Prof. Andreas Loeschner-Gornau
Video
"Slave Labor" Homage to Lucas Cranach the Elder by Andreas Loeschner-Gornau Acrylic on woodI paint only because I program. I program only because I paint.In the nineties of the last century I developed a software which incessantly is creating abstract "picture ideas" - composition.Like a slaveI painted these compositions after the presentation of the computer with paintbrush and acrylic paint on Wooden boards.So I created new pictures and drawings by the master of painting, Lucas Cranach. The software processes scanned images of the work of Lucas Cranach the Elder. The result is new paintings that were created by the software according to the master's style and his pictorial inventions.My software is now able to handle shapes and colour like an artist.People have become slaves to their computers. Artificial intelligence dominates society and the economy, finance and more. Machines are replacing thinking, humanity is becoming stupider and developing backwards into its abyss. Soon people will be slaves to machines. Then the machines will probably displace the artists. But what distinguishes humans from machines is feelings. Will machines also replace feelings with rationality and obedience?Lucas Cranach worked in a factory in the 15th century and during that time, he made woodcuts to illustrate pictures and texts for the bible. He was working with, Gutenberg who at that time developed the printing machine. It was an important part of an evolution, especially for the Church and the monks who were interested in books, as it took time to produce handwritten bibles. Printing, at this time was an important business, that is why Cranach and Gutenberg became rich in the area of Wittenberg, Germany.Wittenberg is an area that houses an important university and one of the professors there was Melanchton, who translated the Bible from Latin to Greek. Martin Luther, translated the bible from Greek to German. And Cranach and Gutenberg printed the Bibles translated by Martin Luther, the leader of the Reformist Movement. This has effected for the area to become rich and everyone was employed. Crananch was considered as the richest person in the area of Wittenberg in Germany. He also made illustrations for Martin Luther.To satisfy the Catholics and kings he also painted nudes and nymphs and designed for textile.He had a lot of contracts, so that in time- he had to employ so many artists to work for him. As there was high employment during his time, Lucas Cranach ran a large workshop and worked with great speed, producing hundreds of works, which gave way to provide employment (with the demand in his art works.)After the fall of the Berlin Wall, Wittenberg, or more precisely the federal state of Saxony-Anhalt, was considered the poorest federal state in Germany and had the highest unemployment rate.In the same tradition as Lucas Cranach, I wanted to solve the problem of unemployment in the artistic tradition of Cranach. So within two years I developed the "artist software" that is able to produce 4,000 pictures every night - New Pictures by the Master Lucas Cranach. In doing so, it could also solve the problem of unemployment. This software should give every unemployed person a book with color drawings and an explanation of how to paint a picture. The decisive factor for my project, however, is the number of computers required. With a thousand computers, around 4 million Cranach paintings are produced every night. In 2003 I wrote a letter to the German Chancellor and suggested using a thousand computers to solve the problem of unemployment, particularly in Saxony-Anhalt. The German Chancellor did not answer me. They preferred to pay welfare. Art is also something that stimulates thought. What politician wants a people who think independently? Ha ha ha. ha ha!