A new artistic hierarchy?

I’ve been fortunate to have a successful career in both art and design. Still, I built my reputation by going against three common expectations set by the academic and market elites:

A good artist sticks to a recognizable medium or style.

A good artist focuses on recurring themes or subjects.

A good artist stays within their chosen profession or field of expertise.

Instead, I’ve approached the creative arts with a more experimental mindset, treating each project as a chance to start from scratch. By defying these conventions, I’ve noticed that when I ask AI to replicate my style, it often struggles—despite all the data associated with my work.

This “glitch” in AI reinforces my belief that aesthetics are easier to replicate than truly original ideas. If that’s true, AI could challenge the long-held idea that artistic expression is a window to the soul.

In fact, artistic styles may turn out to be more formulaic than we thought. Artistic expression could be closer to athletic performance or craftsmanship in its execution.

Looking ahead, the real value in the visual arts may come from generating original ideas that help us understand our social and psychological realities—much like science helps us understand the physical world.