How Austin Rewrote His Career
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ARAB TIMES, MONDAY, JUNE 28, 2021 NEWS/FEATURES 13 People & Places Art Giant Paris mural revival Rembrandt’s painting just gets bigger with AI AMSTERDAM, June 27, (AP): One of Rembrandt van Rijn’s biggest paintings just got a bit bigger. A marriage of art and artifi cial intelligence has ena- bled Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum to recreate parts of the iconic “Night Watch” painting that were snipped off 70 years after Rembrandt fi nished it. The printed strips now hang fl ush to the edges of the 1642 painting in the museum’s Honor Gallery. Their addition restores to the work the off-center focal point that that rebellious Golden Age master Rembrandt originally intended. “It can breathe now,” museum director Taco Dib- bits told The Associated Press recently. The crowded painting’s two main characters, Cap- tain Frans Banninck Cocq and Lieutenant Willem van Ruytenburch, are central in the chopped down painting. With the new digital additions — particularly a strip on the left of the painting that features two men and makes clear that a boy is looking over a balustrade — the main fi gures effectively are shifted to the right. “It really gives the painting a different dynamic,” Dibbits said. “And what it taught us is that Rembrandt never does Dibbits what you expect.” The museum always knew the original, uncut, painting was bigger, in part thanks to a far smaller copy painted at the same time that is attributed to Ger- rit Lundens. View of Rembrandt’s biggest painting the Night Watch which just got bigger with the help of artifi cial intelligence, (see added sides), in Amsterdam, Netherlands, Researchers and restorers who have painstakingly Wednesday, June 23. The Dutch national museum and art gallery Rijksmuseum reveals fi ndings from a long-term project to examine in minute detail Rembrandt pored over the work for nearly two years using a bat- van Rijn’s masterpiece the Night Watch. (AP) tery of high tech scanners, X-rays and digital photog- raphy combined the vast amount of data they gener- ated with the Lundens copy to recreate and print the missing strips. “We made an incredibly detailed photo of the Night Music Watch and through artifi cial intelligence or what they call a neural network, we taught the computer what color Rembrandt used in the Night Watch, which colors, what his brush strokes looked like,” Dibbits Usher’s success inspired songwriter to not give up said. The machine learning also enabled the museum to remove distortions in perspective that are present in the Lundens copy because the artist was sitting at one corner while he painted Rembrandt’s painting. How Austin rewrote his career Dimensions NEW YORK, June 27, (AP): It’s the leased in 2000, not only became a around the industry doing this.’ It just The reason the 1642 group portrait of an Amster- early ’90s and a preteen Johnta Austin hit on the pop and R&B charts — it motivated me to stick around and fi nd dam civil militia was trimmed is simple: It was moved is in the studio working on his debut is Pharrell’s No. 1 pick from Austin’s another way in.” from the militia’s club house to the town hall and there album with a pair of unknown produc- rich catalog. Austin co-wrote multiple songs it didn’t fi t on a wall between two doors. A bit of very ers named Pharrell Williams and Chad “To this day, every time I see Phar- on Janet Jackson’s 2006 album “20 analog cropping with a pair of scissors ensued and the Hugo. rell, he’s like: ’That’s my favorite Y.O.,” including the hits “So Excited” painting took on the dimensions that have now been Trading ideas, hearing beats and Johnta Austin song of all time,” Austin known for centuries. The fate of the pieces of canvas and “Call on Me.” writing melodies — along with a fu- said. “And then he sings it.” But one time in the studio, Austin that were trimmed off remains a mystery. ture Grammy-nominated singer-song- Pharrell remembers working with The digital recreation that will be on show in com- got a dance lesson from the pop icon. Johnta Austin poses for a portrait in writer named Joe — the artists were Austin in the early ’90s, telling the AP: “Fred Astaire is on the TV and then ing months come as part of research and restoration New York on Nov. 6, 2019. Austin has vibing out and creating magic. “Johnta just had an incredible (gift and project called “Operation Night Watch ” that began I see the move. He does this move and two Grammy Awards and has co-writ- Until Austin hit puberty. he) still has an amazing voice, and he’s I’m like, ’That’s where Michael got just under two years ago, before the global pandemic ten a handful of other multi-platinum “I got signed when I was 13, a great writer. He was talented then, at emptied museums for months. hits deemed R&B classics, including that move from! She’s like, ‘You’ve dropped when I was 15,” Austin ex- 14.” never seen this?’ I’m like, ‘No!’” Under relaxations of the Dutch COVID-19 lock- Mariah Carey’s ‘We Belong Together’ plained. “My voice changed and the Of those days, Austin remembers down, the museum can welcome more visitors from and Mary J. Blige’s ‘Be Without You.’ So Austin stands up and gives the (AP) administration that signed me left.” being in producer Dallas Austin’s re- dance a try. this weekend, but still only about half of its normal One of the songs he worked on for cording studio in Atlanta while “Phar- capacity. himself, the sultry R&B balled “Sweet rell was walking around in these big Teaching During the restoration project, the painting was en- cased in a specially designed glass room and studied Lady,” caught the interest of new sign- space boots.” “I’m playing around and she’s like, in unprecedented detail from canvas to the fi nal layer Variety ee Tyrese, who replaced Austin on the “They were young kids. I remember ‘No, no, no. You have to…’ She stands of varnish. RCA Records roster. Chad (Hugo) had to go back because up and I’m like, ‘What’s going on?’ Among that mound of data, researchers created the “I was like, ‘I don’t want to do a he had classes. He had to fl y back to Janet is teaching me how to do a move song for this guy.’ In my mind at this Virginia. Pharrell he was writing, Joe most detailed photograph ever made of the painting by SOUTHAVEN, Miss: A music manager that her brother did in a video. This is combining 528 digital exposures. time, this guy took my spot, even was doing the demos,” he said. crazy.” says someone has stolen $200,000 in cash, though we had never met each other,” Austin recalled the Neptunes duo The 1642 painting last underwent signifi cant resto- jewelry, credit cards and other property Austin said working with Jackson ration more than 40 years ago after it was slashed by a from his north Mississippi home. he said. working on some of their early suc- was a lifelong dream, especially be- knife-wielding man and is starting to show blanching WREG-TV reports Southaven police are But Austin put his businessman hat cesses at the time, including SWV’s “ cause he was always a big fan of her in parts of the canvas. investigating after the robbery at the home on and gave the song away. Released Use Your Heart,” which reached No. 6 music. Dibbits said the new printed additions are not in- of Michael Sykes. He was out of town at in 1998, “Sweet Lady” became a hit, on the R&B charts. “I’m getting called to work (with tended to trick visitors into thinking the painting is the time. earned Tyrese his fi rst Grammy nomi- “‘Use Your Heart’ was done in her) and she’s loving the material? It’s bigger, but to give them a clear idea of what it was Sykes said burglars entered his gated nation and helped his debut album go those sessions; Joe demoed that,” Aus- still hard to sink in when you’re sitting supposed to look like. subdivision and then entered his house platinum. tin said. “You can still hear some of his with these people,” he said. “The hu- “Rembrandt would have defi nitely done it more through a fi rst-fl oor window, possibly Fast forward nearly three decades old ad-libs.” mility that she has; she is open to ideas beautifully, but this comes very close,” he said. disabling his alarm system. after he fi rst was signed, Austin now and then nurturing you to be your best. There, he says they took credit cards, Performance ❑ ❑ ❑ has two Grammy Awards and has It’s great.” $36,000 in cash, Louis Vuitton luggage, co-written a handful of other multi- Imagine this: A teenage Austin and watches, and custom jewelry with the logo of Mariah Carey’s “We Belong To- A colorful human face emerges from waves like a platinum hits deemed R&B classics, Usher running the New York City gether.” Sykes’ company, Palm Tree Entertainment. streets, visiting open mic nights and call for hope above a Parisian street, in a giant mes- including Mariah Carey’s “We Belong “We Belong Together” was the No. sage of optimism from American and French street The thieves have been making charges Together” and Mary J.