I have always loved the smell of linseed oil, the sound of a pen nib scratching against textured paper, and the sight of wet watercolor sparkling like ichor.

I think future generations will have to find something else to love.

Technology will continue to transform and redefine what we once called art. Perhaps not in this decade but certainly in this century, traditional notions of skill, talent, artistic vision and manual dexterity will be relegated to a smaller and less relevant corner of the human experience. People raised on interactive holographic images will have neither the patience nor the sensitivity for the quieter virtues of a subtle drawing or a nuanced painting. People who distribute art globally with the push of a button will have little use for an object to hang in museums and galleries.

There is a somewhat naive belief that art will always continue in the tradition of Michelangelo, Leonardo, Rembrandt, and Picasso. The tools and craft of drawing and painting seem so central to our concept of art, how could they ever become irrelevant?

Edna St. Vincent Millay wrote a wonderful poem about the passing of great things:

*When Death was young and bleaching bones were few,

A moving hill against the risen day

The dinosaur at morning made his way,

And dropped his dung along the blazing dew;

Trees with no name that now are agate grew

Lushly beside him in the steamy clay;

He woke and hungered, rose and stalked his prey,

And slept contented, in a world he knew.

In punctual season, with the race in mind,

His consort held aside her heavy tail,

And took the seed; and heard the seed confined

Roar in her womb; and made a nest to hold

A hatched-out conqueror . . . but to no avail:

The veined and fertile eggs are long since cold.

Dinosaurs ruled for 120 million years and yet are most famous for becoming extinct. Art has existed for a mere 35,000 years, so it is probably premature to believe that our little cultural conceit is fated to endure.

Is the end of art as we know it a good thing or a bad thing? Just about everyone has an opinion on the subject of art and computers, yet I remain torn. However, there is one thing I am certain about; regardless of whether it is good or bad, it seems inevitable. And any good business or professional knows that the best way to stay relevant is to exploit the inevitable.