The Skeeter Daddle Diaries

They just auctioned off a painting done by a programmed artificial intelligence. Not real good, not exactly a Master, probably not of much interest other than the beginning of the Next Big Thing. Art by Machines. For me and my ilk, this is probably bad news, very bad news. Throw away those paint brushes, forget about learning to draw, quit kidding ourselves. The computers will do it faster, cheaper and maybe even better. All those galleries with watercolor paintings of boats in the harbor can replace those prints and originals with mass produced ones with beautiful sunsets and lighthouses at a fraction of the cost. And even better, to the untrained eye, no different than the one painted on an easel.

Photoshop can make a photograph into a watercolor or a pencil sketch with one keystroke. All my pals who paint from photographs should be looking for new careers. We can even print on watercolor paper now. Or on canvas. I spent a weekend this past few days with a friend whose daughter’s husband has a father who’s a sculptor. He even has a commission here in Stanwoodopolis. When he’s done, he makes a digital image and makes smaller versions using a 3-D printer, then sells those by the dozens to make real money. That, my paint-spocked amigos, is the future.

Oh sure, for awhile we’ll have a niche market, peddling our wares to the folks who want authentic, hand made art. But good luck when Wal-Art comes to town with a warehouse of mass-manufactured sculpture, paintings, crafts and design-it-yourself computer assisted artworks. Want a Picasso-like painting for the TV room, maybe in a slightly different size and color, just plug in the variables and scan a credit card, voila, head right over to the Pick-Up section for delivery. Stained glass window? Might take a special order, but UPS will have it at your doorstep next day.

The entire collection of paintings, music, literature is being uploaded bit by byte into the hard drives of super computers around the world, then analyzed, replicated, modified and eventually figuring out how to be ‘creative’. Remember those jobs being eliminated by robots and artificial intelligence? Well, add a few more to the list. Robo-art, why not? Why not let the computers have a shot? After all, it’s going to be their world soon. Human art, put it in a museum. Roll over Beethoven, let Siri give you the news….

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