Artificial Intelligence cannot create! Yes, it will imitate!

Damasio_1_I am linking this post with previous one dealing with the notion of repetition and imitation in art, since during our painting workshops in Italy and art classes in France, we aim at promoting freedom and self-consciousness when dealing with brush and canvas or any other means of creation.

Good news from Damasio’s latest book: The Strange Order of Things: Life, Feeling and the Making of Culture. It is impossible to duplicate human intelligence! Human intelligence is the product of the interaction and inseparability between the body and the brain. This is the key message of the latest book by world-renowned neuroscientist Antonio Damasio, who offers a powerful, well-argued view of the links between biological evolution and the emergence of emotions, feelings and consciousness. Starting from the first unicellular organisms and ending with the impact of the emotional in the decision-making and the cultural factory, Damasio proposes a humanist approach of the future of our societies.

First of all, Damasio reminds us that every living being has an absolute, innate strength, called “homeostasis”, which ensures the advancement of life. This natural reflex can lead to physical manifestations and is the essence of primary emotions such as joy, fear, anger and surprise. However, the feelings come from the ability to mentally perceive the cause of an emotion and relate it to the state of the body. Therefore, only humans and certain animals with fairly advanced nervous systems, then capable of “a” form of consciousness and subjectivity would be able to experience affective states such as love, hatred and happiness. For Damasio, feelings are at the root of all cultural creation (I put in bold type!) Because it is in search of a solution to pain and suffering, as well as a response to the quest for well-being and fun, that humans have discovered arts, sports and science. They also developed religious beliefs along with their value systems, and this all to guide their decisions.

It took a long time to arrive to this state of being. It took about four billion years for this process to develop from the very first biological manifestations of life to the arrival of a being with a well-rooted brain into a complex body. By emphasizing this specificity of the human being, Damasio questions the theories of thinkers like Yuval Noah Harari (Homo Deus) who prophesy the supremacy of humanoid robots by reducing the mind to the brain and to algorithms. Although artificial intelligence is producing major upheavals in the areas of health, transportation, commerce and even art, it is impossible for it to replace human creativity for a very simple reason: machines are not endowed with life, so they are not vulnerable to the existential questions intimately related to birth and death, freedom and determinism as well as memories and the future.

To conclude, the header image of this post shows a golden head on the ocean floor (called Sun Disk) conceptualised by Damien Hirst (human intelligence), worked out on computer by his staff and partly milled by a milling robot (the machine); it was then put on the ocean floor to complete the concept; “unbelievable” I kept saying while walking through the exhibition. From Treasures from the Wreck of the Unbelievable, a vast exhibition that opened in Venice on April 9, 2017, Hirst’s most ambitious undertaking yet.

 

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Who are we?

We all make art! It is part of culture. It is deeply rooted in human nature as a way of communicating with others. We all need to tell our stories because it is stories that link us all. We are all one, one creative mind! Though, all unique and equipped with unique ways of expressing ourselves. We live in constant search of that unique liberating voice. At Walk the Arts we aim to facilitate our art makers to explore new territories. Our painting classes and art history trips on three continents are meant to be rounded art experiences among small groups of like-minded adults. We offer an environment that fosters creativity. As we always say, art as religion is just a matter of faith. This blog is about living fully the experience of art, about finding our single artistic path, about the joy of art-making. We believe that making art accessible to all will lead to a betterment of our society.

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“Re-situating” myself

 

Alone in your studio, guided by your intuition, stop, sit down, with your notes in hand, your mindmap on the wall, to gather a feel for the next avenues. I suggest you take a few days to write down a first draft of an artistic statement. It will put some order into your thoughts so as to better clarify them. Be warned, however, that this will not be your final statement, as others will follow.
Set parameters: no more than 500 words, write a seductive title, an incipit (very first line) that hooks; write in the active form. Watch out for repetition and tautology! The more honest you are with yourself, the easier it will be to write this text. The more you hesitate to let go with your art, the harder it will be.

