Why Yes, Generative Art IS Actually Art! Please Stop Criticizing It!

Summary

The website content defends generative art as a legitimate form of digital art, emphasizing the creativity and effort involved in programming and creating numerous unique NFTs.

Abstract

The author of the web content, who is actively involved in generative NFT programming, argues that generative art deserves recognition as serious and fascinating digital art. Despite criticism from some traditional artists, the author points out that generative art projects, such as the well-known CryptoPunks and Bored Ape Yacht Club, require meticulous planning and artistic skill to create the diverse traits and variations that are algorithmically combined to produce unique pieces. The process involves creating characters and determining how their features will interact, which is seen as an extension of traditional artistic decision-making. The author also reflects on the philosophical aspects of generative art, suggesting it allows artists and viewers to explore a multitude of artistic possibilities simultaneously. The article concludes with a call to support the author's own generative art project, NFTuxedoCats.

Opinions

Generative art is undervalued and misunderstood by some who view it as less legitimate than traditional art forms.
The creation of generative art is a complex process that involves a significant amount of artistic skill and planning.
Traditional artists who criticize generative art may be expressing jealousy over the success and scale of generative projects.
Generative art challenges conventional notions of art and the creative process, offering a new perspective on artistic decision-making.
The author believes that generative art, with its ability to manifest multiple artistic directions at once, is philosophically intriguing.
The author is personally invested in the generative art scene, promoting their own project, NFTuxedoCats, and inviting support from readers.

Why Yes, Generative Art IS Actually Art! Please Stop Criticizing It!

Haters gonna hate, though…

After publishing recent pieces on generative NFT programming (a service I offer), I’ve been in touch with perhaps 15 or 20 artists and/or teams in the midst of generative NFT projects. Just so we’re all on the same page, a generative art project is one in which the final artwork is generated by code.

Typically, these projects have a central focus — usually some sort of character or animal — and varying traits (e.g., different noses, mouths, eyes, clothes, accessories, etc.). Once you have a certain number of traits and variations, it would be impractical and impossibly time-consuming for a human to render a giant set of unique combinations of these things.

So, we enlist a computer for help. And that’s generative programming, which results in the generative artwork that serve as NFTs.

If you take a look at the generative art NFT landscape, you’ll come by many well-known names like the CryptoPunks, Stoner Cats, Gutter Cats, the Bored Ape Yacht Club, Cool Cats, the Galactic Secret Agency, and so many more — Barn Owlz, Lonely Aliens, Cunning Foxes … the list goes on and on!

As you may know from my writings on NFT marketing, I’m fairly active in many online boards and groups, out there daily trying to drum up momentum for my own generative project, NFTuxedoCats. One thing that surprises me — and this is something that has happened on multiple occasions — is seeing traditional artists on these boards dissing and/or dismissing generative art.

What we’re seeing when this happens is basic jealousy, of course. They trash-talk generative NFTs because it seems somehow wrong to them that an artist or team suddenly has 10,000 items for sale, and that a computer did all of the work. So, they regard this as unfair to them (people who do one-off artworks).

But, for anyone who really looks at most generative projects, and who really studies them, the takeaway is actually the opposite: These are serious, often incredible works of digital art!

It’s easy to forget that, although a computer generated 10,000 apes or cats or aliens or whatever, some digital artist (or team of artists) had to create those characters in the first place. And not only that, they had to work out the ways in which all of the traits and variations will come together once a computer gets hold of everything.

This is NFTuxedoCat #01697/10000. Yes, a computer generated him, but that’s only because I first drew every possible variation that the computer would then use to assemble him. To me, this is as much “art” as if I’d done just one. In fact, in some ways, it’s even more artistically interesting.

I think many dismiss the effort here as minimal when, in reality, it takes a serious level of detailed planning, just like any artist would traditionally do on a serious art project. And that goes for everything from the most pixelated punks to the most photo-realistic cats.

And, indeed, from an artistic perspective, generative art is nothing short of fascinating. As I wrote in an earlier piece about making my NFTuxedoCats, “bulk art-generation scripting presents interesting philosophical considerations — challenging existing notions we have about what art is and what the creative artistic experience means (e.g., esp. in terms of what decisions artists make when creating). What if you, as an artist, could see and/or even pursue ALL possibilities for a given work instead of having to follow just one direction? Or, to spin it into even more far-out terms: Such projects *compact* the multi-verse of timelines created by each decision-point and allow the viewer, and indeed the artist, to experience all wide-ranging directions simultaneously.” (Ha, so I quoted myself there … lol. But I think it’s a good point here, too!).

So, if anything should be dismissed in the art world, it’s those who dismiss generative art as worthless. It’s quite the opposite. Now if only my NFTuxedoCats would take off, I could buy myself a few items from the collections mentioned above!

Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this, please consider supporting my NFT project NFTuxedoCats on OpenSea. Plenty of NFTuxedoCats are available at 0.01 ETH or less (still some available at 0.005!).

Jim Dee is a prolific writer, developer, and multi-media creator from Portland. You can find him, his businesses, his books, and more at JPD3.com. Thanks for reading! Cat image here courtesy of Midjourney AI.