What is Art Without Passion?

Think about any museum you’ve been in. Think about the bold colors, the different textured brush strokes, the details in the faces and the clothes. Each piece of art tells a story unique to the artist that created it, to the time period it's created in. Think about the novel you just finished reading. Each word was chosen carefully, each scene crafted purposefully to tell the audience something specific that they need to know. Characters act a certain way or wear certain things to symbolize what the author is trying to get across as the main point of their text.

Now take that humanity away. Take away the passion and the intention and the deeply human part of every piece of art that exists. What are you left with? Shapes and colors that are put together that ultimately says nothing. What is the purpose of art– whether it be a painting or poetry or music– being created by an artist who doesn’t care about what they’re creating?

AI is a touchy subject across all fields. While some fields like math or science find it helpful, AI directly and negatively impacts the arts. The phrase “AI art” is nothing more than an oxymoron to me. Kayla Yup wrote an article for the Yale Daily News that talks about this exact issue saying, “[s]ome call AI art generators “anti-artist,” citing the machines’ reliance on human artists’ work — obtained without compensation or consent — for training.” She continues to say, in this article, that some artists say AI is nothing more than a tool used for honing creative skills and that it's not different from other artists using those who came before them as inspiration. Usually if an artist takes inspiration from another or makes reference to another piece of art, they are usually way more upfront about citing their sources. Compare this to when someone uses AI. AI is trained by using human-made original works without properly crediting these artists. So when someone uses AI to create a piece of art, there are many artists not being credited for their works as a type of inspiration. These owners are getting frustrated and taking legal action against AI companies for using their work without payment or credit.

I personally have a lot of friends who are not in creative or artistic fields who find AI to be helpful; that it's helpful for note taking or helpful to form broad ideas into more narrow arguments. While I can understand how there are some beneficial uses to AI, all I can think about is how it is being misused and therefore hurting artists.

And what is humanity, what is culture, without art?

I do feel like I have a bias here as an artist in my own regard. I tell stories and make physical art and listen to music and have a passion for the world around me. All of this makes me feel in touch with humanity in a way that I don’t think I would be able to be otherwise. And to strip that humanity from art would make it pointless. One thing I always think about in regards to the point of art is a quote from Oscar Wilde where he says, “The artist is the creator of beautiful things. To reveal art and conceal the artist is art’s aim.” While Wilde had absolutely no way of predicting the rise of AI and its impact on society, there is something really impactful about his words in relation to the idea that art without passion is useless. Artists exist to create something that speaks for them, that says the words they cannot say plainly.

Imagine walking through a museum full of paintings that are half baked and careless, that have barely human figures and misshapen blobs. Imagine hearing a song where the band has no passion for the words they sing. Imagine reading a poem that the poet did not care enough to fully write. Humanity will, at the end of the day, suffer if we do not have art we care about. I create because I am so full of words and ideas I need to share and I would hope my fellow artists are the same and not cold, soulless robots. A world without passionate music and heartbreaking poetry is not a world at all, and certainly not one I want to live in. I want to exist surrounded by things created with intention and impact.

Strike Out,

E Dunsmuir

St. Augustine

Editor: Maya Kayyal

E Dunsmuir (he/they) is a writer for Strike St. Augustine. He loves Victorian England, emo music, and anything to do with horror. When they're not writing for Strike, he’s probably texting his boyfriend or watching TV with their roommates. You can reach him at edunsmuir66@gmail.com or @edunsmuir66 on most social media platforms.

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