Employing the concept of Baroque art to break down whether Artificial Intelligence can really produce art
By TARA ROMERO — tcrome@ucdavis.edu
With the rising amount of Artificial Intelligence (AI) “art” appearing on our X timelines, we are facing the beginning of a new era in the art world — whether we want to or not. With AI’s rapid spread throughout the art industry, the question on everyone’s minds is: Can we consider the images that AI produces to be art?
Essentially, AI art takes artwork which has already been created and folds together a number of artists’ techniques and styles to produce a “new” piece — a piece that plagiarizes an infinite amount of artists within the AI’s database.
One art historian, Gilles Deleuze, wrote a book titled “The Fold” in 1988, where he defines Baroque art in a way that is surprisingly similar to how AI art programs operate.
“[Baroque is an] operative function [where] it endlessly creates folds,” the opening text reads. “It does not invent the thing […] but it twists and turns the folds, tak[ing] them to infinity.”
To understand where Deleuze’s claim is coming from, we first need a bit of background on what Baroque art is and where it came from.
The Baroque era in European history is notoriously difficult to describe. Different art historians make contrasting claims about how to define it, and are even conflicted about when the Baroque period begins and ends. Some art historians claim that Baroque never even existed.
However, the Baroque period is generally considered to roughly date between 1550 and 1750, spanning all across Europe and parts of the Americas at the start of European colonization.
Most notably for Deleuze’s argument, the Baroque period is thought to be the successor of the Renaissance. During their era, Renaissance artists referenced Greek and Roman antiquity for inspiration, contributing to many artistic developments that centered on perspective, symmetry and balance.
The term “Baroque” itself etymologically comes from the Portuguese word for an “irregular pearl” — referring to something beautiful that is distorted. Using this word to describe Baroque art was intentional. Baroque artists were trained in Renaissance techniques but morphed them for artistic and emotional effect. For example, Baroque artist Gian Lorenzo Bernini would use the Renaissance’s “divine proportions” as a base for his works, but he then played with these proportions to create the sensation of movement within his art.
Before Heinrich Wölfflin’s analysis of “Renaissance and Baroque,” the art history scene reduced Baroque art to a cheap copy and accentuation of the Renaissance. However, Wölfflin redefined this era by comparing Baroque works to those of the Renaissance, giving credit to the techniques through which Baroque artists created movement and a unique sensational experience for the viewer — unlike anything seen before in European art.
With this understanding, let’s return to Deleuze’s argument. He views Baroque as an idea, rather than strictly the artistic period. While the Baroque art period serves as the basis of his argument, Deleuze centers more on the philosophical meaning of the Baroque. For something to be Baroque, an artist takes what has already been made and folds it, morphing it into something new.
Deleuze’s redefinition of Baroque challenges how we view artistic inspiration. So, where would Deleuze’s definition place AI art?
Even though Deleuze believes that Baroque “does not invent the thing,” that does not mean that Baroque art is inherently plagiarism, either. One look at a Baroque piece and you will see it looks completely different from a Renaissance piece — from the use of light to the composition, you can tell they are vastly different. Baroque art does take inspiration from the Renaissance, but it feels nothing like a copy.
Unlike the Baroque artists who used the Renaissance as inspiration, AI is not intentional in its “inspiration.” The only “intention” that goes into AI art is the three seconds that it takes a human being to type in the prompt.
Creating a work of art is an intimate process filled with thousands of decisions that are strategically and thoughtfully taken by the artist. Baroque artists played with and distorted Renaissance artistic ideals with purpose. Every fold and twist in a piece that makes something Baroque was placed meticulously by a human being — each fold is intentional.
The ability to create art is inherently human. Since our very inception, humans have created art as a way to express ourselves and the world around us — our creativity is limitless. To claim that AI programs produce real art is not only disrespectful to artists, but to humanity’s endless capacity for creativity as a whole. While an AI program which folds upon an infinite source of artists’ works might be Baroque, it certainly cannot be considered art.
Written by: Tara Romero— tcrome@ucdavis.edu
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