Mennello Museum and the Creative Battle Against A.I.

This was A.I. generated, I admit, not bad. Kinda cold, but not bad.

Fearing A.I. replacing artists?

Wouldn’t be an issue if modern American culture appreciates art and actually makes an effort to preserve, support, and elevate artists locally, stateside, nationally, and beyond.

I have an ongoing theory that the robotic, imitative, cold-calculative ways of something as technologically-advanced and binarily intelligent as artificial intelligence cannot really duplicate humanly creativity. Creativity evolves, devolves, expands, contracts, and sometimes bounces off the corners of the standard rules related to making something as vaguely beautiful as art. No matter how much the machine can learn, it can never keep up with the sheer influx of ideas that emerges from creatives all over the world.

Recently, the anime of One Piece had a spectacular sequence involving the lead character evolving into a new form in order to win a fight against the latest massive villain in the latest story arc. The animated results are nothing short of astounding, visceral, and crafting images that bent and twisted the rules established in the very anime itself.

Even with Luffy, a character with a rubber body, they managed to stretch his potential to unexpected levels, turning what was a deadly serious fight into a hilarious Tom and Jerry-esque affair. A.I. would have never been able to produce such a tonal shift, this level of creative madness can only be achieved by human minds (in this case the manga illustrator followed by the anime’s animation team) influenced by works of the past while challenging themselves to advance the story and introduce ideas the long-running anime had yet to see.

Of course you might be wondering what ANY of this has to do with my travel blog of places in Florida to visit, but I came across the Mennello Museum of American Art.

Not saying this place is like the Met in New York City or anything along the lines, but for a nice cheap price you can enter and explore a good variety of works of art ranging from classic paintings to more experimental pieces. The exhibitions usually have a span of a few months, which means you can take multiple trips to this nice secluded corner of Orlando and get a different experience each time. What makes this museum in particular interesting is how half the art is actually outside in the form of a variety of sculptures available for anyone to witness and visually digest.

My particular visit had an exhibition dedicated to self-taught Black artists from across the country, and the works range from dedications to folk legends to modern works that reference motherly teachings and blessings. Of course I’m never going to tell you what to see, what to feel, what to experience, as art is subjective. There’s a chance you won’t like anything from the exhibition at all, but the point is to open your eyes to the art of others, be open to interpretations of others. Most importantly, the mere concept of art needs financial and cultural support at all times. Sometimes, art is the language of the oppressed, of the silenced, of the silent trying to reach out for emotional solidarity.

The particular standout artwork to me was this painting of what appears to be a devil with bright demonic eyes wearing teeth made of angels. This was one of the artworks of a self-taught Black painter, and who knows what this person experienced and witnessed to become inspired enough to create such a profound piece of eerie religious art. Along with the works are the stories and backgrounds of the artists, and some of the stories are just as intriguing as what they produce.

The place isn’t big, its nothing groundbreaking, but its still essential, especially as access to art has decreased over the years and technology has threatened the livelihood of artists nationwide. And even if A.I. and technology can ever match the quality of what we’re capable of producing with our own hands, it’s the complacency that would ultimately doom us all. Similar to how the amount of colors and diversity among business/sporting logos has diminished greatly without much of a fight, the lack of worry is what will allow the A.I. to win. Its important to support art, so we don’t devolve as a species into becoming mindless zombies just consuming random computer-generated crap and not intellectually, emotionally, or culturally grow into a better version of what we are.

This is a bit preachy, but yea support the arts, support the museums, support creativity altogether. It starts with visits to smaller places like these, but this isn’t just a pity suggestion, as this museum is nonetheless worth your money and time.

Mennello Museum of American Art

900 E Princeton St, Orlando, FL 32803

P.S. Look at this madness!!! A.I. could never ever. Protect all manga creators at all costs.