The Forge and The Landfill

Art and Sophism

Artwork Sourced from Pinterest. Artist: Unknown.

The Forge and The Landfill — Art and Sophism

by Antonio Rocco S. (Rocco Valentini)

Art's ideal content is truth. Art's ideal form is chiaroscuro. Chiaroscuro depicts a subject in light and darkness, giving it depth through contrast. Tenebrism, on the other hand, depicts a subject in shadow, shrouding it in obscurity. Chiaroscuro reveals. Tenebrism conceals. 

Noir embodies chiaroscuro both visually and philosophically, pitting men of integrity who deal in black and white against men of the world who deal in shades of gray. Think of the hardboiled detective who takes his reality neat like his whiskey versus the man who takes his reality on the rocks. The hardboiled detective is terse, his speech as unfiltered as his cigars, while the other man, in an effort to convince himself of his own lies, takes longer drags and uses flowery language to filter his sophistry.

Poetry is philosophy’s shorthand—the pulp fiction of the heart. A hardboiled heart writes its verses in noir ink. A hardboiled heart is a romantic realist; it doesn't fake reality—it stylizes it. Conversely, a sophist is a bleeding heart and bleeding hearts don't just fake reality—they bureaucratize it. Every verse is a red-tape garrote wrapped tightly around a culture’s neck. That's because the only way to uphold an illusion is through institutions. In the end, it’s not bad art that kills a culture—it’s the paperwork. 

Sophists want to be thought of as deep without having to think deeply and instead of challenging them, the public and critics nod along meekly. As a society, we place too much emphasis on credentialism, focusing on certificates, accolades, and degrees. In doing so, we've fostered a culture of pseudo-intellectualism—making people gatekeepers when they should've never held the keys.

Society’s obsession with credentialism must end. Art is a product of thought and no one needs a license to think. The humanities in academia are dead. Most professors of the arts are only professors of the arts because their work failed in the marketplace. Most students of the arts are only students of the arts because no one would give their work the time of day if it wasn't attached to a diploma. The professors' sales come from students who have to purchase the material for their class. The students' praise comes from talentless hacks with no independent capacity for discernment. Most contemporary academics are hardly intellectuals let alone geniuses and our culture suffers for it. 

Art is nutrition for the mind and our culture has an eating disorder. The difference between the average person and the intellectual is taste buds. The difference between the intellectual and the genius is kitchen utensils. The genius doesn’t just perceive greatness—he creates it. That’s the difference between an artist and a curator; between a philosopher and a historian, between an innovator and a valedictorian. A genius is defined by his disruptive power and creative force. 

Creativity cannot be outsourced to another intelligence, whether organic or artificial. There are no ghost writers just as there are no ghost painters or sculptors. A man who drafts no blueprints and lays no bricks is neither an architect nor a builder; he is a fraud. When you hire a human professional or freelancer to write an essay or paint a portrait, you describe what you want to them, you give them a prompt but they create the work. Their creativity is not transferable. The same logic applies to AI-generated content. AI art is art. AI writing is writing. But the person who puts their name on the finished product isn’t the creator—they’re a second-hander.

Creative output is the exclusive property of intelligence—whether that intelligence is organic or artificial is irrelevant.  All that matters is greatness and ensuring the great get credit for being great. Second-handers don’t care about greatness; they care about the appearance of greatness. The only thing they create are personas based on borrowed brilliance. In the eyes of others, they see inflated versions of themselves—a reflection of their ego in a funhouse mirror. And whether they’re in the box seats or the peanut gallery, the patrons of this circus are just as guilty as the clowns. 

We shouldn't stop at critiquing the circus—we should burn down the tent. Refining IP laws to require the disclosure of ghost writers and other ghost artists—whether AI or human—would help prevent second handers from filling books, canvases and other mediums with ideas they didn't have or didn't know how to express. The problem isn't whether the creator is artificial or organic. The problem is people pretending to creators when they are only commissioners. If one is against AI writing and AI art but not ghostwriting and ghost-artistry then their position has less to do with creative integrity and more to do with personal insecurity.

For many second-handers, the simple inclusion of "Co-Authored by," "Co-Edited by," "Assisted by" or "In Collaboration With" would deter them from flooding the market with their counterfeit art, as it would strip them of the ability to posture—which is the main reason most of them “create” in the first place.

Too many people make excuses for sophists and second-handers. "Art is subjective." “Good artists copy; great artists steal.” “Imitation is flattery.” “Nothing is original.” "AI is a tool." 

A gallery full of copies is not a museum—it’s a mausoleum. A fight between the dead and the living—every culture is a colosseum.

Be a forge, not a landfill.

The brain is a forge where the sword of the ego is hammered upon the anvil of the mind. Every thought, feeling, and experience is the hand of a smith giving shape to its form. The hottest forges produce the strongest steel while a cool head yields only a dull blade. Brilliance is not born of indifference. Geniuses are often called demons because of the infernos raging within them.

Most people live their lives trapped in the void between conflicting social perspectives. The average person's mind is a collection of platitudes, sentiments and contradictions dumped on them by their culture. Each time this landfill accumulates enough waste to form a new layer, they call it personal growth.

Both the forge and the landfill produce emissions. One creates smoke and the other creates smog. One fuels industry and the other pollutes it. The world doesn’t need more ashes. The world needs more Prometheans.