Thanks to everyone who visited me at Gowanus Open Studios back in October! As I announced then, it was my final appearance in Gowanus (barring some cataclysmic rearrangement of the universe); all of my art and art-making apparatus have been successfully relocated to my new home in Kingston, New York.
In this season of reflection, I am slowly developing ideas for artistic next steps. Well, since art is life, next life steps.
Of course, relief printing is at the top of the list. I’m very much hoping I can get involved in some manner at the Neighborhood Print Studio in Kingston.
But one thing that has been intriguing me (something rather hard to ignore, alas) is the ever-growing presence of AI in daily life. And in art, literature and all manner of writing.
Perhaps you have seen the very interesting article in the New York Times by Sam Kriss (“Why Does A.I. Write Like … That?”, December 3, 2025). It appears that A.I.-generated prose is beginning to pervade everywhere. The most disturbing thing about this is that, as Kriss notes, since humans are natural mimics (I’ve observed this in myself), AI writing tics are going to start showing up even in things humans write. Yikes! Armed with some awareness, I am now studiously avoiding em-dashes and the verb “delve”. Will I succeed in sounding sufficiently human?
I have not been very interested in AI up until this point in time. I recently posted my opinion on Bluesky: the emperor has no clothes. Artistically speaking, it is boring: boring to use and boring to look at.
But I’m afraid it can’t be avoided. What are some genuine human artistic responses to all this slop? This may be among the artistic questions that engage me in 2025.
And, perhaps spurred on by more reading (Patti Smith’s new book is just mind-blowing) and by the unwelcome presence of AI, I am becoming re-interested in writing per se, so perhaps more blog posts will be forthcoming in 2026? We’ll see how things go. I think the name of the game for 2026 will be: Dare to be human!
Wishing everyone a very Happy New Year!
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