Why Computers May Be Taking Over the World, but People Still Make Better Art

Have you heard about the computers running Wall Street these days?  I mean, talk about artificial intelligence replacing human intuition! No need to muddy the world with "emotion and fallible judgment" when all you really need is cold hard data mashed into complex algorithms, right?  Sigh.  Well at least we can still count on the art world to fill our craving for all things random, inspired or chaotic, right?  Maybe.

It seems that order may be the most under-credited pillar of aesthetic success.  Did you know that Jackson Pollack planned a complicated linear framework for Autumn Rhythm?  Or that the Fibonacci Sequence's Golden Spiral is a pattern found in everything from shells and whirlpools to the proportions of the human body and the aesthetically pleasing composition of certain artworks?  How about this mind-blowing fact: If you connect a plate of sand to a sound system, and make it vibrate at a certain harmonic frequencies, it will produce beautiful patterns that would make textile designers green with envy!  (Incidentally, this does not happen if the notes are discordant.) 

Still, I'm inclined to be on the side of Mathew Crawford, author of the killer book, SHOP CLASS AS SOULCRAFT (shout out to the Dugans who thoughtfully gifted it to me) who argues that nothing can replace the "tacit knowledge" of a real live person.  Data is important.  Ordering that data is important.  But the ability to recognize a pattern and to then choose to do something unique with that information is what separates the artists from the computers.

What do you think?

The Mystery of the Missing

 (Image: Brittany Watson)

Ever notice how the best art is always missing something?  I mean that literally, as in even the most descriptive work of a certain quality stops short of articulating EVERY. LAST. DETAIL.  The Mystery of the Missing applies to everything from very abstract to more representational art.  Take John Singer Sargent's El Jaleo for example.

At least a third of this huge canvas is covered in deep shadow (including most of the main subject), and yet it resonates with a sense of music and movement that may have seemed contrived had each element been exactly rendered.  This purposeful obscuring is only one example of an artist calling an idea to mind versus ramming it down the viewer's throat, but the juiciest bits of poetry, the most poignant novels and the most haunting music all evoke narratives and emotions rather than spell them out.

I have a theory about why these gaps in art are so compelling.  They leave room for us to make an artwork our own.  They invite us to saddle up beside a masterpiece and complete the puzzle for ourselves.  Come to think of it, this desire to participate in the art could explain a lot about the popularity of the flash mob.

In my own business I've noticed that my most satisfied clients are those who feel that they have had some say in the painting that they commission from me.  They want to discuss color choices, personalities (in the case of portraits), etc.  It isn't enough to just own a work of art, they want to link themselves to it through their involvement in its creation. ( Side note: I am NOT saying that the most successful art is the result of outside input!  As we know, this can have the effect of diluting products even outside of the fine art realm.)  What I am saying is that good art entices us to participate in the artist's creation by leaving a little something up to the imagination.

So I ask you, Friends: Do you have favorite work of art that practices the Mystery of the Missing?  (Visual, musical, performance -- It's all fair game!)  Tell me a little about why you love it?  Throw your hands up and be the first one on the dance floor!  I promise not to judge :)