Natural and wise (I hope)...over artificial and intelligent
The rapidity of the influence of artificial intelligence in the realm of visual information (not to mention in other domains) is overwhelming. Many artists are calling it a game changer for the creation of their art.
At the risk of getting left in the dust like a person who suggests that there will never be a better invention than a horse and wagon for transportation, I am putting a stake in the ground and declaring that I will create art that is based upon my own direct sensory experience with light and objects in the natural world...which I hope will foster my own deeper education and wisdom.
Let me give you some visuals to explain. The Midjourney AI interface, with this prompt--white roses cascading down a mountain stretching down a river ending in a waterfall--yielded, in seconds, four different visual interpretations:
Truly breathtaking in the rapidity of the output and the unbelievable sophistication of the images. But, I ask, where are the errant petals and the branches? Where are the dried buds?
Arguably, my language prompt was not descriptive enough and it didn't offer any indication of light quality, so I reprompted with this: white roses with new and old buds, stems, and petals cascading down a mountain stretching down a river ending in a waterfall in warm sunlight. Here is what I received:
The petals are present but I'm not seeing old buds. I did receive some water drips and splashes that I did not ask for. The atmospheric diffusion of light and even the design of the elements in the space is fairly sound. So overall, quite a “perfect” set of images, huh?
However, let's consider this: John O'Donohue, the Irish mysitc, quotes the Irish proverb, "Níl saoi gan locht"…there is no craftsman without a flaw. (In fact, my pianist mother told me that as she listens to some of the master pianists of the world she invariably will hear a flaw....which, she implores, adds to the texture of the sound.)
In the above plein air study, holes in leaves and faded blossoms are yang of the magnificent red rose yin. My initial design was off and I had to experiment by painting over the tape onto the backing board! Tsk tsk! Flaws and imperfections runing rife!
Now let's compare my painting experience with the AI generated image using this prompt: Giant red rose bush in full bloom with old blossoms arcing over path in morning diffuse light.
Quite beautiful and any one of these images is compelling and paintable. They even include some variations in the leaves...no holes but a least a little color variation.
To paint one of these images and then present it as my work of art feels false. BUT, if the descriptive language prompts originated with an idea of mine, perhaps even coming from my experience in the natural world, isn't that authentic enough? In fact, doesn't every creative idea/enterprise have a conceptual component where the mind of the creator is the actual thing with the process or output of that creation just a mechanical exercise?
Indeed, if I wanted to paint images of imagined possibilities as a fantasy or surrealist artist, then AI generated images will probably often yield results more fantastical and exciting than what the mind can contrive. So certainly there is a surprise element evoking wonder, something that the natural world does quite well.
But for me, the "surprise" that comes by way of an amalgamation of adjectives is less interesting than what I might stumble upon in the natural world like that magnificent rose bush.
(I believe the actual fear of artificial intelligence comes from that “surprise” factor...an amalgamation of input that potentially and more and more has the potential to return something more complex than our minds can behold. And if our minds can't behold it, who and what does?….a topic for another essay…)
I intend to take in, naturally and not artificially, via my visual, auditory, olfactory, tactile and even gustatory receptors, this imperfect but beautiful world and celebrate it, in paint.
And from that, I hope that wisdom, even more than intelligence, is my reward.
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