Mystification
Though AI image generation tools are entirely reliant on a wealth of artwork crafted by human hands in order to function, this side of production is often invisible to the majority of those who make use of the programs. But, while this specific technical development is certainly a decidedly contemporary one, the mystification of creative labor is nothing new. During the period of the New Deal, which ranged from 1933 to 1942, large numbers of artists were hired by the American federal government to produce a variety of work for the general public--but to the average member of the country’s population, the relationship between artists and the works they created was not (and is not) immediately apparent. The artwork itself and the perspective of the individual engaging with it is where most attention is directed, with the role of the artist remaining hidden from view.
Many visual works produced by New Deal artists work to combat this by representing various creative laborers--musicians, dancers, actors--alongside more "traditional" lines of work such as construction and farming. Arthur G. Murphy's lithographs show that a braided rope and a braided cable both are the creation of labor, and pass through the hands of workers. And what of the lithographer's labor, all of those departures from documentary photography? Putting it down to "style," today easily fed into an AI engine, mystifies the location, duration, and inspiration that created the artworks. The Federal Art Project sometimes acknowledged labor by designing exhibitions that depicted varying kinds of labor in juxtaposition. The connection between the various creative laborers and the other workers depicted indirectly encouraged viewers to contemplate the relationship between images they were viewing and the individuals who created them. Attempts to organize artists unions remain as relevant today as they were during the 1930s.
Works Consulted
-- Benjamin, Walter. "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction." Trans. Harry Zohn. 1935. Pages 217-251 in Translations, ed Hannah Arendt. 1969. Link
-- McGuigan, Jim. "Creative Labour, Cultural Work and Individualisation." International Journal of Cultural Policy 16.3 (2010): 323–335.
-- Posture, Julien. "A Union for Illustrators: An Interview With Rebecca Blake." On Looking 18 Nov. 2023. Link