Vixetra

Recently had an interesting conversation with @skatehepburn about the pencil museum in the lake district (uk). It made me want to go back to using physical media again, and feeling the unparalleled joy of having cats steal my paintbrushes when I'm not looking 😂

But, in addition, it also got me thinking about AI generated art. Suffice to say I'm not a fan, but, beyond the ethical and climate implications, it also lacks the thing that only a human can bring to art. The story.

Recently, I bought a print of a painting for my mum from an independent artist. When I bought it she was so excited, telling me the story of how she got the inspiration for it from a local antique shop and that if I went to visit I may still find the items there. We took a photo together, so I could show my mum the person who created the painting in her dining room and tell her the story behind it.

A computer can't do this. It doesn't know the story of these flowers in a milk carton. It doesn't know how I over-analysed every line and still didn't get it right. My painting is imperfect, but that's OK, because it captures a happy story for myself and my colleagues.

I'm lucky that this is my hobby, not my job. But we know that the capitalist approach means businesses will usually go for cheaper over quality, and this will impact the lives of working artists. But I hope those businesses learn the hard way that they're losing the very soul of the art. The story. The memories. There is no art without these things, just dead pixels on screens.