Visual artist Paloma Rincon chooses liquid nitrogen over AI - and her work shows why
Paloma Rincon submerged flowers in liquid nitrogen at -200°C during a live performance at a photography festival, with no test run beforehand. The risk paid off. Flying petals frozen mid-shatter revealed details the human eye cannot see.
"It's incredible to see," she said, reflecting on the fractional-second captures. "You see something that the naked eye just can't."
Rincon's approach - hands-on experimentation in the physical world - stands apart in a field increasingly drawn to digital shortcuts. Her colors carry an unusual brightness. Her still-life work builds narratives through tangible materials and real-world friction.
Physicality beats distraction
Rincon gravitates toward still life because it offers control and creative freedom. She has experimented with AI and digital tools, but physicality remains central to how she works.
"When I'm engaging on something that's testing, like my hands are dirty, everything, I don't look at my phone, and I could be ignoring the rest of the world for ages," she said. "While when I'm doing something that's more digital and I'm at the computer, I could be more easily distracted."
The difference lies in feedback. Working with your hands creates a direct conversation between idea and material. Digital work, by contrast, distances the creator from that exchange.
High-speed photography shaped her vision
Rincon credits high-speed photography as the technology most influential to her style. Capturing a 1/8000th of a second reveals how materials behave and form - information invisible at normal speeds.
Professional camera rigs deliver this precision. Smartphones do not. "Smartphones are so good that they have made me lazy," she said. "But they don't produce the same images. They use algorithms and lenses that automatically apply colour grading to make images look great, but you lose a lot of depth."
Convenience erodes the friction that drives innovation.
Young creatives face a positioning choice
As AI tools flood the market, creatives must decide their role in a changing field. Rincon's advice is direct: think carefully about whether you want to be a technical player or a creative player.
"With AI and all this massive noise we're having, you really have to fight hard for what you want to do," she said. "Really think how you want to be positioned in this new world that's coming."
With free image generation now available, differentiation requires deliberate choice. What you use - and how you use it - determines whether your work stands out or blends into algorithmic noise.
The policy gap
Rincon flagged a broader concern: governments have largely stayed silent on AI's employment effects across multiple industries. Creative work, law, programming - all face disruption without clear direction.
"They're going too fast. And they don't know in which direction they're going," she said. "So we're just racing to get - we don't know where - just because the U.S. is competing with China."
Her work demonstrates that patience and hands-on risk-taking still produce results that algorithmic shortcuts cannot match. In a field moving toward instant generation, that distinction matters.
Follow Paloma Rincon on Instagram.
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