ROBBIE BARRAT (B. 1999) AND RONAN BARROT (B. 1973)
Infinite Skull #21
UV print on plexiglass
7 4/5 x 7 4/5 in. (20 x 20 cm.)
Executed in 2018

L’Avant Galerie Vossen
Acquired from the above by the present owner, 2023

Paris, L’Avant Galerie Vossen, Infinite Skulls, Feb 07-11, 2019
Paris, L’Avant Galerie Vossen, Robbie BARRAT, 2018-2020, Feb 18-28, 2023

Infinite Skulls is a collaborative project between contemporary painter Ronan Barrot and artist-researcher in artificial intelligence Robbie Barrat. Barrot contributed 450 of his skull paintings, which were digitally scanned to train a generative adversarial network (GAN) developed by Barrat. This neural network learned from Barrot's works to generate new, unique images of skulls, resulting in a virtually limitless collection of AI-created artworks that mirror the style of Barrot's original pieces.

By juxtaposing Barrot's tangible, paint-laden canvases with Barrat's pixel-based, AI-generated images, Infinite Skulls prompts a dialogue on the intersection of human intention and machine execution in the creative process. The exhibition underscores that, despite AI's capabilities, human input remains essential at every stage of artistic development, as the machine lacks consciousness and intent.