Everyone talks about ‘polarization’. Politics, income, culture. It has struck me recently how this also applies to art. There are super-detailed pieces of art which have become common-place. Video games, movies, etc. And these are largely computer generated (humans still supervise.) But art which is strictly ‘human’, ie. generated in real-time by real people, has become more simple. As the machines advance, we withdraw.

I have started thinking that, in a sense, we’ve unconsciously given up. Other than guys like Chuck Close, the idea of humans doing extremely detailed and complex contrivances is going buh bye.

I’ll grant you that there are plenty of stunt-performers. Guys who are like cirque du soleil contortionists. Performing ‘how does he do that finger-busting feats. Unfortunately, most of these are, forgive me, circus feats—amazing to watch once. Not necessarily what you wanna listen to for depth.

You can say that art is supposed to reflect the times. But if artists like Chuck Close (who admits he is imitating a machine) are what’s happening, what does that say […]

There is a term used in the psychology of aesthetics known as the The Uncanny Valley. It refers to that funny area when a computer image looks “lifelike” but still recognizable as artificially generated it causes immediate revulsion by pretty much all conscious beings. The idea is that it is programmed into us to protect us from ‘the other’.

It is my belief that we are at a point in “the digital revolution” where we find ourselves smack dab in the middle of that uncanny Valley in both movies and music. And this explains a lot of why we find so much of today’s art so empty.

It also explains why so many people are drawn to musical styles from another time. There is such a focus on the sounds that are digitally created that there is almost no focus left for the content. We find ourselves inevitably drawn to music from other areas that were frankly more nourishing. This partly explains all the interest in Americana […]