La Salle St After Hours

A few friends have played with, and posted the results of, ChatGPT. When I finally tried it, they said they were not taking new entries. Today I was allowed into the club.

I said, “please write an essay about the John Wright piece ‘La Salle St After Hours’.” What follows are two essays, one written by a human and the other by the AI. They were both written on a tight timeframe and unedited. Which is which?

#1
The bass line and cymbal figures immediately drew me in. The piano, playing on the bass keys, sets itself firmly in that groove. Soon I had an image dancing before my eyes.

It is late at night. I hear the occasional rumble of the El overhead. A man, bleary-eyed and weary, sits at the piano. The bar is closed; the band has gone home. His drink, now mostly melted ice cubes, still sits on the piano from the last set.

A smoky haze still hangs in the club. It smells of stale beer. He starts to play, squinting through the smoke of the cigarette that dangles from his mouth. He starts to play; tentatively at first, then it starts to pour out of him. He starts to shake, starts to sweat. The drummer reappears from the shadows. A drum roll, a crescendo, he tosses aside his cigarette and PLAYS. The piano is an extension of his soul and he plays what he could not bear to face, what the audience could not bear to hear. He swoops and he soars; into the depths of his despair and to the heights of his possibilities. The bass and drums are here, as with him as you can be with a man alone.

I am the busboy, standing in the shadows. I can’t bear to leave and go back to my work, can’t bear to step into the light and be seen. I can’t NOT listen – but I feel like an intruder. I stand transfixed as the music fills the empty club around me. I know what it’s like to be alone and lonely at 3 AM, unable to sleep and needing to get it out. And I watch his shirt soak through, and I see his suit stick to him from the sweat. And I know I’ll make it through another night, as the El rumbles overhead and the building shakes to its foundation, and the man at the piano shakes to his foundation.

#2
“La Salle St After Hours” is a captivating artwork by John Wright that captures the essence of Chicago’s financial district at night. The painting depicts a view of La Salle Street, a famous street in downtown Chicago, which is the heart of the city’s financial district. The piece is an oil painting on canvas and was completed in 1991.

One of the most striking features of “La Salle St After Hours” is its use of color. The painting is dominated by a warm yellow light that illuminates the buildings on the street. The warm tones create a feeling of intimacy and coziness that is juxtaposed with the cold, dark sky above. The contrast between light and dark in the painting is also evident in the deep shadows that are cast by the buildings. The shadows are so deep that they almost appear black, adding to the dramatic effect of the painting.

Another interesting aspect of the painting is the use of perspective. The buildings on La Salle Street are tall and imposing, and they seem to stretch endlessly into the distance. The perspective gives the viewer a sense of the sheer size and grandeur of the city’s financial district. This sense of scale is further enhanced by the fact that the painting is quite large, measuring 72 inches by 60 inches.

Despite the grandeur of the scene, there is a sense of stillness and quietness in the painting. The absence of people and cars on the street creates a feeling of emptiness and solitude. The only signs of life in the painting are the lights in the buildings, which suggest that there are people working late into the night. This creates a sense of mystery and intrigue, as the viewer is left to wonder what goes on in the offices of the financial district after hours.

Overall, “La Salle St After Hours” is a beautiful and thought-provoking piece of art that captures the essence of Chicago’s financial district. The use of color, perspective, and composition all work together to create a scene that is both grand and intimate, mysterious and peaceful. It is a painting that can be appreciated on many levels, from its sheer beauty to its deeper meaning about the workings of the city at night.

Which is human and which is AI? How can you tell? What’s the difference? The next post will explain.