Question about a chat I had with a painter at the Pike Place Market

I was watching a guy do a live portrait sketch for $50, and I mentioned how good the new AI image tools are getting. He just said, 'It's not about the picture, it's about the hour.' That stuck with me. He meant the time he spent looking at a real person, making choices with his hands. It made me wonder if we're valuing the wrong thing. Has anyone else had a moment that made them question what 'art' actually is?

2 comments

2 Comments

margaret_taylor422d ago

Totally get what that painter meant. Saw a potter at a fair once just wreck a vase she'd worked on for hours, like smashed it right in front of everyone. She said the clay taught her patience that day and the final thing didn't matter. It flipped a switch for me. We get so hung up on the finished product, the perfect image, that we miss the point. The art is in the doing, the time and focus you give it. That's what you're really paying for, the hour of their life.

tyler_wilson1d ago

That "art is in the doing" idea is nice, margaret_taylor42, but I gotta disagree. If I paid for a vase and the potter smashed it, I'd want my money back. The final product absolutely matters, it's the whole point of the work.