EASTENDERS actor Jake Wood has SHUT his art exhibiton amid a furious backlash over his inclusion of various AI images in his designs.
The art gallery in Brighton who had been hosting his designs confirmed in a statement yesterday that they had pulled the designs from view.
They cited “abusive” messages directed towards the gallery as they insisted the message and purpose of the exibition had become “lost”.
Jake, known for playing Max Branning in the BBC soap opera, had been showcasing his side hustle as an artist and designer in order to raise funds for Dementia UK.
But a backlash occurred as a result of Jake’s artworks seeming to be largely created by existing AI imagery.
Confirming that his exbibition is now over, Indelible Fine Arts in Brighton said: “It is with sadness that we announce the decision to end the Icons exhibition by Jake Wood at Indelible Fine Art.
“What was always intended to be a fun exhibition to raise awareness and funds for Dementia UK has over the last seven days, unfortunately escalated into what can only be described as horrid and abusive behaviour directed at ourselves as a gallery and the wider charitable cause involved.
“Along the way, the main message behind this exhibition has been entirely lost.
“In order to bring an end to the continual abusive messages, we have been left with no choice but to close the show.
“We kindly ask for your continued support as a small independent gallery.”
The gallery continued: “We will learn from this experience, continue to grow, and we will continue to support Jake on his artistic journey.
“We only wish we could have raised more funds for Dementia UK through this exhibition, but we hope to do so again in the future.”
The star recently began to dabble in the art world and displayed some of his recent work at the Indelible Fine Art exhibition.
However, he was soon met with a barrage of criticism after his works were found to incorporate AI images.
It led to speculation and discussion about how involved Jake was in his works and whether he had simply submitted AI-content for the exibition.
When called out, Jake confirmed he will no longer be using AI in his pieces as well as clarifying the reasons why he did in a lengthy statement.
Jake said online: “I think it’s important to address some of the discussion surrounding my exhibition currently on display at Indelible Fine Art Gallery.
“Whilst I acknowledge that two of the images featured in the exhibition,
Attenborough and Trump, incorporated AI- generated source imagery, these images were not personally generated by me and already existed prior to being used within the works.
“These particular pieces were created in 2024 and were not originally intended for inclusion in this exhibition.
“Since then I have not used AI within my artworks and do not intend to moving forward.”