OBVIOUS

Biography

Obvious is a French trio of artists and researchers, Pierre Fautrel, Hugo Caselles-Dupré, and Gauthier Vernier, whose work explores the creative possibilities of artificial intelligence by treating algorithms as full participants in the artistic process. The group made history on October 25, 2018, when their portrait Edmond de Belamy sold at Christie's for $432,000, the first AI-generated artwork to sell through a major auction house. Trained on a dataset of 15,000 historical paintings and generated using a GAN, the portrait of a fictional nineteenth-century figure was signed not with a name but with the mathematical formula of the algorithm that produced it, a gesture that reframed authorship itself as part of the artwork's meaning. Since that landmark sale, Obvious has expanded its practice across installations, visual experiments, and research-driven projects, and was among the first French artists to explore NFTs and blockchain-based art distribution. Central to their practice is an AI research laboratory developed in partnership with Sorbonne University, dedicated to building and studying new generative models for artistic use. This research foundation has led to collaborations such as their work with the Paris Brain Institute, translating brain activity into visual imagery through MRI data and machine learning, as well as performance-based projects that combine generative models with live theatrical expertise. Obvious's work has been exhibited at institutions including the Hermitage Museum, the National Museum of China, and the Musée de la civilisation in Québec, and the group is represented by Danysz Gallery.