Blog

Last Saturday I went to watch a play. It was a rock opera in English that presents the major events of the epic, Mahabharata, in song, music, dance and martial arts. 

At the encore, the director herself came up on the stage and spoke about her motivation to write the play and various other challenges she faced while producing it. 

The creative need that pushed her to write this fabulous rock musical

A scene from the Opera

I found it was the same innate need that drives individuals to express themselves through all kinds of creative work like art or literature. Or painting. 

And it’s this thought that made me write the blog.  

Can there be an art without a need? 

And therefore, can AI really replace art? 

In a recent interview, author Dr Rachel Barr explained that while an AI can produce a masterpiece before you can possibly spell it, it will not have the need to do it. 

What she meant is simple – while AI can generate an extra-ordinary output at the click of a mouse – the cursor will not move, as there’s no need for it to move unless you put a prompt. 

Human beings are incredibly complex organisms that evolve through layers of interaction and emotion. And only they (in the living world) feel the need to make sense of what they’ve observed or realized through an expression that is unique to everyone – this is the nucleus of any art. 

So, while you may rush to scribble your 2 lines of poetry before the thought slips away, the AI while it can certainly do it better than you – will not have the need to do it. 

The same need which pushed one of my cousin brothers to hand-made his own Earthship* in Vermont over the last several years. Or the need which wakes me up most mornings & pushes me towards the easel. 

An Earthship in Taos, New Mexico

And then, the Earthship or my paintings will be laced with small imperfections – that are not designed, but natural … the wabi-sabi** that gives character & life to a creation – the natural wear & tear that a passage of time leaves behind … can also not be artificially produced. 

I mean, one can certainly make a copy of a masterpiece, even with its imperfections, but then that is what it is …. A copy. 

I’m a person who’s still reasonably comfortable to “draw” a cheque, to “write” my daily expenses or to read a “newspaper” and have great faith on things done manually and the satisfaction that follows it. 

Let me give an example. 

In my school, we were taught to compose letters – various types that ranged from official applications to simple notes to friends. We had to practice cursive writing, within pre-drawn pencil lines. Papers were carefully selected – lest they bled or were too rough for the nib. From an array of pens – often a source of pride for the collector – one was selected for that job. The right-colored ink was then selected – ‘black’ for a sombre mood, ‘pink/green’ for light messages & ‘red’ to make one take notice of. 

Some of my writing tools

And then a letter was crafted.  

Can an email with AI-generated text, ever replace the satisfaction derived from this whole process of creating a letter from a scratch? 

Or the satisfaction I get from putting colors on white paper & then mixing them to create unexpected results? 

While the letter or the painting can be produced artificially, the associated satisfaction remains very ‘real’ and cannot be reproduced. 

When I went to study Architecture, manual drafting used to be a thing of pride. We needed drafting boards with parallels mounted on them. There were set-squares and T-squares. And circle-masters. Wooden pencils – that came in several grades from 6H to 6B – had to be sharpened using a knife. While drawing lines, they needed to be constantly rotated, so that the line remains of uniform thickness. 

And it was not just the scratching of lead on vellum - It required knowledge and planning to decide what needs to be communicated in a drawing. Which sections to go with which plans. Where an isometric view will be better than an elevation. Where ‘details’ are required. So on and so forth. 

It was deciding on the complete flow of information in a set, that would precede the construction of a building. 

This ‘art’ and ‘craft’ of Drafting – this pure manual skill and the pride in applying it accurately – can it be replaced by CAD or AI? 

A set of old dwgs done manually

Over the years I’ve picked up a few skills in painting, and I can tell you the joy of doing it right every time! Say that dry brush stroke! 

Or knowing the precise time of when to put the paint on a “damp” surface as compared to a “moist” surface. 

Now imagine a monitor displaying “a landscape painting by myself, which has strong contrast of light and shadow, uses a limited palette, and evokes memories of English Romantic painters”, at the press of “enter”. 

I think that would be a mockery of the highest order!! 

If anything, AI should help me do things which can save my time, so that I can paint more in that extra time – not try to do my painting for me! 

And finally – though I’ve written it before – but in the context of the present blog, let me mention it once again. 

Our legacy.  

Of what we create. Of what we share. Of what we leave behind. 

In an exhibition called ‘The Forever House’ at Clarksville, Artist Arline Mann celebrates the grand legacy of George Elder - it was a stone house built by him in 1923 with materials from the Elder Mountain - the first home erected there after the Cherokee were marched out. The exhibition encompasses interiors, still life, and landscapes around the Elder House … a house that is now being lived in by the artist herself. 

A legacy passed on from one generation to the next. 

Like my queen Anne table or that simple collage that hangs on the wall - crafted by my grandmother even before I was born. Just one look at it creates imagery of an old lady with fair skin, white hair & crow’s feet around her eyes, squatting under a gas lamp, with colorful itty-bitty trinkets strewn all around. 

Or that rock musical I went to last Saturday. That drama, that music, that anticipation of what’s going to come next - will stay on for generations to enjoy – as a legacy left behind by a set of gifted creators. 

The collage by my grandmother

In recent times, artificial intelligence has been credited with numerous accomplishments, from writing essays to diagnosing medical issues. Predictive AI has even helped a woman in Virginia, the US, to win a lottery.  

In Japan – often termed as a “land of rising loneliness and isolation” *** - generative AI is increasingly being explored to offer companionship, emotional support or a substitute for everyday conversation to people suffering from hikikomori (the Japanese term for acute social withdrawal). 

But despite all such accomplishments, I don’t think AI can replace ‘art’, because ‘art’ is not just a painting, or a tune, or an essay.  

It’s a process. Whereas the painting, or the tune or the essay are just output of that process.

And, a need, some imperfections, a physical labor of love, the accompanying satisfaction – they all come together to create something, which can then be left behind as a legacy. This is the process of ‘art’. This is the ‘nature’ of art. 

I am not an expert on AI, nor am I an avid user – so I’m still trying to wrap my head around the real threat of AI-generated art replacing real art, because a ‘copy’ replacing an ‘original’ is illegal. And an ‘original’ generated by AI is not ‘real’ as it does not follow a process as mentioned above. So, is the threat that ‘real’ art has started looking more artificial because we are no longer sure which is real, and which is artificial? 

I don’t know. And I don’t care. If I have what I have – the need, imperfections, satisfaction, skill & a legacy to leave behind - how does it matter? 

I say, how does it matter? 

*Earthship vessels are a form of sustainable biotecture designed and developed by architect Michael Reynolds.

**Wabi-sabi is a traditional Japanese philosophy and aesthetic that finds beauty in things that are imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete, valuing simplicity, naturalness, and the passage of time.

***Take 5 [The Japan Times] (25/7/25) - Article