The Rise and Fall of Art in the Digital Age
“Digital art” can now be deceiving. Look at these two photos and tell me both aren’t masterpieces. I bet you can’t at first glance but if you spend a little more time looking at it, you might see the secret that it hides.
What defines art?
Art is always tied with passion and liberty. It is a form of expression always unique from one another as every artist has their own personal ideas and inspirations. It is how we can bring our imaginations into life and colors. Art is revolutionary and at the same time, it continuously evolves.
With the advent of technology came the emergence of digital art. Digital art platforms made creating more efficient as compared to the ways of traditional art. Thanks to the tools made available for digital artists. For example, the various options for brushes can save you the time to manually form each stroke when you’re working on a piece. Or the automatic undo button and the layering that spares you from the effort of manually erasing any mistake you may have overlooked during the process.
Technology became the metamorphosis of art
But it is not to degrade digital art from the traditional. If anything, it is innovation. Technology became the metamorphosis of art. Efficiency is so important these days, especially for art created for business. It has helped a lot of artists sell out their crafts more effectively. Moreover, digital art follows the trend people these days, especially the youth, tend to appreciate.
Yet, technology became the nemesis of art all the same.
However, with greatness comes its drawbacks too. Technology has progressed past the need for real artwork. The emergence and continuous emergence of Artificial Intelligence (AIs) is slowly killing the essence of art and its creation. You could say, technology became the nemesis of art as well.
Surely, AI-generated art is not perfect and not as meticulous as real art crafted with years of experience and mastery. But it has already come to a point where it is almost unrecognizable from real art. You may have to spend a few good minutes analyzing a photo you see online before you realize it is not real art.
But how does AI “create” art?
Simple. It generates random photos from the web and patches them all together in one image. Quite amazing in a sense but its effect on the reality of the artistic industry is not as favorable.
AI art is the greatest insult technology has ever offered artists. The art community deeply condemns the presence of AI, deeming it fake and a medium for people to steal their hard work. But of course, AI evangelists still have arguments to justify AIs.
It is believed that the rise of AI art will lead to the destruction of careers for digital artists trying to make a living off of their craft. Although it is uncontrollable as technology continuously evolves and the available platforms online may well be there forever. The existence of AI will constantly become a threat to the industry and it is up to the audience now whether to glorify it or appreciate real art.
The artist must create a spark before he can make a fire and before art is born, the artist must be ready to be consumed by the fire of his own creation. – Auguste Rodin
