The iPigeon.institute "Journey Through Art History" Generative AI Online Art Exhibition (annotations coming soon).

 It's the year 2024. 

2025.

We'd had several months' lead up time, to this place in time (February, 2024), in which conversational AI, Search Assistance with AI, and AI featuring Large Language Models had been introduced to the general public, alongside various generative AI platforms, some of which promised to shake up many industries and professions, with users' minds being given a vastly new and competitive margin in creating content, whether it be audio, video / visual, or code-based, in nature.

Personally, I let a lot of the headlines come and go, as I'd been preoccupied with healing up, from my months in being homeless (I'm now housed), for the most part. That being said, I've now come across a neat platform for generative AI at labs.google (it's called ImageFX), in terms of image generation, via text prompt. I thought of some humorous and idiot concepts, pertaining to pigeon'ry, or, which would ostensibly include pigeons, in the rendered image. 

To my delight, some of the renders come out just fantastic, to be honest! I was truly impressed by some of the images that ImageFX returned. After a few go-rounds with the web-based platform, I decided that I could compile a "History of Art," of sorts, with all art works featuring pigeons, in place of humans, or that just have pigeons present in the image. 

This article begins as simply an uploading compilation of images, and I expect to update the art exhibition, intermittently (hopefully soon, maybe later today) with annotations and art historian insight and allegory, as though the reader is brought along, on a tour. Here are the images!

Van Gogh-styled Almond Blossoms.

Here, I drew inspiration from an Amazon product I came across, which is a 3D-printed nightlight that depicts one of Van Gogh's works that I hadn't previously been familiarized with.

I easily conceived of the pigeons amongst the blossoms, perched on the branches, done in Impressionist style, and the images came out beautifully, with Google Labs' ImageFX to render the pictures.

Creole Folk Straw Craft Pigeons.

I got the inspiration for this set of images while browsing through the Los Angeles Public Library's catalog of books for Creole-themed folk art. I came across Phyllis Galembo's book, Maske, with a gorgeous color scheme to these two eclectically-costumed figures. I didn't get to see the book, but the cover was very inspirational.

Phyllis Galembo: Maske - Books

Amazon.com

https://www.amazon.com › Phyllis-Galembo-Maske

The book features vibrant, beautifully lit mask and costume art, modeled by almost entirely anonymous people, captured in a photographic museum which appeals to ...

 Rating: 4.7 · ‎67 reviews · ‎$24.27 · ‎$5.99 delivery · ‎30-day returns

I decided to try out a query in ImageFX, to see what I could come up with, in the context of folk straw art and pigeons. 

The renders came out much better than expected! I'm inspired to learn straw-weaving, so that I can make authentic replicas of these straw pigeons, based on these images.

Lascaux Cave Art of Southern France

I felt that the original Lascaux cave art images were a perfect place to begin a journey through art history, since the images are commonly regarded as some of the chronologically first remaining evidence of artistry in modern man. Here, pigeons take the reins, as the imaginative figures of man's encounters and imaginations, with a slice of bread being eaten by the birds.

Classically-styled pigeon busts, featuring curly-haired wigs

The next style of artistry that I visit, here, is the classical white marble sculptural bust of a pigeon, with some notes of fashionable styles of a different period in our Western cultural and historic legacy; in this case, the powdered wigs, which became fashionable around the 16th century, amongst the social and cultural elite and aristocracy.

Giant Chinese Buddha-styled pigeons

One of my formative childhood memories was visiting my Cantonese (Chinese) mother's home of Hong Kong and nearby coastal Chinese areas. Memories that surface include the Chinese Buddhist temples, which stand as historical and cultural testament to China's former (and remaining) Buddhist monks, as well as some of their mannerisms, values, and establishments, such as rich aromas of incense, marketplaces, where food, handiworks, such as ink stamps and miniature jade stone carvings were sold. They also sell small fireworks, year-round, for children to play with.

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Roman frescoes featuring pigeons

This art history reference draws influence, locally, in finding inspiration still present, in society, in establishments such as J. Paul Getty's coastal home, which stands as a museum, here, nearby Los Angeles. The decorum of the classically-styled grand home and enclaves feature painted imagery of some effects of nature; in this instance, pigeons.

