Chapter One Response

The digital age – where we are immersed in technology. Our daily lives have been altered from what they were a mere five years ago, let alone a decade. Technology is evolving at such an exponential rate; it will be amazing to see the advances another ten years from now. Since the initial glimpse of the world’s first digital computer in 1946, the United States has integrated computers into nearly every facet of our society. From smart phones to computerized cars that can park themselves, robots that clean floors and global online communication tools – digital tools and technologies are rapidly maturing.

Art throughout the ages has also evolved since prehistoric cave painting and sunken reliefs on stone tablets. Although the Egyptian culture retained the same artistic canon for over two thousand years, art in other cultures historically has morphed and changed. It is no surprise that in the first chapter of Chistiane Paul’s book, Digital Art, the author introduces the thought that, indeed, many artists from various backgrounds “are making use of digital technologies as a tool of creation for aspects of their art” (27). Painters, sculptors and many traditional artists already use technology to help create their work and will continue to use digital tools in the future.

It is understandable that the shift in thinking of digital art in the same way as other forms of artistic expression has not fully come around. Just because it is easy to replicate a digital image, does not mean it is always easy to create one. It has been expressed that “creation of artworks such as painting or drawings on a computer implies a loss of relationship with the ‘mark’—that is, that there is a significant lack of personality in the mark one produces on a computer screen as opposed to one on paper or canvas” (Paul 60).

This statement blows my mind! A digital mark is just as much of a mark as one made on paper. Digital art may be easily duplicated and depending on the piece, displaying it may present a challenge, but art is art is art. A person could use toothpicks to build a miniature spaceship and holds it together with gum, or form a sculpture out of toilet paper. The image or work of art one produces should not be discounted of personality because of the materials or tools one used to create the piece – the piece alone gives itself validity.

  
It is only a matter of time until using digital technologies as a tool will be completely accepted, understood, respected and commonplace. Comparing painting to sculpture, or ceramics to graffiti is not useful in determining the value of individual works of art. If someone is able to create something aesthetically pleasing, unique and interesting to the viewer, it should be accepted as a form of art – no matter what the artist used to create it. A digital mark made today is what a brush stroke was four thousand years ago.

Work Cited:

Christiane Paul. Digital Art. New York: Thames & Hudson, 2003.