Artist Mark A. Romero showing the piece of art he says was ripped off.
Artist Mark A. Romero, a first generation Nicaraguan artist in the Bay Area, takes time to do his research on Mesoamerican and Precolumbian art. But he recently found out that someone used AI to jack his designs and sell them on jerseys.
Certain things are sacred and others are profane. Compare the worship of a deity to a dirty get-rich-quick scheme or gimmick. But sports have always found themselves right at the heart of both. Pray and play, mud and blood, lucky socks like holy relics. Putting a piece of sacred art on a soccer jersey makes sense in that line of thinking, not unlike calling an unlikely pass a Hail Mary or honoring Mount Olympus with a series of games dedicated to the Gods.
A screenshot of this post from Romero’s IG page
That is, if the sacred art is made by mortal and not by machine. But what luck might a jersey have if the art stitched and inked into its fabric is stolen from the artist and thrown into an AI model?
Let us ask the plumed serpent, the God of Wind, the herald of the rainy season, Quetzacoatl. He is the god of intelligence, of wisdom, of learning. What might he say on the matter of artificial intelligence? Would he be happy, or would he condemn what happened to artist Mark A. Romero?
Romero’s research and artwork are intertwined, culminating in works that awaken ancient knowledge and inspire us to “carry the fire of our ancestors.” In his piece Quetzacoatl Nicaraguense, he examined the original 100-year-old plates produced by artists in San Juan de Oriente, Nicaragua. He recognized the craftsmanship and took it a step beyond, paying homage to the work of pre-Columbian artists and the feathered serpent.
His handle is @el_chiquito__, and his posts frequently discuss Nicaragua’s pre-Columbian past, the political realities of immigrants, and the rise of fascism. The artwork ranges from tote bags and screenprinted soccer jerseys to ceramic cups inspired by ancient forms, all of which invite us to look closer.
In depictions of Quetzacoatl, there is often a wind jewel, or ehēcacōzcatl. It takes the shape of a dust devil or a hurricane’s eye, pulling us into the spiral. AI apostles often claim that coding under the intoxicating spell of their agents is spiritual, that it sucks you in and brings you into a flow state. Where you or I might seek out the shamanistic trance state in the creation of art, they seek it in the machinations of “vibe coding.”
But the temptation of theft is not only too great for AI users to overcome. Theft is the very foundation of AI. In The Dissent’s Summer 2026 article, AI is Theft, author Matthew Cole says,
“The data that AI systems need is often not acquired by entirely lawful, let alone fair, means. AI companies expropriate human knowledge, automate labor processes, patent them, and then attempt to sell all this back to us. Governments pander to tech oligarchs for fear of losing the technological advantage, despite widespread public hostility to AI systems.”
For Mark A. Romero, the theft isn’t just an implicit foundation. It is literal. “I take a lot of my time to read and learn about Pre-Columbian and Mesoamerican history and anthropology of Mexico and Central America,” Romero explains in his Instagram post on the topic. “I do it out of the love of learning, the honor I have for the ancestors before our time, the respect I have for those that aren’t able to be here today due to injustice and genocide, and for the pride I have of being Nicaraguan and Latino.”
You can download and print Romero’s Abolish ICE posters for free
His pride and respect are on full display. Romero has participated in the Art Without Borders sale, supporting immigrant families. His Abolish ICE posters are available for free download, bedecked with QR codes that lead to Know Your Rights resources in both English and Spanish. In one post, he says, “I want to use my art as a voice to stand against fascism and systems that criminalize innocent people.”
Artists are more and more frequently the victims of intellectual theft. Romero says, “It feels pretty crappy to see so much AI [slop] out on social media, art world, and out there in the real world… REAL artists that want REAL community will ALWAYS be here to represent and use our art and creativity as a voice to stand up and shine positively on this crazy and cold world we live in.”
Amen.