 Illuminated Manuscript Pigeons

Here and there, over time, as a website administrator, I check on the website's incoming visitor traffic geographic location data. In this instance, I had noticed that I had a couple of visits from Mayotte, a territorial division of France, located off of the Southeast coast of Africa. I explored some of the other global island territories of France, and I encountered Reunion, which is located in the Indian Ocean. Here, the illuminated manuscript texts feature song lyrics in Reunion Creole, describing memories of flowers as cultural offerings, as well as the singing of birds.

The Golden Pigeons of Russia's Hermitage palace and museum

I'd visited Russia, around the time I was 29 years old, or so, and my (then) wife took me to visit St. Petersburg, which has some rich cultural centers and historically and artistically significant establishments, such as the former monarch Saint Peter's palatial home. One of my memories piqued, from my visit to St. Petersburg's Hermitage palace, as it's known, was an antique mechanical peacock, which plays music, and is cast in gold, as the outer surface.

Two-headed taxidermy curiosities of St. Petersburg's Kunstkamera 

Also in St. Petersburg is a small museum, which features local, pre-historic anthropological information exhibitions, as well as some of the curiosities of the former monarch's interests, such as two-headed taxidermy figures, as some of the display pieces of the collection.

I finally got my room clean; it's midsummer, 2024.

 I have some undisclosed projects in the works and making, in here, and the management wanted me to do a way with my crumbs; I thought, "impossible, my crumbs, even?" But yeah, they were serious about it. I was laid up, in bed, since, like, the 12th, or something, but I finally got it done, come the 28th. I had a particularly hurt back, and it was a major undoing, since I would have gone to the hospital, yet I really could only barely get up to use the restroom, for at least a week. Thankfully, I got a considerate extension on cleaning up my room. It hadn't really been such a case, with former places, where I'd been housed. 

Anyways, I'm trying to maintain (or, establish) my standardized sort of outgoing performance expectation, for a given work day, which is generally every day, in many cases, because I have upkeep and novel distractive expenses pop up, and, on that note, I'll disclose a not-so-secret divertimento of my inner psychological aspirations - I kind of play mock-up pop up shop tables against my inhibitions, but this month's (upcoming month, that is) would-have-been (supposedly) opportunity, for a person to set up pop up shop stuff comes too early, before, well, every month, it comes early. I have to get used to that, but only "just maybe." I think that the local economy won't stomach that one, all that much - the street farers. There's brick and mortar establishments that are at feature, in this context. 

Anyways, I felt that I could use some help, bolstering my purpose and self-esteem, about someday doing a street side pop up thing, or, perhaps, it would be somewhere "outta town..." because, well, I just estimate that people would be like that, out here - otherwise preoccupied and taken care of, well enough to not entertain the local... hmm. What's my flavor of homeless person, now? I'd have to consider. "I still know that this guy is still, even recently, a hard-core trash-diggin'." A treasure hunting bum, still, lately. But I bought a new jacket, this past month - that's why things are different. 

This is the breakdown of my wish list of expenses; I'm mostly interested in the 5 major fragrance ingredients that I'll be procuring, ostensibly, for individual, small-container retail. But, actually, the zeolite is pretty exciting, also, if you know zeolite. I can't divulge the source, outright - perhaps you'll be fortunate in discovering it, in some way, as I'd also discovered it.

I've been in the habit of assembling a picky-picky wish list of expenses, month in, and month out, recently. This one is my latest.

What are you guys allocating your funds towards, this summer? For the welfare demographic, it's all about the day that the benefits come in, and, as for myself, I've been doing a fragrances haul. These would be a lovely scent experience, for the passersby <_<... something like that. If I could do some things better, I would, but I'm nearly just suitably "packed," or chock full of as much as I'd like to have, of fragrance resources, for my marketing persona development cycle to have run its course, in this sort of thing. I'll be better next month, I figure, and I'm getting there, little by little.

Thanks for reading!

