Art + Craft #1: Appreciating Art and Respecting Craft
It has come to my attention that art is not being appreciated for what it is and craft is not being respected for what it enables artists to achieve.
This is a great disappointment in our society and it is being exacerbated by artificial intelligence (AI) practitioners who feel because their models can achieve similar results then the work that's gone into creating those wonderful works of art was not so strenuous and of low effort. They are mistaken.
It is only something that has been written well that can be read with ease. A good teacher amplifies a good student. A clean and diverse dataset makes for models that have learned from the data in an optimal and flexible way without overfitting or underfitting. We are almost looking at a sort of P vs NP problem where we say "Because the results are easily reproducible at scale, the dataset is cheapened and the value it provides is not recognized and the effort to create it is not appreciated". This is the wrong way to look at things and a mental shift and course correction is needed.
I am launching this newsletter titled "Art + Craft" on Google Blogger and LinkedIn Articles for a number of reasons.
- To shed light on the issue of art being unappreciated and craft being disrespected amongst artists and the general audience alike.
- To let artists know that they are heard, seen, felt, voiced, needed, making an impact, touching souls, influencing how we perceive the world and ourselves, teaching us how to live our truths, showing us how to evolve and refine ourselves, sharing their real and lived experiences with us in a way that resonates and permeates the soul and universe.
- By launching on LinkedIn I am situating myself amongst industry professionals who value art and craft in everything they do. At the same time, I am amongst those who are dictating how art is created and consumed in today's world; AI practitioners. This allows me to get through to both audiences at once and share my insights to bridge the gap between them for better understanding, fusion, empathy and alignment. This should hopefully lead to better results and more fulfilling artistry with less blockages and barriers.
- To share some of artists main concerns and woes regarding being an artist in the modern world trying to ply one's trade. Dealing with things like social media, marketing, technology, advertising and how their time is spent between these things and creating art and honing their craft. Understanding the pain points of the artist is paramount to unravelling the gordian knot of how art, craft and technology combine to create a reality where we have win-win-wins all round and everyone is excited to go out and do their best with each new day.
- To highlight the work of some unrecognized, underappreciated, underrated, misunderstood, misrepresented, miscommunicated, misinterpreted, underestimated, unseen artists, craftsmen and craftswomen who are burning the midnight oil to perfect their craft and do things no one has done before in a way only they can.
- To make effort and skill and expertise and toil and practice and perfecting and refinement and technique sexy and stylish and striking again!
- To be real.