digitally hand-made.
organically inspired.
wastia is the new home for the works of echo, a multi-media artist from minnesota.
the name we aren’t sure this is anything is part reference to a formerly-recurring bit on david letterman’s late show called is this anything? wherein artists would perform short vaudeville acts to music, and then dave and his band leader paul shaffer would debate if the act was or was not ‘anything.’
in the 2025 media landscape, in the face of the ever-increasing devaluation of both original works of art and of human labor in general, we aren’t sure this is anything is both a self-own and a genuine sentiment that reflects the uncertainty behind the creation of any new artistic venture amidst the dawn of artificial intelligence.
note regarding ai: all artworks are by myself (echo), handmade and crafted without using any ai prompts or generative models (any future exceptions will be appropriately notated as having used generative ai), using an assortment of digital image-creation software. while it is my firm belief that all artwork is iterative and based upon the cultures, histories, and creative works of those artists who came before us, and that all artwork is best when shared (thus why i license my works under creative commons), i do not inherently think that ai is incapable of creating culturally impactful works, similarly i do not believe that ai being trained upon the artwork(s) of other artists is inherently theft, because all artists use prior works as inspiration or reference, if not make use of them as cultural context for their own works. finally, and perhaps more importantly, i feel that ai is the inevitable evolution of technology within the global culture towards valuing technological dominance above not just generational experience, cultural context, but more importantly the value of human labor and human rights in general.
to share a film quote that is often on my mind: “we’re proud of ourselves, but when you think about it, our enthusiasm is a sham. we don’t want other worlds, we want mirrors (Solaris, 2002). likewise, the global tech overlords’ quest to build the smartest machines can only be as smart as all of the literature, artwork, scientific journals, mass media, social media, and whatever other culture it can vacuum up and quantify, but if it doesn’t know how to ask questions of the people who know those histories and sciences, or how to draw inspiration from the same sources as the artists it seeks to emulate, then it will only become another mirror into our society of mirrors.
thus, we aren’t sure this is anything. but like any artist, i create because i must.
-e