Local DTLA Pigeon Genetic Milestones - Academic Evidence

 As it's been around 7 years that I'd been visiting the local Downtown Los Angeles pigeon flocks and keeping this blog, several breeding seasons had come to pass, with some distinctions in the subsequent offspring of the pigeons that had been living back then now prominently mixing in to the general showing of the birds (I estimate that the local flocks' birds will see an average lifespan of up to 10-15 years, since they're cared for, on a distributed and daily basis). 

What does this mean? 

It means that the pre-existing birds (adults and wild pigeons) are seen, side-by-side, demonstrating what the University of Utah's Pigeonetics website documents as genetic variations, due to some or other particular conditions; genetic development conditions, as it were.

"Snooker," as I've named him (I've discerned that he's male, over time, due to his behavioral traits and his mating-act positioning of himself as the dominant partner), pictured here (below), earlier on, in 2024, with what could be his offspring (above); a more young and less developed bird, as the birds are capable of improving on their inherited genetics with suitable nutritional and conditioning support, during their lifetime. Snooker is perhaps a year and a half old, or so - I noticed him at the library beginning last year, in 2023. I was surprised to see his genetic likeness in this other, young bird, which left the flock, after some weeks. The genetic variant of this style of pigeon is perhaps known as as "Pakistani High Flyer," with various marks of genetic distinction being apparent, given a common wild pigeon.

The University's website does a fine and entertaining quick read on genetic variants, as well as some of the conditions under which some of these variations occur, in the birds' pedigrees. Some of the conditions require multiple breeding seasons, as well as chance and distributed mating efforts - keep in mind, pigeons are bound to relatively simple behaviors, given that their outdoor wildlife hobbyist environments are coupled with some challenges and strife, from naysayers to their well-being. This being the case, 7 years is plenty of time for these birds to have mixed, and - one can observe, on any given day, the richness in variety that the birds' plumage and other ornamentation, such as their eyelids, leg feathers (my mother would call this feature their "pants"), as well as frills and beak shape and size differentiations. 

I call this one "Redbeard," for his unique decorative facial plumage. Redbeard is a fun and friendly bird; I spot him sometimes breaking the ice, so to speak, on a day-by-day basis, by flying "at" me, excitedly, ostensibly, because I bring them tasty sweets, mostly pastry type items, and cookies. It's a sign of the promise of youth, of the birds, in renewing their numbers, year in and year out, of that perhaps we will see them though as someday hand-tame birds, under some circumstances, at least. It's happened before, at least, quite nearly so, but there's been a lot of other things going on, around their daily habitat environments. This being the case, I do make it out to feed them pretty regularly, nearly every day, given a month, or so, so that's good conditioning towards these local Downtown Los Angeles birds becoming tamer, over time. Redbeard is very sociable-curious, as the flocks of pigeons around him, since his upbringing, have been relatively large; anywhere from 25-100 birds, I'd estimate, show up for the feedings around him. I estimate Redbeard's age to be 1-3 years old; I just started noticing him, in particular, this year.

Given time left to themselves, (in a theoretical setting), pigeons will revert to their wild state, in appearance. These genetic variations are considered domesticated and fancy traits. My take on these flocks is that they can be fancy, moreso than domesticated, for beginners, given that there are still threats abound, for the birds, being likely. Beyond that, civic support for the birds would ostensibly grow, organically, given that they are wildlife, and, as well, being that they're taken care of, as best as they can be (I clean up, after them, on a regular basis, and other people provide them with water dishes regularly, as well). 

A prominent monochrome-colored black-feathered pigeon, which is one of the markers of genetic variance that occurs, under controlled care circumstances, here, amongst many other pigeons, for reference. This flock is situated just outside of downtown LA, but they're more free to perch and peck around, in their daily habitat environment, without being harassed. As a result, their behavioral traits and mannerisms are more gentle, naive, and open to sociability.

Check out the University of Utah's site, as the information there will assist most readers in understanding the sort of information discussed here, in a more pragmatic and straightforward manner of explanation, as it was the source of my realization of the developments discussed here, and there are simple, page-by-page discussions that are navigable, with pictures and or charts included on each page. It's really a well-done explainer site, that serves the purpose of demystifying some of the complexities of pigeon pedigree development and establishment.