Arts Studies and Criticism

In the 20th century, sociologist and critic Walter Benjamin affirmed that works of art became more accessible through mechanical and industrial production and lost their aura. Although paintings and sculptures have remained rarity throughout the history of art due to their uniqueness, emerging fields such as photography and design required new ways of creating value at the time. The most common solution to creating value for such art is to limit the number of versions, in other words, to oppose the reproducibility of these items. In Benjamin's thesis, the "Aura" as the only feature of the artwork will decline with the continuous development of technology. The rise of digital art at this stage just confirms this point of view, and the art form of traditional painting has encountered unprecedented challenges. Edmond Belamy, a portrait created by artificial intelligence, was successfully sold at Christie's in 2018 for a transaction price of $ 432,500. This marks that the commercial world auction organization has recognized the art produced by artificial intelligence. The fields involved include painting, architecture, and installation art. The main research question of this article is whether the aesthetic standards and values of the electronic painting are consistent with traditional painting? Especially the direction of digital painting?