Art without emotion is not true art

Ever since technology has taken centre stage, real art has been cast to the shadows, argues Emily, 14, from Hong Kong.

Our creativity has diminished, art has lost its meaning, and masterpieces have been forgotten. 

Do you remember the time when art was marvelled, meaningful, and alive? 

Picture an artwork worth millions. Do you think of a banana duct-taped to a wall? 

This is not true art.

When I say “true art,” you probably think I am a stuffy young fogey who loves only pictures like Van Gogh’s “Starry Night”. But I am not referring only to the classics: I am talking about any art that holds meaning and represents talent, not an image generated by ChatGPT. Think about murals in the city or the doodles in your notebook. 

There are fewer and fewer artists in this world. It is not hard to believe that in a time where AI is advancing rapidly and replacing many skills. 

Why pick up a paintbrush when you can simply press a couple buttons on your keyboard and get the same result? When people only have their mind on the finished product and not the process of creating art, the importance of making art is lost. 

Art should be about pouring your emotions on a canvas, painting stories with colours, and that just cannot be done by a robot. 

But this is not just a side effect of technology. It is a sign of our cultural decay.

In a 2010 report and a 2017 follow-up study, we saw a decline in children’s creativity, and that decline has continued. The modern world, dominated by academic focus, has slowly caused us to conform rather than innovate. Young artists have had their talents caged to fit in and their passion crushed. 

Additionally, the global art market fell by 12% in 2024. Many people see these statistics and ditch their passion for art, afraid to become a starving artist. But a more financially stable career does not mean you have to give up your hobby. Even something small can keep your passion going, such as creating a collage out of used newspapers. 

A world without art is a world void of beauty, creativity, and culture – dull, bare, a mental asylum. To lose our creativity is to lose our individuality. Imagine a world where everyone is a carbon copy of everyone else. 

Maybe you could argue that art is not dead, but evolving. The real question here is, is it for better or for worse?

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