Gurugram artist behind AI portraits of men and women from Indian states: I don’t make stereotypes, I make art

Artist Madhav Kohli has become a viral sensation since his AI recreations of men and women from different Indian states got talked about on social media. Among the social media users, some Bollywood celebrities have also took notice of his work and tweeted their views.

“Memes are the language of the internet,” says Madhav Kohli, a Gurugram-based artist who has gone viral on social media for using Artifical Intelligence (AI) to generate stereotypical portraits of Indian men and women from different parts of the country. The work of this 24-year-old who has studied filmmaking became the topic of discussion as many parodies came up to mimic his art. Kohli, however, says: “I just put in stereotypes to start a conversation. I don’t believe in these myself, but these are the thoughts prevalent in the society.”

AI recreations of men and women from different states, by artist Madhav Kohli, have been viral on social media. Seen here is the artist interpretation of a Delhi woman and man, based on the stereotypes about the Capital. (Photo: Madhav Kohli/Twitter)

Artist Madhav Kohli says he himself doesn’t believe in stereotypes, but can’t dismiss their existence in our society.

One of his artworks, depicting a Goan man adorned in a colourful outfit holding a drink has incited mixed reviews. While several Goans argued with Kohli, on Twitter, about being pigeonholed as “party animals”, actor Chunky Panday’s response to it was: “Want to be so colourful!” This reaction, for Kohli, was quite surreal as he excitedly quips: “I thought Chunky Panday was trending because of a film being released! Least did I know that it was related to my work.”

Actor Chunky Panday shared Kohli’s portrait of a Goan man with whom he seemingly has a striking resemblance. (Photo: Twitter)

Among other celebrities who commented on this thread is actor Tiger Shroff, who was compared with the AI generated Haryana man. Kohli says: “I didn’t even know that Tiger Shroff also took notice of this and has commented. I’ve been flooded with DMs, so many from verified accounts! I think Balaji Srinivasan (American entrepreneur) DM-ing me was the peak of it all. But all this wasn’t overnight for me. It was the result of two years of extreme hard work.”

Kohli used AI to generate a stereotype of Haryana men, which got compared with actor Tiger Shroff by social media users. (Photo: Twitter)

The fame is not getting to Kohli’s head, but he sure feels that some of the reactions are indeed unsettling. “I was criticised for portraying a Bengali woman as dark. I got DMs saying Bengali women are known for being beautiful. Beauty and dark skin are not mutually exclusive,” he opines, ruing how artists are often not credited with their complete name.

Kohli’s AI recreation of a woman and man from Uttar Pradesh. (Photo: Madhav Kohli)

Ask him about the reaction from other artists, and Kohli says the response is in equal parts support and disdain. Calling out those who credit AI-generated work as pure digital genius, he adds, “People think AI does all the work, but it’s just a tool just like Photoshop. It’s my effort that goes unrecognised by some. There has been gatekeeping at every point of innovation. But this doesn’t bother me, and I’m going to continue to work and create art that can be perceived as both memes and dialogues.”

Author tweets @KritiKambiri

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