endures? Currently, we find ourselves co-creating with a novel form of intelligence. In this age, art not only reflects our times but is intricately shaped by AI, which becomes both its form and context, surpassing mere algorithmic solutions.
My artistic practice spans film, theatre, painting, conceptual, and digital art. I aim to create at the confluence of these diverse fields. I work solo in a public workspace each day, immersed in solitude and rarely engaging in conversation. Amidst this isolation, a woman also works there; her name remains unknown to me, and we are strangers to each other. Yet, every morning she greets me with a simple inquiry, 'Are you alright?' This brief, daily interaction has inspired my recent works, "Permanent Rose_3" and "Museum of Prompt_2”. It prompts a contemplation on well-being and the human condition within the digital transformation of our interactions and creative expressions.
I am drawn to the imperfect interplay with ambiguous prompts, a fascination that birthed "Museum of Prompt_6". In this piece, I challenge: "Depict the face of a memory that has yet to occur." The application of glitchy text over the visual output not only pays homage to the groundbreaking aesthetics of Andy Warhol, John Baldessari, René Magritte, and Joseph Kosuth, but also interrogates the nature of creation itself. This method—placing text atop the generated visual—serves as a new creative language. It questions both the mechanics of creation and the interpretive process of the viewer, probing the depths of how we perceive and what we perceive as art.
Echoing Jean Luc Godard’s insight that "a film should have a beginning, a middle, and an end, but not necessarily in that order," we must move beyond questioning whether AI is art. Inspired by Marcel Duchamp’s "Fountain", our inquiry should evolve towards what art—and we ourselves—might become in this transformative era of AI. This contemplation invites us to redefine the boundaries of artistic identity and explore new paradigms of creative expression.
Lemon Yellow
Museum of Prompt 2
Museum of Prompt 6
Permanent Rose 3