“Bright Day” tile design was created on my birthday. (© 2002 Verneda Lights)
Many people would argue that there is no such thing as digital fine art, and that there can never be a meaningful and arresting body of art derived exclusively from the use of computer graphics programs. There are also purists who take the extreme position that “fine art” in the sense of the Western Art tradition, results only from the contact of skin and sweat with canvas & paper, and manipulation of non-virtual media by an artistically ingenious mind. Likewise, the opposite spectrum exists, where the values of “traditional art” are dismissed as being frivolous and nonessential to truly modern (21st Century) art. My personal opinion is that all art movements and the ways in which artists have used science to gain further mastery of their visual expressions, are part of an historical continuum; therefore, that which has gone before will forever be relevant. That which is new (i.e., computer graphics programs) can allow ever more inventive and challenging ways for artists to express their own unique artistic visions and statements. It is not the media that makes the artist, but the unique genius that transforms the media into vision, that creates the art.
Personally, I view the traditional to digital art spectrum via the following schema. Pure digital fine art is created as a consequence of the interaction between the creative human mind and computer software. Although the latter is truly a machine, and non-organic (please keep in mind that this is changing, organic computers will be commonplace in the near future), it is still the product of the human mind, and does itself possess no small amount of “intuitive” responses to the user. So then, pure digital fine art may not be so much the consequence of the dynamic interaction between artist and machine, as it is the consequence of remote interaction between two human minds or groups of human minds, namely the artist and the software development team ,with the computer functioning strictly as interfacing mechanism.
Traditional fine art, originates as a consequence of interaction between the artistic mind and it’s historical/ political/ religious/ social/ sexual etc. environment, and is expressed through the use of non-virtual media such as paper, canvas, film, etc.
When traditional elements are woven into the digital canvas by means of scanners and other instruments, the results should be classified as “mixed media” since it is neither purely digital nor purely traditional.
The actual artistic delineations relevant to this discussion with respect to photography cannot be so clear cut, and what is classified as fine art photography may not be so clearly classified as being digital or traditional, since traditional methods of taking photographs do still apply when using a digital camera. I plan to pay careful attention to the world of fine art photography as this issue of digital vs. non-digital fine art photography is discussed.
Personally, my intention is to become as skilled as possible in both traditional and digital fine art. I have had teachers who expressed concerns about this objective, because of what is perceived as mutual distrust, pride, animosity and impatience that the two camps experience when encountering each other. I remain unmoved by the disadvantages because intellectual curiosity compels me to know more. In the final analysis, my concept of my own intellectual integrity demands that I be able to draw, pencil in hand, and paint, in order that I may answer this simple question: Who am I when the lights are out, and there is no electricity?
– © Verneda Lights
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