Sean Buenaventura

ART 10

Both artists and art audiences are still not quite settled about how modern technology is
affecting the arts. Some artists have been quick to embrace the intrusion of technology
into their turf, while others are alarmed. The same division is true with the general art
audiences.

Others use the same “machine as a human creation” argument to assert that what art
the machine produces is still human creation, albeit indirectly. “The new plant that
sprouts from the seed of the apple that came from the apple tree is still an apple plant.”
The work of the human-invented machine is still the work of humans.

Sarah Cascone, writing at www.news.artnet.com, poses the question: Could artificial

intelligence (AI), for example, be the end of the dubious science of connoisseurship?
Perhaps it depends on how the matter is viewed. Yes, it can break the human exclusivity
in the arts field – but technology can probably take over certain tedious parts in art
production. AI can help in art authentication. Cascone cites a new study where a form
of AI – called a recurrent neural network – may now be able to identify forged paintings.
She relates of researchers from New Jersey’s Rutgers University and the Atelier for
Restoration & Research of Paintings in the Netherlands having published their findings
in a paper, titled “Picasso, Matisse, or a Fake? Automated Analysis of Drawings at the
Stroke Level for Attribution and Authentication.” The AI was able to find fake artworks
simply by comparing the strokes used to compose the image.

“Determining the authenticity of a work of art has long been a considerable challenge,”
Cascone’s online article reads. “The branch of authentication known as
connoisseurship endeavors to identify an artist’s stylistic trademarks. There is a slew of
more technical methods as well; a canvas can be taken to a lab for a full battery of tests,
such as infrared spectroscopy, gas chromatography, and radiometric dating.”

So much information can be gathered from technical analysis. And it can help the
human experts a lot who ultimately must trust their gut in determining whether an
artwork is genuine, “a worthless forgery, or simply by the hand of another artist.”

Cascone goes on: “In the new study, researchers provided the AI with 300 line drawings
by famous artists including Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, and Egon Schiele. Analyzing
the works, the AI identified 80,000 individual strokes, and, through the neural network,
learned what features in the strokes were specific to which artists. A machine-learning
algorithm was also taught to look for these features, such as the differences in line
weight, which reflect how hard the artist was pushing.

“By combining the neural network and the machine-learning algorithm, the study found
that AI was able to correctly identify a work’s author 80 percent of the time. Even more
impressive was its ability to detect each and every forgery with which it was presented,
just from looking at a single stroke.” Such feat is difficult for any human expert to
do. While AI connoisseurship may be too sophisticated for ordinary people to
appreciate, various examples of how modern technology is assimilating into the arts are
everywhere. Today’s live theater, for instance, feature wondrous special effects that
often leave audiences in total awe. The same is true in cinema, in music, in design.

Execution of artistic ideas is now made much easier by modern technology, which itself
inspires more novel ideas – all because artists are realizing that the only limits there
might be, at his point in time are, in their minds. Whether the entry of modern
technology into the arts is a good thing or bad is a matter of individual opinion. But how
can something that brings so much good be bad?

FILIPINO DIGITAL ARTISTS

Ronnie del Carmen

- Served as the co-director of the animated film Inside Out,

Ronnie del Carmen shared that he had to use his own life experiences to create this
masterpiece. He also landed a job as an animator in Warner Bros and became a
storyboard artist for Batman: The Animated Series.

Paul Abadilla - Now a sets art director based in San

Francisco Bay Area, Paul Abadilla works at Pixar Studios
for more than a decade now. He took part in the making of
feature films such as Cars 3 and Brave. On the side, he
gives local and international talks and creative art
workshops.

Armand Serrano - Armand Serrano is a visual

development artist and production designer for animated
feature films. As one of the most renowned Filipino digital
artists, he started as an assistant animator at Fil-Cartoons
which is based in Manila. Further, some of his most recent
credits with Disney are Big Hero 6 and Zootopia.