Clemens Maurer, curator of visual dreams, blends a lifetime of design, photography, and illustration with AI to conjure images that turn the ordinary into the extraordinary, offering fresh perspectives on everyday life and contemporary culture. His visual eclecticism reflects a restless curiosity that wanders freely through worlds and disciplines. Drawing on a diverse range of influences, his art pulses with otherworldly energy, where texture and form converge in enigmatic, evocative compositions that feel like portals to parallel universes.

1 Your images sit between fashion, pop and contemporary visual culture.
How does that mix influence your creative process from idea to final image?
That mix is a huge influence, both conceptually and visually. My ideas often stem from fashion, pop, or contemporary visual culture, and the aesthetics of those worlds also shape how I guide the AI. I draw on their codes and visual languages, combining them to create something that feels familiar yet slightly off. This interplay helps me move from a loose idea to a compelling final image that resonates on multiple levels.

2 Are there particular worlds you keep returning to – fashion, film, photography – that shape your visual taste?
I’m drawn to visual worlds that carry a sense of enigma, images that resist being fully understood at first glance and operate on multiple levels. I find inspiration in movements like Surrealism or Pop Art, and in fashion that reshapes or redefines the human body in sculptural ways. These influences shape my taste and push me toward creating images that don’t offer answers, but rather raise questions and encourage deeper reflection.

3 Your background spans illustration, design, and photography – how does that visual culture guide your AI creations?
Working with images of all kinds for over thirty years has created a vast well of inspiration within me, from which everything emerges, often through the combination of seemingly unrelated elements. This experience shapes how I perceive and evaluate images. It helps me guide the AI toward a specific visual clarity or emotional resonance and helps me to filter the results, selecting those that align most closely with my vision.

4 Are there visual obsessions or recurring references you find yourself drawn to, even unconsciously?
Yes, definitely. Much of my work gravitates toward the human body, it’s a recurring anchor in my visual language. I’m fascinated by how we, as individuals, are shaped and influenced by social, cultural, or technological forces. Even without realizing it, I often return to the figure, whether isolated or interconnected, as a canvas for these dynamics. Bodies reflect identity, memory, fragility, and strength, themes I continually explore in visual ways.

5 Your images often feel impeccably polished yet slightly uncanny. Do you intentionally create this tension between beauty and unease?Oh yes, that tension is very much intentional. I like my images to work on more than one layer, to be visually striking at first glance, but to reveal something stranger or more unsettling the longer you look. I’m drawn to juxtapositions, beauty and unease, elegance and distortion, because when they mix, something new can emerge. I find this friction extremely exciting and inspiring.