A vendor named Oriana Gerez Art was escorted from Dragon Con 2025 after being accused of selling AI images as original art over the weekend. Gerez Art is located at the A10 booth of pop artist Alley, and according to photographer Pat Loika, “After the complaints came in, I was asked to present a process video and sent to AI video.”
“(Bender) lied when he applied for the booth. He probably used his girlfriend’s name. After the complaints came in, he was asked to present a process video and sent an AI video.
Artist Sean Crystal (@inkplulp) has created a post that denounces the art of Oriana Gerez, a company selling AI images.
“We’re sharing screenshots of sales this weekend, but we don’t need to show the loser explaining it.”
“You don’t sell sh*t and you’ll break forever. Enjoy being a broken bitch.
After the spread of the incident and the rage of the internet spread, Oriana Gerez Art privately made her Instagram account private and deleted her resume from the official page.
The move has sparked widespread comments on social media, with police footage being widely shared. The expulsion of artists was widely welcomed as a human victory.
Dragoncon remains undefeated.
– Dane🔜Dragoncon Comics and Pop Artist Alley A11 (@monkeyminion.com) 2025-09-01T19:44:00.931z
There were a lot of social media posts like this video, but it was hard to clarify how exactly all of that stuff unfolded.
Monkey Minion creator Dane Ault has also posted an account on Bluesky.
I was next to the Dragon-Con AI Slop booth, and all I got was this ugly T-shirt. They were in booth A-10. I was on the A-11. This is what happened from my perspective.
– Dane🔜Dragoncon Comics and Pop Artist Alley A11 (@monkeyminion.com) 2025-09-02T23:33:50.659z
His entire account from the next booth has been reformatted as text, but the post holds a break.
I was next to the Dragon-Con AI Slop booth, and all I got was this lousy T-shirt.
So, as you may know, there was a booth selling AI slop images printed on Dragoncon acrylic panels. They were in booth A-10. I was on the A-11. This is what happened from my perspective.
On Thursday, people in charge of the space (young women, young men, older women, older men) appeared, clearly unhappy with the layout of the area. Once they installed the walls of the pro panel, they began to have problems as their equipment was of the wrong size.
The staff came and told them to rearrange it, and they did, but they weren’t happy. When we were preparing to leave, they were beginning to put products on the wall, and what they started was clearly made by people, not my preference.
Messy painting of pop culture characters with abstract brush strokes and graphic style text. It’s not about me, but that’s how art works. There’s something for everyone. This will be important later.
On Friday we went in and although we couldn’t see the young woman, Oriana (named at the booth) and the older man, we weren’t seen anywhere, there was a young man and an older woman who helped set up. But there were different things in the booth.
The painting was still there, but so were new images of various anime and comic characters, exclusive man and Snoopy, all the blue blurs and strange details and different numbers of fingers. I quickly recorded it as an AI but was too busy on a Friday to get away from my table
Too tired of asking someone about it (thank you, Dragoncon!), and nearby shows to track someone. I told the guy in charge of the booth, “So, how many different artists do you represent? Because I look like six different styles here.”
He replied, “Only her (older woman)’s daughter and son.” Riiiight.
On Saturday we came in and tracked down the staff and said, “The booth next to me sells AI. I know Yall has a policy on it, so you wanted to know.
Again, Saturday was crazy, but I saw AA people jumping in and checking out the products in the booth next door. They took my observations seriously and said they at least investigated them.
Sunday came and I looked around more AA people, but the booth was still up. So I thought they were going to get them to finish the show and blacklist. Not ideal, but it’s not the worst given the way that conflicts during show time lie down.
Then… Monday has arrived. That morning, I was at 9:45 and the AA people (and a few other people and police) were already in the booth. The owner was not yet in. I was set up, the show opened, and then people in the booth appeared about 15-30 minutes later. At that point, the AA staff member got off to them
Like a revenge angel. They took a position and created a wall across the booth entrance, informing attendees who stopped them and were no longer available, and the con man dropped the display and left Gear angrily.
The rest of the days passed safely. Someone (another artist, I think) signed the booth and told participants (and other artists) that they had been removed from the space to sell AI slops, and then (which happens frequently in Dragon Con) it became a shrine for people to leave offerings.
I had so much fun watching people walk and posing in empty booths and sign snapshots. After the show I spoke to AA’s head
And he told me that the people in that booth submitted pop art paintings for their applications and were approved for them. He wasn’t going to provide AI trash, and as soon as he learned about it he began working on the process of removing them from the show.
(I recommend contacting Dragoncon for more details) I thanked him (and I’m doing it again here – thank you!). Conflicts at conventions are neither fun nor easy.
And it’s the story of how Dragon-Con’s AI Sloppist bouncing off the show from the perspective of the man next door.
We apologize for any oddity or typos in any format. I was posting this while the plane house was taxiing.
Dragon Con, like many pop culture events, prohibits AI art from being sold, but it’s a difficult rule to implement, especially as many booths already sell “tributes” that are thinly veiled to other artists and copyrighted characters. Artist’s Alley – it’s a wild place.
The incident happened just a week later at the Toronto Fan Expo, a booth offering portraits of AI run by the giant Telecom Bell.
The AI Slop flood could have been suspended for several weeks, but other participants felt it was proven to stand up for human-generated art, but this is definitely just the beginning of a long process. AI is permeating every aspect of our lives. Some of it is useful, some of it is very inaccurate and some really dangerous. The artist’s alley may have stood up for humans this time, but there are many conflicts to come.
– Report by Javier Perez and Heidi MacDonald
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