The Corey Helford Gallery, in Culver City, California, is to play host to an exhibition by painter Josh Agle, also known as "Shag".

Entitled Animal Kingdom, the exhibition will display a number of Agle's paintings, created in his distinctive retro style. Each features one or more characters dressed as animals, including feline women, equine men, a boy dressed as a lamb, and men sporting antlers.

Agle found inspiration in the furry subculture and anime fandom:

I love looking into subcultures. [...] I love that people throw themselves into it wholeheartedly

Agle was particularly inspired by fursuiters, the subset of the furry fandom which dresses up in costumes, and intrigued by the notion that "people are 'hooking up' in costume at furry conventions":

In my paintings, I always try to reference our connection to our prehistoric selves as human beings. Since we're descended from earlier mammals, maybe these people are more in touch with their primal being.

Animal Kingdom's initial reception is scheduled for February 11; the show ends on the 29^th.

Five members of Fur Affinity staff announced their resignation yesterday:

• Photographurer, former photography department head
• Luftwoofe, former photography department administrator
• Writerwren, former writing department head
• Grammatist, former writing department administrator
• Silver R. Wolfe, former support administrator

All but Wolfe were brought from Furocity and placed directly into administration positions. Grammatist cited privacy concerns as the reason for his resignation; three others directed criticism towards the original FA staff members, and slammed Dragoneer for poor leadership.

Fur Affinity users are demanding answers after intruders stole and posted private message histories of over 40 users, including site owner Dragoneer and several staff.

All regular administrative access has been removed, and Dragoneer says it will not be restored until all problems are found:

Until we're 100% sure that the entire admin backend is revised, checked, double-checked and triple-checked we're playing it safe

The leaked notes appear both authentic and comprehensive, dating back to 2005, and their contents are already the subject of widespread debate.

In the second part of this piece, we will consider the rise of AI-generated art from a more subjective point of view, focusing on its ethical and societal implications. In the first part found here, we went over why AI models do not store and reproduce exact copies of the artworks they have been trained on.

Thank you to 'Yote, who has a PhD in computational biology, for providing feedback and fact-checking for this article.