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The Process

From hands
to algorithm.

Handmade smoke compositions. A custom AI model. Generative code reading real NASA imagery. Two processes, one continuous practice.

Selected Works

Four chapters.
One continuous practice.

I
The Source Every VEXA portrait began as one of these. Real smoke, shaped by hand in Adobe. The original language.
Inner Self, handmade smoke
Handmade Inner Self Adobe    Not AI
The Road, handmade smoke
Handmade The Road Adobe    Not AI
Disconnection, handmade smoke
Handmade Disconnection Adobe    Not AI
Lost Souls, handmade smoke
Handmade Lost Souls Adobe    Not AI
Touch, handmade smoke
Handmade Touch Adobe    Not AI
II
The Transformation A custom AI model, trained on years of these handmade compositions, learned to see a figure in smoke no one else could, then rendered a language of her own.
Chamber, VEXA 02
VEXA Chamber Cycle I    Grieving
Wormhole, VEXA 14
VEXA Wormhole Cycle I    Grieving
Milk Moon, VEXA 24
VEXA Milk Moon Cycle II    Weight
Energy Calling, VEXA 38
VEXA Energy Calling Cycle III    Liberation
III
The Daily Practice A second language, all in code. No training, no borrowed identity: a live smoke simulation reads its figure straight from that day's real NASA photograph, then two curatorial voices review it before it's shown.
The Eagle Nebula, daily VEXA NASA generation
Daily The Eagle Nebula NASA    2026-09-14
The Crab Nebula, daily VEXA NASA generation
Daily The Crab Nebula NASA    2026-09-09
Streaming Prominence, daily VEXA NASA generation
Daily Streaming Prominence NASA    2026-09-07
Seagull Nebula, daily VEXA NASA generation
Daily Seagull Nebula NASA    2026-09-17
View every drop →
IV
The Guardians A third language, drawn before it was ever generated. Physical pencil and charcoal, thirteen canon pieces, five given full motion as living video works.
The Witness, origin pencil sketch
Origin Sketch The Witness, Before Pencil    Not Generated
The Witness, Guardian II
Guardians The Witness Guardian II
The Sleepers, Guardian I
Guardians The Sleepers Guardian I
The Dreaming Passage, a Guardians living work
Living Work The Dreaming Passage Full Motion
View every Guardian →
V
The Curatorial Audit External validation before every piece is shown: the original 45, the Guardians, and each day's new capture alike.
AI Personas — Claude Christophe Cherix and Adam M. Levine are real institutional directors whose public positions and areas of focus informed this exercise. The voices represented here are AI personas generated using Claude, modeled on their documented institutional perspectives. These are not actual statements from either director, and no affiliation with MoMA or the Toledo Museum of Art is implied.
Christophe Cherix David Rockefeller Director, Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York

His central question: where exactly does the human process end and the AI begin, and is that boundary legible in the work itself? If the smoke DNA claims to be handmade-trained, it must be visible in the output. Process, editions, and the authenticating relationship between an artist's hand and the finished work.

Adam M. Levine Director, Toledo Museum of Art

His central question: will this collection hold its institutional and collector value as AI art matures and the market normalizes? Cohesion, legibility to non-specialist collectors, and whether the conceptual spine (NASA data, WE > ME, the grief arc) communicates without an artist statement in the room.

Joint verdict CONFIRMED