Artist Takashi Murakami has used AI to recreate ancient Japanese paintings in his latest show. In his first solo exhibition in the UK for more than 15 years, Murakami, one of Japan’s most successful post-war artists, has recreated Iwasa Matabei’s epic gold leaf painting “Rakuchu Rakugai Zu Byobu,” which was painted onto a six-panel folding screen circa 1615. Like the original, it depicts life in Edo-period Kyoto in painstaking detail, from the buzzing red-light district of Misuji-machi to a cherry blossom procession crossing the Gojo Ohashi Bridge. But @takashipom has made a few key additions, including tiny anime animals scattered throughout, and each light-reflecting cloud embossed with even more of Murakami’s trademark flower people. It is a near-perfect copy of a painting designated a “National Treasure” by the Japanese government — rendered, in part, using artificial intelligence. A conversation ensued between AI and artist, as the program got closer to filling in the blank spaces accurately. “We went back and forth so many times until I thought it suggested a good answer,” Murakami said of the process, which from drawing the outline to painting the minutiae took around 10 months to complete. “Then it looked like a patchwork — a collage of AI images.” Tap the link in bio for more. 📸 : James Manning/PA/AP/Ben Stansall/AFP/Getty Images