China News Service, Shanghai, November 8th Question: When AI can also draw ink, what is the value of the artist?
Author Zhang Hengwei Yin Jiajun
By entering a few keywords, artificial intelligence can generate an ink painting with a traditional flavor. Mountains, rivers, trees, characters, and even changes in brushstrokes and ink colors can all be simulated by algorithms. As machines become better and better at "painting", a question also arises: Is artistic creation creating images, or is it expressing people's thoughts and feelings?
Recently, "New Ink Painting - Joint Exhibition of John Moores Painting Award Winning Artists" was exhibited at Jiushi Art Space, No. 18 on the Bund, Shanghai. It brings together the works of eight artists including Han Feng, Lang Shuilong, Lei Shaowen, Lin Zhaole, and Liu Zequn. From traditional brush and ink to comprehensive materials, and then to the participation of artificial intelligence technology, it presents the constantly expanding creative boundaries of contemporary ink art.
In an on-site interview, participating artist Lei Shaowen talked about the connection between artistic creation, personal experience and social environment. In his view, works of art often reflect the creator's state of mind at a specific period, and also carry the artist's observations and responsibilities towards society. Art is not simply a depiction of what is in front of you, but an expression of thoughts about real life through works.
This perspective also makes the differences between artificial intelligence and human creation more worthy of attention.
Yu Guoliang, co-founder of Ink Studio and one of the exhibition curators, believes that although artificial intelligence can generate images, it lacks the spiritual core required for artistic creation.
Taking traditional Chinese calligraphy as an example, he pointed out that calligraphy not only requires the mastery of writing skills, but also requires long-term study, understanding and practice by the author. Each stroke contains not only physical movements, but also condenses people's emotions, aesthetics and mental state. This kind of "heart" and "intention" given to works by people cannot be simply realized through image generation technology.
However, with the emergence of artificial intelligence, the younger generation of artists is also trying to find new creative possibilities.
The work "New Mustard Seed Garden Painting Book" by participating artist Liu Zequn introduces AI technology into the research and creation of traditional painting. He uses artificial intelligence to classify and dismantle traditional paintings, and then reorganizes and expresses them based on personal aesthetics, connecting the ancient painting language with contemporary technology.
Although he uses AI in his creation, Liu Zequn also emphasizes the leading role of people. He believes that artificial intelligence cannot truly understand the meaning of art, creation and creativity. The instructions executed by the machine, the development direction of the work, and the final effect still need to be judged by the artist.
In other words, AI can become a tool in the creative process, but the person who decides how to use the tool and what he wants to express is still the artist.
The exhibition is launched with three themes: "Image, Self and Society", "Traces, Self and the World" and "Creative Transformation of History". From brushes to digital tools, from ink on paper to images on the screen, the current forms of artistic expression are constantly changing, but no matter how the tools are updated, whether there are ideas worth expressing behind the works is still an unavoidable issue in artistic creation.
Perhaps this also explains why today, when AI can easily generate images, people are still willing to walk into art galleries and stand in front of a real work.
