In the Timeline, I came across a tweet that said:
"People who can make PPTs are like wizards."
Upon hearing this, my heart was moved. I saw two types of albums, one of which I often encountered in my daily work, while the other was highly praised by designers on the internet. Although both have the same purpose, the latter is skillfully crafted, with carefully selected highlights and clear organization. It uses clever techniques to separate paragraphs with different sizes, allowing viewers to delve into the essence of the article layer by layer. On the other hand, the former is piled up haphazardly, chaotic and overwhelming.
Then, I saw a discussion:
"It's just a few tutorial tips, a set of templates, aligning and symmetrizing the content."
The original author replied:
"Recognizing that others are better than you in certain aspects is a virtue. In my opinion, making PPTs also requires a lot of technical skills. Even if you use templates, you are just a user of the templates. The truly impressive ones are the ones who create the templates."
In my opinion, although this comment is somewhat insightful, it is not wrong. Using templates as a foundation, organizing and aligning, and achieving symmetry are the basics of typesetting. However, many people only focus on the surface, without seeking a deep understanding. They simply use random color combinations, resulting in chaos.
Starting from the discussion about ordinary PPTs, if we apply this comment to a broader context, it seems to be applicable. Artists are just wielding brushes, musicians are just playing notes on a score, and pizza is just dough with meat and cheese on top. When everything is deconstructed, regardless of depth, it all boils down to "nothingness" and "mediocrity". If we deconstruct everything in our daily lives, we will eventually return to dust and emptiness. If our emotions and thoughts are also stripped away, we will end up with nothing but emptiness.
At the extreme of deconstruction, one may ask oneself: Where am I? When can I deconstruct, and when does it end? How should we construct and where is the limit?
After much contemplation, I have a feeling: "Lost."
In recent years, I have observed AI-generated art and have tried it myself. I have studied the theory behind MidJourney/Stable Diffusion, but I have never been interested in AI-generated works. I am truly a lover of craftsmanship. However, my mind is still tired. Everything can be done by AI, and art has gradually lost its appeal because of it.
Indeed, my way of thinking is not the same as those who claim to "protect copyright" but actually hinder technological progress. I believe that I have a sincere love for technology and feel honored to witness the amazing transformations brought about by AI. I also appreciate the artistic value of the works created by AI and hope that they will shine even brighter in the future.
However, I cannot help but feel a sense of fatigue and weariness. Countless AI-generated works emerge all the time, and "art" is gradually being dissected and deconstructed, losing its past "charm". In this process, I begin to understand the mindset of painters when faced with the popularization of cameras.
In the dazzling brilliance of flawless works, I am more attracted to the simplicity and sincerity of things. Recently, I have carefully observed Han Dynasty inscriptions, where each character may not be perfectly neat and the structure may occasionally appear strange. However, as a whole, they possess a unique beauty in their elegance and disorderliness. Regardless of their size, they all have profound meanings. After encountering works by other calligraphers, I abandoned the "Tian Kai" style and no longer pursued the so-called strict "Tian Kai".
For the same reason, compared to various well-structured and regulated artworks, I am more fond of the roughness and frankness found in Han Dynasty portrait bricks, free jazz, blues, and other forms of art. Their "imperfections" create their unique charm.
Thinking about the understanding of life in this mundane world, I would rather pursue imperfection than strive for perfection. I prefer to relax and seek true joy in life. In my leisure time, I casually read the words of Laozi and Zhuangzi, finding solace and enlightenment in them.
This article is also synchronized to xLog by Mix Space.
The original link is https://nishikori.tech/posts/essay/2023-11-30