Are We Entering A Renaissance In Art?

After decades of surrendering our humanity to technology, something is shifting. We’re pushing back, remembering who we are.

Technology isolated us. Our bonds weakened. We numbed the loneliness with dopamine scrolling, drugs, online shopping – anything to fill the void where human connection used to be.

Adam Walker writes about seven signs that appear before cultural renewals. Reading his piece, I realized we’re living through them right now.

We’re waking up to what we lost.

There’s a resurgence of the imperfect, the handmade, the artisan-crafted. We reject AI-generated art. Even digital art feels cold. We want something we can touch, where we can see the texture, the artist’s hand. There’s an ancient intuition rising: the ability to create is a gift from the divine. A machine can’t replicate that. It will never make true art.

The old frameworks are crumbling too. Artists don’t have to stand outside the gates of the institutional art world anymore, begging to be let in. There’s a different path now – connecting directly with the people who resonate with your work.

I see artists everywhere following their pull toward beauty and flourishing. Most are gaining traction online – which is a paradox, since online is also what isolated us in the first place. The digital world has both helped and hurt us. Technology isn’t the enemy. It’s a powerful tool that can create real damage if we’re not careful about how we use it.

And maybe we’re done being told what counts as art. The institutional art world tried to brainwash us with its own definitions – a banana taped to a wall, a gilded toilet. Like the child who shouted that the emperor had no clothes, we’re refusing to accept it. We’re choosing our own path toward beauty. We want to appreciate actual skill, actual craftsmanship again.

Something is breaking open. Can you feel it?

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What I’ve been up to:

At the end of January I visited the Celebration of Fine Art in Scottsdale for the first time. I was blown away by the scale of it – the sheer amount of amazing art available in one place. So much better than visiting traditional galleries. But what made it special was connecting directly with the artists, not just in “exhibition mode” but watching them work in their studios. That kind of access is rare.

I was particularly drawn to the expressiveness of Becky Pashia‘s paintings, especially how she captures light, and Tina Garrett‘s exquisite work.

When I talked to Tina, I asked what drives her paintings – what she’s exploring or trying to express. Her answer stayed with me: all of her works are, in one way or another, self-portraits. She’s capturing glimpses of herself in her art.

That felt like a revelation. Aren’t we all trying to find ourselves through our creative work?

We also caught the Waterfront Fine Art & Wine Festival and spent another day exploring galleries in downtown Scottsdale.