19/07/2026
Ai does not do Celtic art well. Sometimes it is close. Usually, it sucks. It may look pretty and be “close enough” if you don’t know or care about what makes this sacred art form authentic.
In the past year, memes, posters, ads, magazines, even tattoos, manufactured jewelry, clothing, and other decorative objects have been pouring out into the world with woefully wrong flourishes of pseudo-Celtic art created by Artificial Intelligence. It is one thing when it is part of the “plastic Paddy” novelty market for the annual March festival of ethnic stereotypes. It is quite another situation when respected cultural organizations, festivals and the like treat Ai abominations as the new normal.
It is a painful duty for me to write this tirade. I hate being a snob or a preachy, scolding troll. Many of the people who are using bad Ai Celtic art are my friends or are doing it on behalf of very worthy causes. The problem is that, just like musicians, visual artists don’t lecture their audience on the theory and technique that makes it beautiful and authentic. The audience enjoys the performance without being experts, which is okay.
The current Ai standard of pseudo-Celtic art is a tangled mass of lines, ribbons and spirals that follow little logic or order. The online forums for Celtic art refer to it as “spaghetti-vomit” or “spag-vom”. Some very big tech companies have spent billions developing Ai and billions more convincing the masses that it is trustworthy, useful, empowering, even cool. Maybe Ai will get better at Celtic art with time, but that time isn’t now.
The ornate, abstract, and graphically sophisticated early medieval style of Celtic art was revived and repurposed as an emblematic cultural element of modern Scottish, Irish and Celtic identity. After the cultural trauma of centuries of subjugation, oppression, and poverty, the Celtic Revival that began in the middle of the 19th century, used ancient Celtic art as an affirmation of cultural accomplishment and potential. After such disasters as the failed Jacobite uprising, the Irish Famine and the Highland Clearances, a re-invention of the culture looked back to a Golden Age. Beautiful and highly skilled Celtic art was part of that vision.
The “Work of Angels” description of the 8th century Book of Kells captures the esteem and high level of accomplishment of Celtic art. It is imaginative, complicated, but not chaotic. It can be simultaneously geometric and organic, with endless variety and delightfully clever. Scholars and artists have labored for the past two hundred years to understand it. Much has been recovered. New discoveries and insights about the techniques, symbolism and history of this beloved art form have been creating a new Golden Age of Celtic art.
And then suddenly, it no longer matters. Invasive Ai slop is overwhelming the popular environment.
I can only imagine what my art teacher from the 1970s would have to say. He might point out that this “Engine of the Devil” which is Artificial Intelligence, is confused, lost, and defeated in the mazes of clever, convoluted never-ending paths of authentic Celtic interlace. Ai fails miserably to synthesize the traditional art form. Alas! It has been very successful in convincing people to accept a counterfeit substitute.
Please, please, please learn at least the basics for identifying authentic versus bogus Celtic art. We need to stop feeding this tone-deaf Ai parasite. There is more to Celtic art than just knots and interlace, however this is by far the most recognized and used part of the genre. Interlace should alternate, regularly weaving over and under. When a cord goes under, it should come out the other side, not just end abruptly. The symbolic meaning of an endless, closed path, weaving the strands of life, love, faith, and heritage is not served by random tangles.
Right now, 2026, there are more skilled and talented Celtic artists living in our own times than in the last thousand years! Plenty of resources about authentic Celtic art are available, books, websites, videos and museums. If you are going to use Celtic art for marketing an event or any other purpose, please do it with respect for the tradition. It might take years to master the depth of Celtic art, but you can learn enough in an hour to avoid embarrassing yourself.
More on the subject of Ai Celtic art abominations at:
https://www.walkerscelticjewelry.com/blogs/celticjewelry/a-rant-about-the-authenticity-of-celtic-art
Posted by Stephen Walker
