Essay - Does an Artist Need Talent to Create Abstract Pictures?

 

Robot-artists cannot simply be brushed off

Synopsis

The graffiti may be on the wall for human artists as Ai-rtists refine their skills.

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This sounds like a scientific deconstruction of that ephemeral thing called artistic talent.

An exhibition of works by a humanoid robot ‘artist’ named Ai-Da opens next week in Oxford, and she has already shown off her talent by making stunningly accurate pencil sketches of people just going by what her camera-eyes see.

Some would aver that the graffiti is on the wall, therefore, for thousands of her human counterparts who make a living off a similar talent. Surely not if art is more than just a precise replication of reality? Ai-Da can probably dash off a picture-perfect copy of the Mona Lisa but can she capture that same mysterious smile on another actual person’s face while sketching?

If — or most probably, when — robot-artists show they can pull that off too, then the only recourse left for human artists may be to focus on abstract works, where the ‘creative process’ counts more.

One robot art enthusiast wrote last year that his recent artist-robots use “deep learning, artificial intelligence, generative algorithms and computational creativity to make a surprising amount of independent aesthetic decisions”.

This sounds like a scientific deconstruction of that ephemeral thing called artistic talent. The people who have given the inputs, technical and artistic, that led to the development of artistrobots like Ai-Da must be commended: making something that leads to the creators’ own obsolescence requires courage.

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10-minute portrait artist dreams of making it big

VISAKHAPATNAM: The baby park adjacent to the R K Beach is a crowd-puller, not because of the scenic beauty and the facilities for entertainment it offers to children, but because an unassuming young artist sits there in the evenings and sketches people who ask for their portraits in just 10 minutes.

K Raju Babu was busy sketching a three-year-old boy under the Indira Gandhi statue with a 10B pencil as a queue of curious onlookers observed him or waited for their turn to get sketched by him. Every now and then, the soft-spoken Raju had to engage the child in small talk to draw his attention and make the boy look at him.

Raju neither had a formal training in art nor were there any artists in his family. The son of a textile mill labourer in Vizianagaram, Raju, who hopes to make it big in the field of art and is doing fine arts at Andhra University (AU), has four siblings and has to finance his own education.

“At the age of 15, I had sketched my grandfather and sketches of other family members followed. I loved painting and sketching and told my father that I want to take up art. However, it was beyond our means. During my college days, I had learnt some designing software and photoshop. I got a graphic designing and digital painting job in an animation company and came to Vizag,” says Raju, who feels inspired by Picasso and M F Hussain.

“However, I always wanted to do manual painting and be a well-known artist. I don’t know what’s in store for me, but I’m trying to fulfill my dream,” he says.

Raju’s efforts to make a mark in the field of art have already started paying off. His paintings were featured in three exhibitions and even foreigners who come across him get their portraits made by him. “I take Rs 50 for a sketch and usually do 10 portraits on an average every evening, sitting by the beach. Recently three foreigners from California who got themselves portrayed handed me Rs 500 each as remuneration. Though I paint sceneries, abstract and conceptual art, it is portraits, figures and sketches of people that I like to do the most,” says Raju, who mostly uses acrylic and oil colours.

“I like to observe people and sketch them. Certain photogenic faces of tourists whom I have sketched left a lasting impression, especially of tourists from Bengal, whose prominent and distinguishable facial features and lines are a pleasure to sketch. It’s little children whom I find difficult to paint as they keep fidgeting and looking away,” adds Raju with a smile.

Raju, who wants to go to Baroda or Shantiniketan for higher studies in fine arts once he finishes his course in AU, also feels that Vizag has young talent who need to further their skills in art.

“These young artists can get job opportunities such decorating hotels and homes with paintings and portraits if they pursue art seriously,” he says.

Ask him about his dream celebrity for portraits and Raju replies, “I’m not interested in making portraits of actors or such celebs. I love sketching common people. There’s so much life in them.”