FOREST WEED| WORLD'S FIRST AI CREATED CANNABIS ARTWORK

Melbourne's The Cannabis Company and artist Tom White reveal the world’s first Cannabis painting created in the eye of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Painted on 100% Hemp Paper with eco-friendly water-based inks.

This exclusive Australian artwork series is the first of its kind in the world. It identifies how computers imagine cannabis, AI has become a new gateway for the expression of art and now, our love of the beautiful cannabis plant.

"We want to break bounds, go beyond the constraints of the four walls many are familiar with" states Marketing Assistant Christy Wachs. "The cannabis paintings show us how a machine, without any human interference, has interpreted over 1000 images of the wonderful plant and establishing how cannabis, perhaps even partly how the world, is observed by artificial intelligence." These paintings are an expression of the new era in which the world is heading, and it started here in Australia. The artist Tom White further explains that "Humans have always carved out for computers how to navigate data and report it back to us, but for the first time, we allowed the machine to tell us what is right – What does cannabis actually look like in the eye of a computer?"

Forest Weed Artwork

The Forest Weed limited edition artwork was created by the incredibly talented Tom White using AI (Artificial Intelligence) and computer algorithms. Tom allowed the machine to develop its own unique and creative interpretation of cannabis-based on a collection of over 1000 photos of the plant.

Only a finite number of paintings have been made, 60 small canvases in total, each in a limited-edition series of 20. For the serious collector, there are four large stretched hemp canvases, and every painting is adorned with an original sample of the computer-generated cannabis abstractions. Yet, each piece is as exceptional as the next, created on 100% pure hemp paper using non-toxic and eco-friendly inks, sourced from the best Aussies around. The colour palette in each painting is custom blended to achieve the brilliance of the AI Cannabis representation. The artwork series explores a new world of reality that allows us to view what computers perceive comparable to humans.

The Artist

Tom White began his days as an artist in the classrooms of MIT majoring in Graphic Design and Computer Sciences. His artistic interests lie in visual abstraction created with and recognised by computer vision systems, simply put: How machines see the world.

His fascination stems from his fondness of finding creative uses of computing, but also discovering how computers interpret our world in the absence of human intervention. The Forest Weed artwork's composition of line and colour is carefully selected by neural networks identifying the most relevant representation of cannabis, a first of its kind.

The art project was a 3 months process Tom undertook with AI algorithms that were also cross verified with Google's recognition systems. Each painting is comprised of four layers of ink to achieve their own distinct palette with unique hand-mixed ink.

The Materials

The Cannabis artwork series is entirely made from products sourced from Australian businesses. The inks are water-based from Permaset, an Australian premium eco-friendly supplier of safe-for-drain inks that avoids toxic substances such as ozone-depleting chemicals: CFC's and HCFC's, aromatic hydrocarbons or any volatile solvents. The water-based inks do not contain PVC and phthalates, which are dangerous to the environment and are proven to cause medical issues.

The canvas and paper stock is supplied from Hemp Gallery Australia, a sustainability-focused business of ethically sourced, organic and hemp-based products. The mother-daughter duo behind the company are firm believers in an environmentally sustainable future that starts with hemp, and we couldn't agree more. The material used to create the artworks are made from 100% hemp.

The Idea

The concept is a ground-breaking new series from The Cannabis Company and explores cannabis in a new realm, the first of its kind in the world. The artwork itself is a representation of a new and exciting art form that has captivated people globally and integrates a powerful growing technology called AI (Artificial Intelligence).

What initiated the project was our love for the cannabis plant and our mission to unite as many people with cannabis as imaginable. Art is a language which can be understood by anyone; unconstrained by the laws and rules of our modern world and subject to the freedom of creation. All humans possess emotions that can be evoked by various things, but what if a feeling is absent and the art is purely technological? How would a computer describe the plant without all the misconceptions and prejudice often found with cannabis? What would cannabis look like from an impartial perspective?

In an attempt to understand the raw code behind machine learning, our artwork series examines a new world of reality, where we can now view what computers see comparably to humans. The incredibly sophisticated AI technology created only a finite number of abstractions of the cannabis plant. It cannot be repeated again, making these paintings genuinely iconic. 

The Technology

Tom White endured three months of collecting photos and developing algorithms that would define the process and ultimately lay down the creative abstractive imagery of cannabis. His interests have always existed within the realms of visual abstraction created with and recognised by computer vision systems.

Tom is pioneering an art form that leads us on an original exploration of artistry and cannabis humans have yet to conceptualise. Tom derived the electric fan painting by using the same technique as with the cannabis artwork, visually abstracting an electric fan through the lens of AI.

Just as painter Renè Magritte once challenged the idea of what reality is with the painting "This is not a pipe", the cannabis artwork also alludes to what an alternate reality may look like.

The Scientific/Creative approach

The Cannabis Company couldn't envision a more electric outcome working with Tom. This revolutionising artwork, even though abstract, is clearly identifiable as to what it is – for both computers and humans. Recognisable worldwide by third-party recognition systems such as Google's Vision AI, these systems can identify the concepts of the abstractive painting and decide that the algorithms used are universally understood by all AI systems.

So, what defines cannabis?

It's the distinct colour, plant features such as leaves, but most notably the genus: Hemp. This cutting-edge method of creating art through AI and recognition via online computer systems introduces a brand-new concept to the world. The artwork series is an unspoiled creation that sits at the intersection of the art and tech world, and has now solidified its place as the very first of its kind, and will never be re-created again.

That's Why...

...each limited-edition canvas is made of pure 100% premium quality hemp canvas supplied by the Aussie mother-daughter owned company Hemp Gallery, who share many of the same values as The Cannabis Company - an environmentally sustainable future starts with hemp. The paints used are entirely water-based and from the Aussie premium ink supplier Permaset. They are behind some of the eco-friendliest inks around containing no PVC or phthalates.

Tom's artistic abilities allowed for each painting to have its own distinct colour palettes through creating his own custom mixed colours and applying four layers of ink to achieve the unique colour scheme the AI system developed. Tailoring every canvas to illustrate its utmost form of rarity. Each canvas is adorned with an original painting from the AI system, hand painted making each painting unique and 100% Aussie based.

Tom’s artistic abilities allowed for the paintings to have their own distinct palette through creating his own custom mixed colours and applying four layers of ink to achieve the unique colour scheme the AI system developed. Tailoring every canvas to illustrate its utmost form of rarity.

Cannabis Artwork – Exclusive Range Details

The cannabis artwork is comprised of three different prints on pure hemp paper (297x420mm) each in a limited edition of 20 and 4 large stretched hemp canvases (594x841mm). It’s limited to one-release and will not be subject to any re-prints ever. Free shipping is available worldwide and the artwork will be sent flat packed via registered post.

For more information go to: https://cannabiscompany.com.au/products/forest-weed-worlds-first-ai-creation-of-cannabis

For media inquiries contact:

Christy Wachs

Marketing Assistant

The Cannabis Company

Email: c.wachs@cannabiscompany.com.au

Phone: 1300402420