You could look at any art in isolation, on its own merits; or in a broader context, where you try to understand the intent of the original artist, understand art as a product of its time and interpret it in context of the broader artistic styles of the times.
I used to think that art should be completely separated from the artist. The context shouldn't matter, the original author's intentions shouldn't matter. The only thing that matters is how you react to an artwork.
A lot of modern art feels artists talking to each other and continuing a conversation I'm not a part of. I believed that I could learn to appreciate this form of art if I put in the effort, but I never had the inclination to make the effort.
AI-generated art is somewhat changing my mind on this.
Sora 2, MidJourney, Veo 2: it seems like every day there's a new state of the art method to generate images, sound or video. A lot of this is slop, but a lot of this is also indistinguishable from human art. Often it's better on a pure technical level.
My reaction to AI art is indifference for the most part. But not on its own merits: I often come across a piece of writing or an image that I think is cool on first glance: but on learning that it's AI-generated I lose interest.
This has taught me a bit about myself: maybe artistic intent does matter to me?
I am an AI optimist: I think that the LLMs are miracles that we already take for granted. I use AI daily, and I'm building-with & building-for AI daily.
AI art sometimes takes my breath away. But I don't feel as connected to it as a human artwork. For example, if I'm reading some fiction, I would much rather read something written by a human even if AI could do a better job.
I'm not sure why I feel this way, yet.
Possible reasons for this?
-
Maybe I don't like low-effort art? This implies that I don't value the output itself, I also value all the inputs that go into creating something.
Does this mean artistic intent does matter to me, after all? Is it the effort that goes into creating something, or the amount of reps you put in becoming good at what you do?
-
Maybe it's a defence mechanism? I know that the volume of AI generated art will keep increasing exponentially, and you can only feel wonder so many times a day.
Maybe avoiding AI art is a way to avoid becoming numb? Wireheading seems like a bad end after all.
-
Maybe we care about the stories behind the art, the process of making something, instead of just the output?
These stories don't necessarily need to be real, they just need to be shared. Narratives are powerful. And there's no why behind AI art.
For now, I have become more thoughtful about what I consume, and I'm re-thinking some of my priors.
I dismissed modern art because I thought that context doesn't matter, but now I'm realising that it does matter to me. The stories we tell ourselves do matter.