Gray a Philosophical “Color”

 

“Over the past 40 years, I’ve seen students in the process of transitioning from saturated colors to grayed ones, a sign of serious questioning about painting. As a beginner, we shy away from mixing colors, and the more we progress in our creative practice, the more daring we become. That’s life! When we’re children, we only see saturated colors, and as we get older, gray takes over. Adults realize that gray is everywhere. “The color of truth is gray” wrote the French author André Gide.”

We can face Artificial Intelligence

 

How many times were we tempted to fall into the trap of mainly teaching painting techniques now all available on the Net? Just type “How to paint an Italian Landscape” and … two million plus videos jump onto your computer screen.

A First History of NFTs

 

“I think the reason […] I’ve chosen the career that I have is because artists are always the seers or the truth tellers. They show us the way forward”. Nora Burnett Abrams, The Story of NFTs, Artists, Technology, and Democracy. P. 53

The World of NFTs!

 

I had to know if NFT art is and will be a fad or not. In Canada’s national capital (Ottawa) art world, I kept hearing that it is not going to last, it’s all smoke and mirrors, ya-ya-ya, etc. So, I entered the Palazzo Strozzi with an open mind. I saw the works, I read everything on the walls, and I came out of the exhibition thinking “It is here to stay.” From that moment, on la Via de’ Tomabuoni, I felt compelled as an art historian and art educator to embrace this new reality. Didn’t we do it for Pop Art and Conceptual Art in the late ’50s and ‘60s?

My painting workshop in Tuscany

 

Already a month since my return from a fun-filled art-learning experience in Tuscany, Italy! The workshop went far beyond what I even imagined, or hoped it would be. The roughly eight hours per day for most days of art instruction gave me a new perspective on my art: where I was and where I wanted to be, the past and the future. But, together as a group, we were living in the present.

“Perseverance” is the key to all successful artists

 

Perseverance is the key to all successful artists.

I always ask my painting students to memorize … “Until then, we will not rest or falter. Hand in hand with others thirsting for a better life, no matter how long it takes, regardless of support or persecution, we will joyfully respond to a savage need for liberation”.

Studio Italia, a painting vacation with…

 

If our art workshops focused mostly on painting techniques, then why traveling to Italy and spending money when you could stay at home and learn everything you need through the Internet for free?

Art and Neurosciences

 

When a subject becomes familiar, the brain activity shuts down like when viewing a lovely chickadee painting…

Can we talk about the neuroscience of art? This is the question that French neurobiologist Jean-Pierre Changeux addresses in his beautiful book The Beauty in the Brain or La Beauté dans le Cerveau (Odile Jacob, 2016). Prof. Changeux describes how the human brain behaves when making or contemplating a work of art. To make a long story short, he argues that the neural bases of aesthetic pleasure are the product of the link between cognitive and emotional brain functions, in other words, the harmony between reason and emotion. Moreover, he gives some tips on how artists can maximize the impact of their works on their audience.

Evolving in art is just a matter of faith; only believe!

 

We refrain from teaching painting techniques easily found on the Net. We prefer taking the necessary time (36 hours) to fully involve the participant in reflecting on her or his art — including all levels, all media […]
Rest assured that having attended one of our online classes, you will be more confident in taming the landscape in your own way while on a plein-air painting workshop.

Let Go! The Artist’s Way of Cooking


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Ten years ago, here in Tuscany, we decided to write a recipe book but with so many good cookbooks in the market, we needed to propose a new idea. We had to find a modus operandi close to who we are and what we do as visual artists. The answer was in front of us and painting gave it to us: art and color!

Travelling with meaning : a painting workshop in Italy

 

More and more travellers from the developed world are looking for meaningful travels. We are aiming for journeys that allow us to learn something new, to deepen our culture, to enhance our lives. Purpose, inspiration and self-discovery are now vital elements in our traveling choices. Probably, this is why our quality painting workshops offered since 1997, have become more and more popular.

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