Otto, the fifth in an ongoing series by the artist, is an homage to robots and artificial intelligence, from ancient myths to modern day cyborgs and machines. Inspired in part from Talos, the ancient Greek giant bronze man, who guarded the island of Crete, to sketches made by Leonardo da Vinci of an automated suit of armor, and even to the Tin-Man of the Wizard of Oz. Kuksi brings together a form of robot-knight hybrids, with personalized adaptations to each as a unique one a one-of-a-kind creation in this series. Otto, made from high quality cast resin, includes fine surface details, smaller scale figural adaptations, and hand painted applications all in his trademark mixed-media assemblage technique.
At first glance, Otto is reminiscent of Kuksi’s Howitzerhead series relating the creation of a dystopian militarized version of machine learning or AI within an established rank. Human heads are replaced with tank-style turrets, reflecting a perfect soldier scenario where aggressive expression of authority and power is the preferred form of communication, as well as a dismissal of nonconforming logic and emotion. Many visionary writers such as Philip K. Dick, Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury, and others have asked similar questions in such stories as “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep” and “I, Robot”. Otto calls into question the validity of assistant technology and the tradition of creating non-living automatons with the purpose of improving the lives of humans. Though we have witnessed very recently in the modern world advanced artificial intelligence becoming sentient, will we eventually find our technological creations to be become problematic just as many visionaries predicted.
Otto is an edition of 50 and will be sold exclusively via Shopify. As each work is unique, there will be no way of seeing your purchase in advance. Prices are $650 plus $50 for domestic shipping, and $100 for international orders. Please note: WE CANNOT SHIP TO PO BOXES. New York residents will also add sales tax on top of this price. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to us. Each piece will come with a protective acrylic case and will be signed and numbered by the artist. Each edition is approximately 7.5” h x 3” w x 3” d within the acrylic display case.
At first glance, Otto is reminiscent of Kuksi’s Howitzerhead series relating the creation of a dystopian militarized version of machine learning or AI within an established rank. Human heads are replaced with tank-style turrets, reflecting a perfect soldier scenario where aggressive expression of authority and power is the preferred form of communication, as well as a dismissal of nonconforming logic and emotion. Many visionary writers such as Philip K. Dick, Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury, and others have asked similar questions in such stories as “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep” and “I, Robot”. Otto calls into question the validity of assistant technology and the tradition of creating non-living automatons with the purpose of improving the lives of humans. Though we have witnessed very recently in the modern world advanced artificial intelligence becoming sentient, will we eventually find our technological creations to be become problematic just as many visionaries predicted.
Otto is an edition of 50 and will be sold exclusively via Shopify. As each work is unique, there will be no way of seeing your purchase in advance. Prices are $650 plus $50 for domestic shipping, and $100 for international orders. Please note: WE CANNOT SHIP TO PO BOXES. New York residents will also add sales tax on top of this price. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to us. Each piece will come with a protective acrylic case and will be signed and numbered by the artist. Each edition is approximately 7.5” h x 3” w x 3” d within the acrylic display case.