From the joy of a blank page to internationally acclaimed exhibitions, Mia Fendi’s journey reflects a lifelong commitment to creative exploration. Though initially recognized with awards for her art, Mia’s career took a detour through banking, marketing, and diplomacy—ultimately enriched by an MBA in Management. This diverse background has shaped her innovative approach to digital art, blending analytical insight with creative vision.
A single question guided her return: “What if Picasso painted Los Angeles?” This spark expanded into a journey to reimagine urban landscapes through the styles of the great masters. Mia invites you to experience this imaginative exploration, where AI bridges past and future, transforming familiar cityscapes into timeless art.
Exhibitions include New York, London, Paris, Amsterdam, Mexico, and Sarajevo, with upcoming showcases in Vienna and Dubai.
Mia was recently honored as one of the “115 Best Digital Artists of Our Generation”.
A dedicated Rotarian, Mia actively contributes to charitable events through her art, amplifying her impact beyond the gallery walls.
ART REVIEWS:
"Mia Fendi's work is a transformative blend of classical inspiration and digital innovation. As one of the '115 Best Digital Artists of Our Generation,' her art resonates deeply, capturing the essence of modern creativity while paying homage to timeless artistic techniques. Her selection for the Day of the Dead Exhibition at Oculus, WTC, is a testament to her ability to evoke profound emotion and cultural connection through digital mediums. We are thrilled to have her as part of this iconic showcase."
Lorraine Ye, Head Curator of HUG
"Mia has been an incredibly talented artist in our past exhibitions, and we were always thrilled to showcase her work. Her unique style and creative expression have consistently added great value to our events, and we couldn't be happier to have had her as part of our artistic community. We look forward to continuing our collaboration and celebrating her future achievements."
Gulsum Keskinoglu, gallery owner
New York Exhibition
“Where Brushstrokes Meet Algorithms”
THE ART OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
For most theorists, the phenomenon of art is like the middle member of hierarchy, the best helper on the path to truth, at its core, it is the pleasure and joy of true understanding, and this understanding must continue to develop alongside human progress.
The terms 'modern man' and 'modern society' have been used for centuries because every human advancement is characterised as 'modern'.
It is true that every new era, invention, movement, and technological advancement often invokes fear in the public, fearing the domination of the new over the known. The appearance of photography was seen as the death of painting, which did not happen, so all opinions that art can be replaced are also wrong, as long as humanity exists, it’s spirit, there will be art - therein lies its survival.
However, the human tendency towards development and change shifts the boundaries of his actions in the field of art, as a result, we have the art through the periods of the 21 centuries, with dozens of directions, thousands of followers, and those warmly welcomed. Many individual artists, as well as entire new artistic directions, were condemned and not accepted by critics and the public. One of them was Fauvism, which was subsequently included in world art.
Today, in the 21st century, we live in a world marked by the greatest technological development so far, the use of various applications has become a necessary tool of modern society. The use of information technology has brought changes in various aspects of society, life, and work. Just as in the year 1445, the invention of the printing press by Johannes Gutenberg, which primarily served for the multiplication of identical copies of books, led to a kind of revolution that contributed to humanity. This invention started the spread of literacy and accelerated the flow of knowledge and information transfer. Similarly, the development of information technologies experienced an expansion when the internet became publicly accessible as a global network. Therefore, it is entirely expected that in the era of information technologies, we will take a step further.
The step further is the leap of the author of this project, who uses her knowledge and skills, as a lover of art and a creatively curious personality, sees the importance and role of AI in society and directs it towards promoting culture and preserving world artistic heritage in a different way. In dealing with the research of this developmental phenomenon, she comes up with the idea of using tools as a means of achieving a multi-layered goal.
The advantage of art itself is its freedom of expression and flexibility for each individual, and that is precisely its charm, so, M. Fendi, the founder of this project, places the art of great masters at the foundation, in the freedom of her aesthetic choice and the availability of AI, forms a new image of the Art of Artificial Intelligence.
Based on the above, it is necessary to emphasise the importance of such a project in the field of educational sciences, more precisely, the segment of fine arts in every educational system. Such an approach to get acquainted with art through the usage of AI, presented in such a way that it offers also an education as a new way of connecting material should be even introduced into the formal education process. In the importance of artistic education and its contribution within the educational system, the significance of a mutual relationship between traditional and contemporary approaches is clearly highlighted. This is in the sense that the development of intellectual and creative capabilities is made more fruitful through such a correlation. This implies a collective action because education nurtures, not just instructs, and in this constant process, it is essential to keep up with the times. This doesn't diminish the value of art or traditional methods, nor does it place them in a subordinate position. On the contrary, this is just another way to further advocate for the same in the lives of students, to promote it, and to make it accessible to a wider audience.
