Whether it is a painting, a ballet choreography or a symphony, I found there are two metrics to making art. There is the part of the process that concerns imagining what one is to create, we’ll call that the vision. Then, there is the part of materialising that vision so it can be shared with others. We’ll call that part the craftsmanship. Vision + craftsmanship = work of art, in any of the domains of art.
When we look at the three examples I previously used, Painting, Dancing, Music, we can observe some trends.
Painting
Painting has become less complex, most Western people today are satisfied with much more replicable, easy-to-make works of art than their respective predecessors. Most people have a general, anecdotal or shallow interest in art and celebrate many painters who were once considered sub-standard as great artists (e.g. Van Gogh, Picasso or Monet, the list goes on).
For example, Renaissance painters like Leonardo da Vinci employed intricate techniques such as layered glazing to achieve depth and realism, a process that required years of mastery. In contrast, modern abstract artists like Mark Rothko use simpler forms and color fields, which demand less technical skill. Additionally, artists like Van Gogh, Picasso, and Monet were initially criticized for not matching the standards of their time: Van Gogh for his brushwork, Picasso for his fragmented forms, and Monet for his loose, impressionistic style. Their eventual celebration reflects a shift in the audience’s expectations.
Music
Likewise, music has become less complex, and most Western people are satisfied with much more replicable and easy-to-make music than their predecessors. Almost every single popular song of the last 40 years is about 3.5 minutes long with most using the same chords. Comparing this to the works of classical music that took half a life to compose shows a clear contrast.
Additionally, composers such as Bach had to study and dedicate their lives to reach the standard they were at (and Bach, arguably the most gifted musician of all time, considering himself still not good enough). Comparing this to the modern day where a hit song can be made in a few hours to a few days underlines the contrast. We can observe that people today are satisfied with less complex, easier to make music.
To illustrate this trend continuing today, consider that the average length of a Billboard Hot 100 song has decreased from around 4 minutes in the 1980s to under 3 minutes today (-25%), with many songs relying on repetitive chord progressions like the I-V-vi-IV sequence (“Let It Be” by The Beatles or “With or Without You” by U2). This simplicity contrasts sharply with classical compositions like Bach’s “Mass in B Minor,” which took years to compose and features intricate counterpoint and harmonic complexity.
Dance
Finally, dance reflects this same shift toward simplicity. Modern styles like breakdance or hip-hop, while dynamic and expressive, demand significantly less technical complexity and training than traditional forms like ballet. For instance, ballet, as showcased in Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake, relies on codified movements, precise technique, and narrative depth, requiring dancers to undergo years of rigorous training to master its intricate vocabulary. In contrast, breakdance performances, though athletic, often prioritize improvisation and raw energy over formalized skill, achievable with far less formal training. This trend underscores the broader move toward accessible, less demanding artistry.
Bringing it Together
That said, there are still gifted artists across these fields, and there is a high degree of subjectivity when it comes to the value of any of these art forms. However, the trend as a whole from more skilful and complex art to easier and simpler art is clear and continuous. It also extends into other forms of art, such as architecture or sculptures, etc.
Why Did Art Change That Way?
Shift in Cultural Standards
Modern cultural standards prioritize individuality and accessibility over technical perfection. You don’t need decades of training to make something people find impactful anymore. This allows artists with less craftsmanship skill to thrive. This led to a decline in complexity but also a democratization of expression: Everyone is an artist, everything can be art.
Influence of Popular Culture
Popular culture and mass media play a big role too. In our fast-paced, digital world, art that’s easily consumable gets the most attention. Platforms like Instagram or TikTok reward quick, striking visuals, think bold colors or simple designs, over detailed, nuanced pieces that take time and study to appreciate. Pop music’s catchy hooks are another example: they’re designed for instant appeal, unlike the layered complexity of a Beethoven symphony. This push for mass appeal and immediacy often favors simplicity over complexity, shaping what artists choose to create.
Economic Pressures
Money matters too. Complex art, like a massive oil painting or a multi-movement musical composition, takes time and resources. Historically, artists had patrons footing the bill. Today, many artists need to support themselves, so there’s pressure to produce work faster and sell it in a competitive market. Simpler pieces are quicker to make and often easier to market, especially if they align with trendy, accessible styles. This doesn’t mean complex art can’t exist, it just means the economics often nudge artists toward efficiency over intricacy.
Taking God out of it
Finally, art’s purpose has evolved. In the past, it often served big goals: religious devotion (like Gothic cathedrals), historical records, or philosophical statements. That demanded complexity, think of the symbolism packed into a medieval tapestry. Now, art is more about personal expression or entertainment. It’s less about mastering a craft for a higher cause and more about connecting with an audience or saying something unique. This shift doesn’t require the same level of technical depth, so complexity takes a backseat.
