Exhibit: WHY AI? The Digital Paintings of Elisabeth Trostli

Exhibit: WHY AI? The Digital Paintings of Elisabeth Trostli

Saturdays, October 3-31, 2-4 pm | FREE

Arts Advocates Gallery, The Crossings at Siesta Key mall, 3501 S. Tamiami Trail, Sarasota, FL 34239 | ArtsAdvocates.org

Elisabeth Trostli’s new exhibition, “WHY AI?,” explores artificial intelligence as a provocative new tool for expanding the artist’s imagination. The exhibition invites viewers to look beyond the technology itself and consider what it means to create art in an era when the boundaries between imagination, digital tools, and artificial intelligence are rapidly changing.

As an artist, illustrator, designer, and educator, Trostli has embraced digital technology as an extension of her artistic journey. Her newest paintings take that exploration further, incorporating AI alongside her own imagination, design sensibility, digital painting skills, and years of experience as an illustrator. Rather than treating AI as a replacement for the artist, Trostli views it as a new creative instrument—one that can suggest unexpected imagery, challenge preconceived ideas, and open doors to visual possibilities that might otherwise remain unexplored. The resulting works are not simply “AI images,” but finished digital paintings shaped through an ongoing dialogue between artist and machine.

“WHY AI?” also raises questions about authorship and originality. Who is the artist when a machine participates in the process? Where does the human creative act begin and end? Can technology inspire rather than diminish imagination?