Courtesy G Leger Lovato
If you’ve been to any of Meow Wolf’s locations in Colorado, Nevada or Texas, chances are you’ve seen work by New Mexican artist G Leger-Lovato (Santa Fe’s House of Eternal Return was already up and running by the time Leger-Lovato joined the company). Leger-Lovato grew up in Taos and attended the Santa Fe University of Art & Design for a digital arts degree before that school closed in 2018. Today they’re what you’d call a concept artist, which is to say they help in the early process of fleshing out the worlds that will become fully-realized interactive exhibits at the arts corporation’s various installations. Leger-Lovato recently hit the seven-year mark with Meow Wolf, so given their years of service—not to mention the encroaching threat of AI that affects all artists—now seemed a good time to check in and learn a little more about their place in the arts world. This interview has been edited for clarity and concision. (Alex De Vore)
Can you give us an idea of the scope of your job for folks who maybe don’t know what a concept artist does?
As a concept artist, my work is predominantly used as a means to visually represent an idea, usually from the very beginning stages of development, when things aren’t really worked out yet. A lot of clients want someone who can visually identify what they’re describing—often in real time. Usually I’m sitting there sketching out what they’re saying, and I can take notes on what they think works or doesn’t, and that’s a process called ideation.
Once we get through the process of ideation, I can develop more refined concepts they can send to whoever, like executives, shareholders or people who will get excited and maybe fund their venture. It’s pretty diverse in that it doesn’t function like fine art; it’s a beginning and means to an end, so a lot of designs I do don’t see the light of day. There’s loads of my work sitting in a drive somewhere. And I know, even in my personal work, a lot is not going to see the light of day, but I’m happy to use my skills and hone them more…it’s like sketching in a sketch book, but getting paid to do it.
I’ve designed a lot of spaces for all of the [Meow Wolf] exhibitions, except House of Eternal Return. But I have rooms that are pretty close to my original concepts. I design a lot of characters, vehicles, objects and things like that. It’s kind of crazy seeing that stuff come to life and walking into a room after months or years designing.
Would seven years ago you, who was just starting at Meow Wolf, have any thoughts about how your career and portfolio have grown?
Yeah! I think seven-years-ago me would be pretty proud of me right now. I feel like I’ve grown a lot, and that’s through the nature of the job and drawing out ideas constantly and finding new ways to draw things faster or developing my skills in art fundamentals. I have found a niche where I’m always drawing, and I love to draw.
In college they described concept art as ‘visual development,’ and I was aware of certain processes to develop certain pieces of art—not in the way for something that’s going to be built or people will walk inside of, but I was trained for media like film and video games, stuff like that. So going into Meow Wolf, it was totally different, but in the best ways. I’ve been able to help create the concept art department with my senior director and manager and kind of break the molds of industry trends. It’s highly collaborative, and seven-years-ago me would probably flounder in my day-to-day now. So, yeah, I’m pretty proud I’ve developed so much.
Let’s talk AI. Are you one of these “death before AI!” artists, or one of the “it’s a good way to spark ideas!” artists—or neither?
I am definitely a ‘death before AI!’ artist. I personally witness people use AI and I understand how it works, but it’s not really helpful to me at all, especially with the specificity I need with a lot of my designs. It just doesn’t look great, and it kind of doesn’t feel like it creates an accurate representation of things.
I really don’t think those who use generative AI understand the gratification artists feel in the process of actually creating art. I know a lot of artists will tell you the process is more rewarding than the final product, and it’s about the emotion of breathing life into something that had not existed before while seeing the fruits of the years developing your technique come through. That is really special and rewarding.
I see with AI-generated imagery...human and animal and anatomical proportions are incorrect. It goes further, too. Lighting and shadows are questionable, it lacks the human touch, it feels plastic and rigid—you don’t see the strokes of paint and lines created by a human hand, or the real world conditions and places that inspired the artist while they were creating. You can sense that in a piece of art. It’s ingrained in our being to create pictures with our hands as a form of communication. We can do that just fine. It’s also not lost on me there is the human exploitation and cost of AI. The large amount of electricity and groundwater these data centers use that deprive communities of their resources? Or the research that shows prolonged use of AI can potentially hinder cognitive processes in young individuals? We kind of need to use our brains.