Given that art is not an exact science and that it's extremely complex to measure the quality of someone's artistic creation, and that it is elusive and difficult to explain, even for those who professionally deal with it their entire lives, the phenomenon of 'Art of Artificial Intelligence' must be viewed through additional, and even new, parameters for analysing artwork. Questions on how to maintain the individuality of free artistic expression can be posed, but not compared to what we have encountered so far, because the 'Art of Artificial Intelligence' is a contemporary and new way of manifesting creative charges, and it will result in exactly what it belongs to, thereby serving modern society and modern man.
As a theorist, scientist, and artist, I want to point out that visual communication follows the development of the human race from cave drawings to modern multimedia content. This project follows that development by offering multi-layered significance, goals, and tasks that support and promote the culture of art of all times in a new and modern way.
Maja Žmukić, PhD, Associate Professor
University of Sarajevo, Faculty of Educational Sciences
Skenderija 72, 71000 Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina
“Sarajevo in the style of the Great Masters - AI art by Mia Fendi”
How would Pablo Picasso, Vincent van Gogh, and Leonardo da Vinci paint Sarajevo? This question is sure to spark the imagination of many art lovers in the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina; at least those ready to explore the possibilities offered by the dizzying rise of technological tools in the first decades of the 21st century.
One possible answer to this hypothetical question is provided by the AI-generated cycle of images of Sarajevo, guided by the project's author, Mia Fendi. Of course, if we stripped the question of its "poetic freedom," it would be closer to this: How do available artificial intelligence platforms, directed by precise instructions, propose visual solutions for Sarajevo's vistas in the manner of the recognisable styles of artists whose artistic expressions are segments of world heritage and popular culture? This reformulated question certainly loses the magic of the more freely created question from the beginning of the text but helps us as it demystifies the striking enigma of encountering the images from the Sarajevo cycle, where depictions are in the style of some of the most prominent representatives of world art history.
The visual appeal of the works prevails in the first impressions of most recipients, and the aesthetic level is quite sufficient for those who focus on the decorative aspect of visual art: whether due to appeal or the emotional moment of closeness with the opus of certain greats brought into the context of their anachronistic encounter with familiar vistas.
In this, we already notice the complexity of possible interpretations and the relevance of the Sarajevo AI image cycle as a representative example of using artificial intelligence to create new works based on existing masterpieces of human cultural heritage. As with all social ripples that bring (or foreshadow) paradigm shifts, polarisation of opinions about them is inevitable; in the case of using artificial intelligence for artistic or – since art is a specific expression of the human spirit – at least creative purposes, there are two opposing camps: on one side are those who believe that artificial intelligence has no place in the spiritual realm of artistic creation, and on the other side are those ready to recognise new tools in technological possibilities as yet unexplored means of contemporary artistic expression.
For those who contemplate art more devotedly and deeply, beyond the surface layer of aesthetic elements, Mia Fendi, with her Sarajevo cycle, opens up current and relevant aesthetic questions. With her series Sarajevo, Mia Fendi opens current and relevant questions in the field of ontology of art.
The inquiries of her creative efforts delve into the thoughtful depths of the creative spheres of authentic expression, touching upon the magnificent cultural heritage of humanity and our relationship with it, all in the context of the changes brought by technological advancement as the backbone of new possibilities of our era. The fundamentally intriguing nature of this theme is also highlighted by the etymological closeness of the terms art and artificial intelligence – a phenomenon present not only in our but also in global languages; and language, as a key determinant of humanity, both reveals and conceals with its communicative (un)limitations.
Therefore, if we accept as a premise that curiosity is inherent in an artistically profiled being and return to the question in the opening sentence of this text – and whatever we think about (inevitably) coming changes – it is hard to resist the desire to really see how Leonardo da Vinci would paint Sarajevo.
(Translation of the exhibition catalogue text)
Ermin Lagumdzija, Art Historian and Curator
Bosniak Institute - Adil Zulfikarpasic Foundation
Mula Mustafe Baseskije 21, 71000 Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina