Is anyone else *done* with the *ai* generated dream-future images for illustrating where we’re going with generative technologies? AI ART is a debate I’m ready to have today.

AI is not creating art. Humans are using AI, like a friend and occasional skeptic Jeff Wilson. In my opinion, AI is a tool that can be harnessed by artists.

The *art* however, that is generated by *ai* prompts is simply blender-plagiarism. Take this word, find all the content you can, spin it in the ai-swizzler, and give me a finished piece of *what*? Is it ai graphic design, ai illustration? Whatever you want to call it, I’m bored to tears with the illustration style (see above) that is widely used and prompted repeatedly.

Where do *ai* and I part ways on the ART question?

I’m going to use a fine art, or painted art example from my own life to illustrate my issue with *generative* illustration.

I was raised with a mom who valued art and artists. She was always visiting artist’s studios and having them over for dinner. We were lucky to have The University of Texas as our neighbor. Today, in my house, every single piece of art on the wall was hand-created by a craftsman or woman, who has put in the hours to learn their own style, technique, and vision. A person. A human. An artist.

The style today, however, is more of a Kinko’s art or Air BNB art thing. In many houses I visit, the art is more like what *ai* is generating. A little bit better than the “kuntry art” found at the Cracker Barrel gift shop, but not much. Here’s why Air BNB’s use cheap and xeroxed art. Well, the first reason, cheap. The second reason, if it’s good enough for someone else’s Pinterest or Houzez board, it’s good enough for me.

Our sense of art has been detailed by the tv reality “makeover” shows. We don’t understand the difference between art and a “wall hanging” you buy at Michael’s. I’d prefer you do a paint-by-numbers impressionist painting from Michael’s rather than a generic “welcome home” sign. The “day at the beach” cult is ridiculous. I guess it’s an industry. And business is good at Hobby Lobby, Michael’s, and all the re-retailers around the country.

But is it art?

Okay, so the Property Brothers have good taste in fabrics and wall paint, but they know their audience would rather buy a $200 generic print online than visit a real human artist during a local “studio tour” day and pay $2300. One is like cutting a poster out of Car and Driver and framing it. It’s graphic, and it’s hanging on the wall, but is it art? Are the plaques and signs in Michael’s and Hobby Lobby considered art? Or are they just wall art?

In my world, it’s amazing that four rooms in my house contain original works of art by the same amazing man, Vincent Mariani. He was a UT professor of art, a futurist, a mentor, a bodybuilder starting at age 50, and had a most amazing smile and soft voice. Vincent was chosen to do a poster for the 1982 Olympics. This was a huge deal. One of the “prints” on my wall is a signed version of his Olympic poster.  I met him. I hung out with him. My parents supported his art. And now his inspiration and human-created beauty surround my daily life.

If you want a generic wall art world, or even a ‘thrift art’ world, power to you. I have a different aesthetic. I said it to one of my painter friends a few days ago. “You’ve got to start getting your hands in the paint again. All this ProCreate and Digital Art is changing our brains and our process. Let’s get our paints, crayons, and pastels, out again.

Let’s call marks on paper made by human hands as our expression and definition of art.

This other stuff, I label

The Generic
and the
Generative.

If you love the wall art on house shows, you’re already happy with your world. You may not understand what I’m talking about.

A painter friend of mine labors to get work ready for the once-annual “local artist tour” each year. In 2023 she only sold $600 worth of her paintings. For that much money, you could probably fill your entire living room with generic slogans and digitally reproduced photos you took of Maui. I think my friend would appreciate the $600 more than megacorp discounters and craft stores.

Go forward. Think about what *art* means to you. If you really want to help your artist friends (musicians, painters, and poets) buy one of their pieces, books, or Bandcamp album packages. Give your money and attention to a human. And if you are lucky, for a human relationship with the artist, so you are warmed and reminded of them each time you see their craft on display.

Last example. I had a good friend who was my acupuncturist, Robert Marion. (that’s him on the left) From time to time I would give Robert a piece of my visual art (in this case, a monoprint I made in New Mexico some years ago). He passed away a while back, and I’m friends with one of his sons. This particular son has an amazing flare for art and design. And in a magazine layout about HIM (my friend’s son) I saw one of my monoprints hanging on the wall of his living room.

My friend loved the monoprint. Loved that it was from his dad’s acupuncture office. And even though we were still friends, he did NOT know that the art was created by me. Signed by me.

I asked him in a friendly email after the magazine spread came out. “Kind sir, would you look at that painting on your wall, and tell me if my name is signed on the right bottom corner?”

“Wow. I love that painting. I love it even more knowing you created it.”

Art, Music, Poetry, Fiction, Memoir: are human expressions. When a robot or fast GPU begins claiming they are having an ARTIST MOMENT, I’m going to ask about the “memories” and “people stories” represented in the image. And BLANK MOMENT. There is no answer.

Each of these works of art hanging in my house are HUMAN ARTIFACTS. A neighbor’s house has wonderful decorations and a different taste than mine, but not a single image or wall piece was created by someone they knew or had any desire to know. Art is not for artists. Art is for humans.

Graphic design and digital illustration, sure. Just don’t try to convince me (or do, actually, I’d love the dialogue) that prompt-generated imagery is art. It’s something. Maybe we need a new word for it. AART. Or AiART.

It makes me a little sad we no longer value human-2-human connections around art, music, and poetry. We should. We should pay musicians for their streams. (Not just Taylor Swift and the Rolling Stones) We should buy art from artists not robots, copy shops, or national “crafting” chains. And we should read books (print or kindle). Thank you for listening.