AI Impacts on Vision and Craftsmanship in Art
General Impact on Vision Across All Art Forms
AI does not originate the initial vision for any art form, as this remains a deeply human process driven by imagination, intent, and emotion. Whether it’s the concept for a painting, the narrative of a musical piece, or the story behind a dance, the creative spark begins with the artist. However, AI enhances this vision by quickly generating ideas and prototypes, such as color palettes, melodies, or movement sequences, allowing artists to visualise, refine and mature their concepts faster. This acceleration shortens the journey from an initial idea to a fully realized work, amplifying human creativity without replacing its core.
Painting: Craftsmanship
In painting, AI transforms craftsmanship by automating technical tasks like applying textures or generating entire images. This reduces the skill barrier, making high-quality outcomes more accessible to artists who may lack traditional training. Compared to tools like Photoshop, AI cuts production time even further, enabling artists to materialize their visions almost instantly. While this democratizes art creation, it also raises the risk of uniformity, as AI-generated works might miss the subtle imperfections that mark human-made pieces.
Music: Craftsmanship
For music, AI streamlines craftsmanship by handling tasks such as mixing, mastering, or generating tracks, lowering the skill threshold and aligning with trends toward simpler, replicable compositions. Creation time shrinks dramatically, a hit song could emerge in seconds rather than hours, limited only by how fast the artist defines their vision. Combined with automated A/B testing on platforms like social media, AI could produce a flood of niche-specific hits, tailored to every taste. As creation, testing, analysis, and iteration become fully automated, human input may no longer be needed to craft a song, and listeners might not distinguish between human-made and AI-generated music, with output driven entirely by reception and taste.
Dance: Craftsmanship
In dance, AI simplifies craftsmanship through tools like motion capture and virtual dancers, reducing the technical skill required compared to traditional forms like ballet, which demand years of practice. This allows choreographers to materialize their visions more quickly, though the physical performance and emotional depth of live dance remain human-only. AI could generate entire digital dance performances, indistinguishable from real ones in the digital space, expanding creative possibilities. Yet, the embodied experience of dance, its visceral and expressive power, still can only be accomplished through humans.
Reviving the Past and Beyond
AI’s potential extends beyond new works to reviving the styles of past masters. It could compose music in Bach’s voice, paint in Rembrandt’s brushstrokes, or choreograph digital dances echoing Anna Pavlova’s elegance. Imagine a personalized birthday song from a virtual Bach, paired with a Rembrandt-style portrait and a holographic Pavlova performance. With holographic technology or humanoid robots, this could near a real experience, offering a kind of eternalization for humanity’s greatest artists. Given the vast history of art, there’s enough to fill lifetimes with revived works. For those craving novelty, AI’s ability to create variations and refine them through A/B testing and applying the results, provides a path to continuous innovation.
Final Thoughts & Ending
In the evolving landscape of art, where today’s audience taste favors simplicity, representation and accessibility, AI’s role, rooted in its capacity for rapid, replicable craftsmanship, could significantly amplify this shift. The dominance of simple, accessible content will likely intensify further as AI floods platforms like TikTok and Instagram with short, catchy songs, bold digital visuals, and straightforward dance routines, all crafted for instant appeal.
Through data-driven optimization, AI can hone these works, i.e. algorithmically perfected hits or real-time adaptive paintings, tailoring them to individual tastes while risking a feedback loop that echoes current preferences rather than forging new ones. The simplified revival of complexity could see AI reinterpret historical styles, producing three-minute Bach-inspired tracks or Rembrandt-esque portraits stripped of their original depth, catering to nostalgia without challenging modern palates.
Yet, AI holds potential to redefine complexity within accessible bounds, crafting fractal visuals or genre-blending soundscapes that marry intricacy with familiarity. This duality will shape a fragmented art landscape: mainstream simplicity, driven by AI’s craftsmanship, will dominate, while niche complexity, whether human-crafted or AI-assisted, will endure for connoisseurs.
Thus, AI will accelerate art’s decades-old drift toward simplicity and replicability, fitting in well with the taste of modern audiences.
In a sense, it is a full manifestation of the process that has led society to celebrate human complexity and skill less and less. A process that has taken society from celebrating the Bachs, Rembrandts and Pavlovas of this world to celebrating less and less skill and complexity, with the final form of that trend potentially finding its maximal extent in entirely machine-made art void of human complexity and skill.
Those who celebrate modern art today will probably represent the market for AI made art whereas those that celebrate classical art will represent the market that will keep the tradition of complexity alive, with marriages to bridge the two.
Author’s Note: This essay focuses on broad, Western-centric trends in the shift from complex, craft-driven art to simpler, more accessible forms, and how AI intensifies that shift. To maintain focus, it does not cover non-Western art, outsider or participatory forms, or the psychological and educational factors behind changing tastes. Some generalisations are intentionally broad to draw out cultural patterns, though they may overlook exceptions and nuances. The tone leans critical to highlight contrast, which may come across as culturally pessimistic. These trade-offs in nuance, tone, and breadth were made consciously to preserve thematic clarity within the limited scope and present one clear case to encourage readers to consider the subject matter and state of art.
