Star Wars' Stormtrooper, an iconic symbol of anonymity and conformity, procures itself a membership by dressing up the colors and symbols of various soccer teams and their fans. The generative AIs that collaborated making the photo (trained in fashion, film, and sports) accentuate this clash, creating a somewhat distorted hyperrealism. "Soccertroopers" avoids moralizing, but instead asks: What is left when identity is reduced to a mere surface? When belonging becomes just another uniform to be worn?
Charlie Photobot [a pseudonym; the real name is not disclosed for curatorial reasons] is an Italian artist of the X Generation who uses mainly in the medium of photography. Born with a devotion to visual arts and the camera obscura, he has successfully reinvented himself several times since the 1990s. Founder, in 2011, of the Italian art collective “Foto Marvellini”, he currently fuses his surrealist inclinations with generative imagery.
