Photo Credit: David McClister

Over the weekend, Tedeschi Trucks Band turned up at Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Morrison, Colo., for a two-night stand at the venerable sandstone location. Prior to ensuing performances, poster art arrived, shared by the husband-and-wife-led ensemble via social media. This ultimately opened up a firestorm of commentary on the human aspect of the visuals, which were later deemed AI-generated. 

The poster art was produced by Brilliant Workshop, a so-called design studio with fewer than 150 Instagram followers and less than two months of online activity to support its endeavors. Brand director Chapin Atchison introduced the posters via Instagram, going so far as to call it an extreme honor “to unveil our latest artwork.” 

Atchison’s initial statement read, “This contrasting diptych is a set of love letters to the majestic Red Rocks venue, celebrating the eternal dance between nature and sound. Visualizing the unforgettable experiences and timeless memories of experiencing live music at nature’s greatest stage.”

“Each poster tells half the story, and together they sing. From Dusk to Dawn, the sun and moon rotate positions. The eagle and wolf trade places in the skyline and shadows. The eager crowd anticipates Derek, Susan, and the entire band taking to the stage. The landscape stands silent witness as the music comes alive where the rocks touch the sky,” he concluded. 

Fan comments surfaced on Derek and Susan’s official Instagram account, questioning the validity of human-created posters, a theme that has persisted and affected fellow Billy Strings, who was called out during his New Year’s Eve stand this past winter over AI speculation. Read more.

In their official statement addressing the controversy, Derek and Susan said, “Yesterday our fan community brought to our attention that the Red Rocks poster art may have been generated by AI. We would like to express our gratitude for our fans’ concern for the creative community. In our development process, we believed we were giving an artist with a reputable portfolio in other disciplines of art a first opportunity to create a gig poster.

We have been investigating the situation and have requested the artist to provide us with files outlining his creative process. At this time we have not received this information, and would like to apologize to the artist community that we find ourselves in this unfortunate situation. Going forward we will be refining our review process to prevent this from happening again.” 

Ending their comment, the pair turned a negative into a positive by shifting financial gains to benefit charity,  “We will be donating all proceeds from last night and tonight’s poster sales to Access Gallery.” Access Gallery is a nonprofit organization that assists its community by offering creative, educational and economic occasions for folks with disabilities harnessed to the arts.

For more information, visit the official website and make a donation. 

 
 
 
 
 
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A post shared by Brilliant Workshop (@brilliant.workshop)

 
 
 
 
 
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A post shared by Tedeschi Trucks Band (@derekandsusan)