Reaffirming the Essence of Human Art
 
Fine art has always touched the deepest strata of the human spirit. It is not simply the skill of creating aesthetic objects, but the act of a living human being attempting to understand themselves. While humans have evolved by using tools, it is in writing poetry and painting images that they crossed from utility into the realm of the mind. Art was born at this very threshold, and it has defined civilization ever since.
 
From prehistoric cave paintings to contemporary experimental performance, art has consistently reflected—and even anticipated—the sentiments of its time. Embedded within it are enduring existential questions: “Who am I?”, “What do I live for?”, “What do I feel, and how do I exist?” These are not technological inquiries, but philosophical ones, rooted in introspection. That is the origin and enduring essence of fine art.


 
How Capitalism Consumes Art
 
Modern capitalism has absorbed art into the order of the market, commodifying its meaning and value. Once art is no longer a product of contemplation but a product for sale, creation becomes an act of responding to the demands of the market. The value of a work is translated into visible metrics: past auction prices, collectors’ names, exhibition history, and media exposure.
 
This structure transforms the subject of production and appreciation—from a thinking human being to a consuming entity. Art is no longer “read” but “sold.” Appreciation becomes an act of consumption. Artworks are categorized by “market value,” and artists become brands within a distribution network.
 
This shift does not come only from external forces—it causes fissures within the realm of art itself. Increasingly, artists shape their practices with the market in mind. They follow trends, select commercially viable formats, and adopt popular themes. While such strategic choices may be necessary for survival, they often come at the cost of artistic integrity and depth. In this process, art’s fundamental questions grow ever more faint.


 
AI and the Blurring of Creative Boundaries

AI has begun replacing human cognitive domains. It writes texts, creates images, and generates music and video content. The creative sphere is no exception. Generative AI learns from vast datasets and produces works that appear compelling—digital drawings, compositions, poems, narratives, even paintings. To the untrained eye, these may seem indistinguishable from human-made art.
 
But we must ask: Is this truly creation, or is it replication? What AI produces is not a synthesis of felt experience but a probabilistic arrangement. It calculates patterns, not meaning. It imitates without context. It cannot generate meaning born from existential reflection or emotional depth.
 
AI is rooted in efficiency and automation. Art, by contrast, is grounded in uncertainty and endurance. True creation always includes the possibility of failure. Through that failure, new perceptual orders emerge. Art is not a system for delivering correct answers—it is an act that gives shape to questions and disturbs familiar sensations.


 
What Remains of Creative Uniqueness?
 
We now live in an era where the line between creator and creation-machine grows increasingly blurred. But if art is more than the act of production, there are still things only humans can do. Chief among them is art as a way of enduring life. Humans feel, remember, suffer, and assign meaning to what may appear meaningless. That emotional and intellectual depth is something only the human spirit can hold.
 
No matter how advanced AI becomes, it cannot replicate the layers of human feeling—pain, longing, guilt, forgiveness, love, or failure. Art arises within these fragile tensions of being. In other words, there can be no true art without the existential anxiety and emotional sedimentation unique to human life.


 
The Role of Fine Art—More Essential Than Ever
 
Many claim that fine art is in crisis because of AI. Yet paradoxically, this is precisely why it is more essential than ever. AI may produce results, but art reveals process. AI calculates, but the artist endures. It is only through this endurance that new sensory orders and questions can emerge.
 
Fine art defends the essence of existence through what appears unnecessary, inefficient, and invisible. It does not function as a means to an end—it exists for its own sake. The more society is dominated by utility and speed, the more important it becomes to hold on to what seems useless. That is art’s responsibility.
 
Art need not be useful. It is precisely through its perceived uselessness that it safeguards the final frontier of human dignity. Fine art remains a space for unresolved emotions, subtle sensations, and receptive resonance—a space where the boundary between machine and human remains clear.


 
The Boundary Between Fine and Commercial Art—And the Role of New Sensibility
 
Fine art and commercial art are often seen as opposing categories, but the core distinction is not one of quality or style, but of value judgment. Commercial art is governed by demand and reaction. Fine art begins with inquiry and contemplation. In an age where these lines blur, fine art must hold its ground with greater clarity.
 
Machines search for patterns in data; artists create forms within sensation. That is the true power of human art—and why it holds even greater significance in the AI era. In a world saturated with images, the work of awakening “invisible sensation” becomes ever more urgent. Art should not merely produce beauty, but transform perception and provoke reflection.
 


Conclusion: Art as the Final Bastion of Human Consciousness
 
We are living in an age where means and ends are confused. Art is increasingly removed from its place as the highest expression of the human spirit and reduced to rapidly consumed imagery. But art will never disappear—because humans will always question, feel, and create.
 
AI may generate images faster than ever, but it cannot replicate the artist’s slow contemplation, emotional struggle, or courageous risk of failure.
 
Our task is clear. We must protect art, embrace questions, and restore emotional depth. Art is not a luxury—it is the essence of our humanity. And that is why, now more than ever, we cannot afford to abandon it. Fine art must survive not merely for art’s sake, but for the sake of what it means to be human.

Jay Jongho Kim graduated from the Department of Art Theory at Hongik University and earned his master's degree in Art Planning from the same university. From 1996 to 2006, he worked as a curator at Gallery Seomi, planning director at CAIS Gallery, head of the curatorial research team at Art Center Nabi, director at Gallery Hyundai, and curator at Gana New York. From 2008 to 2017, he served as the executive director of Doosan Gallery Seoul & New York and Doosan Residency New York, introducing Korean contemporary artists to the local scene in New York. After returning to Korea in 2017, he worked as an art consultant, conducting art education, collection consulting, and various art projects. In 2021, he founded A Project Company and is currently running the platforms K-ARTNOW.COM and K-ARTIST.COM, which aim to promote Korean contemporary art on the global stage.