The Democratization of Art

Before we begin, this topic is extraordinarily broad, so let me clarify the sector I’m discussing, and some other disclaimers before we can get to the meat of it.

In this conversation I am talking about AI art made through unethical means, e.g. creating pictures from an AI tool that has been fed source images of stolen art taken against the original artists permission. For example, with Chat GPTs new image generation capabilities, there is a mass stealing of Studio Ghibli’s work to create a filter for people’s photos- despite the creator Miyazaki’s explicit opposition to this.

I do not include the interesting and talented artists creating their own AI and feeding it solely their own work in a closed loop practice. This harnessing of AI I think is an interesting use of technology in art and is excluded from this conversation.

I also want to be so explicitly clear, before anyone gets riled up or jumps to conclusions, I do NOT think, and am not implying, that everyone who makes AI art is a fascist. None of you will think that, but I just have to say it out loud… because it’s the internet.

And, just to put the cherry on top, when I am discussing the alt-right, I’m not talking about people who lean right in their politics, I’m talking neo-n@zi, state mandated control, genocidal tendencies type of EXTREME right-wing beliefs. The type of politics no normal and well-adjusted person wants to happen, no matter where they sit politically.

I also promise this article isn’t all doom and gloom…

I have big thoughts and feelings about AI art and how it impacts artists, but recently I saw someone online say that AI art is the aesthetic of fascism, and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it. Somewhat naively, I’d never considered the role that aesthetic trends played in social political swings. I’d known about the Hemline theory, where in times of economic hardship skirt hemlines get longer, and in times of prosperity they get shorter. I hadn’t considered that in a changing society ‘aesthetics’ play the role of canary in the mine, and alarmingly, it feels like I hadn’t noticed them singing until now.

Sparked by a TikTok deep dive and through some further research I learned that Kitsch art has a history with the alt right and is often wheeled out by those in power at times of censorship and control. The more I read about the history and controversy of Kitsch, the more I am reminded that history does in fact repeat itself.

For my readers dialing in from other disciplines, Kitsch is a label for certain kinds of art and design that place aesthetics over substance or work that contains a lack of deeper thought or lack of care. More often than not artists don’t set out to make kitsch work. However, the grainy reproduction of a Van Gogh sold on Temu would be considered kitsch. Kitsch is all about the detachment of ‘meaning’ from art. It became the topic of conversation around the industrial revolution, when art stopped requiring the artists’ hand.

A quote that I found and have shamelessly plucked from Wikipedia but is painfully relevant is that “Kitsch mimics its immediate predecessor with no regard to ethics—it aims to copy the beautiful, not the good” I feel like this very accurately sums up how I feel about unethically generated AI art.

The article goes on to describe the way that the kitsch aesthetic and ideology devalues individuality and is weaponized by alt right politics to put a shiny glaze over life, editing out all imperfections, including rawness, originality, and resistance. People described kitsch as ‘tasteless’ and ‘pre-furnished’ (no thought needed). Others argued it finally meant that normal people could have art in an affordable way.

By ‘democratizing’ art, stripping it of its richness, depth, and feeling, alt right ideologies can leech into culture, and can begin to belittle the pursuit of these values. Much like propaganda, the alt right understand that trend and culture is a weapon, one that they subtly manipulate, like the lobster in the boiling pot. I fear we are just starting to notice the water is getting close to boil.

One of the ways I see this showing up around me is in the way younger people are reacting online to art, film, and literature. I’m haunted by the mass of “it’s not that deep” and “sometimes the curtains are just red” comments on TikTok. Our young people are being deprived of a critical education. They have been robbed of the ability to look deeper and interact with art and media in a way that fosters personal connection. This has been created and enforced by those who never cared to connect, who’s entitlement but lack of initiative or curiosity led to this idea that art should be “accessible”.

The alt right has never once cared about accessibility or democracy, until it comes to things they can’t have immediately. The unwavering and completely uncritical defense of AI art divulges the lust to acquire an ability they have neither earned nor worked for. According to Roger Scruton, "Kitsch is fake art, expressing fake emotions, whose purpose is to deceive the consumer into thinking he feels something deep and serious."^[10] This is eerily echoed by the current experience of being an artist online.

The alt-right benefits from a society that doesn’t look too deeply into things, and one of the best ways to dismantle that depth and criticality is by diluting and devaluing art. If everyone can make ‘art’ it isn’t special anymore, and people stop paying attention. Critical thinking is a muscle they’re happy to let atrophy.

AI art feeds an inherently unnatural but overly casualized need for ownership, a colonization of intellectual property on a mass scale. Human beings love to stamp “I DID THIS” but don’t often want to endure the delayed gratification of the process. AI is the perfect tool for this.

The main defense I see for AI art online is the ‘accessibility’… but who currently doesn’t have access to art? There are millions of artists posting their content online. Artists of all disciplines have been posting their work for over two decades, desperately trying to reach an audience through the wonder of the internet. There are local art classes at almost any community center if you want to learn, or there are thousands of hours of tutorials for every technique under the sun on YouTube. Unfortunately, now with the mass of AI images, it almost removes your everyday person’s accessibility to art by diluting it with images generated from stolen content at a rate that no artist could replicate.

Like the supporters of Kitsch, AI fanboys in reddit comments and threads posts disguise their distaste for passion and authenticity through words like “democracy” and “accessibility” - virtue signaling their way through arguments about why artists shouldn’t get paid for their work, and why art labour isn’t real work because you ‘enjoy it’.

If they’re discussing financial accessibility, art doesn’t have to be expensive. I often find at local markets artists aren’t asking for thousands of dollars for their work. Most of my art collection is local artists, a lot of whom are selling prints I paid less than $30 for. There are also thousands of artists on Fiverr, ready to whip up a commission if you wanted something more specific, and as the website name suggests, you don’t need to remortgage your home to afford.

If the alt right cared about true democracy and accessibility of art, they would be funding local art projects and artists grants in lower income areas, not defunding every creative pursuit in sight. Instead, they care more about taking power away from artists and taking whatever the hell they want without consequence or moral staining.

I came across a brilliant Threads post from artist Victoria Ying , articulating so fluently through one of my favourite formats (memes) that the only way to make art is to be vulnerable.

The only way to get to a place where you can make good, interesting, and authentic art is to expose a vulnerable part of yourself. Whether you expose yourself to being bad at something publicly while you learn, being vulnerable enough to show up every day and exerting effort without the guarantee of reward or praise, whether you disclose parts of yourself in your writing, leave parts of your soul sprinkled through songs written at times of deep feeling, or leave hopes and dreams in the colours of your paint, it is this pursuit of connection that makes us artists. Something that a computer can’t generate. Something that fascism doesn’t care for. Forgive me for the cheese, but it cannot be Art without heart.

My beautiful creative community, I cannot explain what it means to me to have your gorgeous creative minds and hearts in my life. It is often hard enough remaining creatively energetic when we have to work unrelated jobs to keep the roof over our heads, getting sucked into worlds of KPIs and Company Values, it is the moments of connection with you all that keeps me sane and making work.

We have been in uncertain times for quite a long time now, and it can weigh significantly on the soul. I think it is our responsibility as creative people to continue our pursuits, to teach, to commune, to connect. Because connection, criticality, and community building are skills that some wish to make extinct. It is our duty to carry that torch. We can’t let them win.

I love you all, I’ll see you next time.