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Krause, D., Off Center (fig. 1) Krause, D., Patchwork (fig. 2) Lhotka, B., Flow (fig. 3) Lhotka, B., Bush Frost (fig.4)
Another artist, Bonny Lothko (fig. 3 & 4), also achieves this surface quality, with a disruptive surface tension that has a synergy with her subject matter, making it so much stronger. She has created a very painterly feeling within a photographic context, two effects that play off each other and keep the viewer guessing at what they are actually looking at. She works in a digital print - mixed media manner similar to Krause and they, along with Karen Schminke, form an artists group known as Digital Atelier.
These women are achieving a surface play with a mixed media and digital image combination that is very enticing and it compliments and accentuates their chosen subjects very well. In reading more about them it was interesting to discover that they consider themselves artist/painters who added the computer as an essential, primary art-making tool, exploring what it could offer them within their work (Schminke. 2004).
I have always liked to work in several mediums, letting the image dictate what media was best used. Printmaking offered me a method of blending my love of drawing with photography, but this new digital tool has given me the potential to take this mix beyond what I had thought was physically possible. With experimentation I found that any surface I could lay on my scanner, or photograph with my camera, I could potentially use blended with any other image to create the effect I sought. I have started accumulating a digital database of images, textures, surfaces, and objects that I flip through in the same way that I have a drawer full of the physical materials for collage. I scan in my prints, paintings, and drawings to use as a basis for a new image, or can incorporate a small part of them in another work. As Jarvis pointed out, 'where else can we combine all that has been discussed thus far: authentic, non-object, photographic, painted structures, randomised, materialised, infinitely reproducible, oil and water, impressionistic, surreal, cubism with drop shadow text in fractal aspic' (Jarvis.1998: http://ww.dunkingbirdproductions.com).
Another aspect of working digitally that I discovered is a newfound freedom in the manner and speed in which I can work. I can develop an idea, test out several variations on a theme, change colour, add or delete, basically have the image grow with my imagination and creative exploration. If I end up at a dead end, or add an element to the image that doesn't work for me, I can easily delete or revert back to an earlier state. I have a tendency to develop preciousness towards my work that is often unjustified and it restricts my ability to develop an image further with the thought of potentially destroying what I have achieved so far. Working digitally has almost eliminated this problem, I can revisit any image at almost any stage in the development path, working it further or taking it off in a totally new direction. 'The use of computers affords the artist-printmaker both an unprecedented variety of techniques, approaches, and working methods - a new repertoire of media and processes - and a variety of ways in which production and decision stages can be made more efficient and more effective' (Gollifer.1999: p10).
My own development within my artistic practice has been greatly enhanced by this wonderful new tool I have adopted. I still draw, paint, print with wood and metal, and use my camera constantly but now I can combine them differently, not as a collage of mediums or images, but as a fusion of layers creating something new.
I have learned a great deal by what other artists are willing to share regarding their work so freely on the Internet. I was overwhelmed by the amount of dialogue regarding what should and should not be defined as digital art, and yet how broadly the label was being used. I joined in on some of the discussions on the forum, and through the IDA site discovered an artist in Winchester, Penelope Wakeham, that was part of the digital art buzz in London in 2000. I had the chance to visit her studio in mid-November to see her work and discuss the labelling of digital art. Her work is about light and transparency and she says the computer gives her the perfect tool in which to explore this vision. During the course of our conversation she said she was a painter and her art is painting, but that she could also be a digital artist and the work could be digital mono-prints. Her use of the computer is very much as a painting tool, as she states, 'If painting is the distribution of pigment on a surface, then I am painting; except my brush or element of distribution is my computer" (Wakeham, 2000, p4).
There is a large, active community of artists using digital technology as an integral part or tool within their work. Some like Krause, Lhotka and Wakeham are promoting their use of the digital technologies as integral to their work, others just naturally started using these tools as they became available, like Robert Rauschenberg. Rauschenberg was one of the first major artists that started exploring the possibilities of the Iris printer in the 1980's and his work since 2000 has featured digital transfers and acrylic on polylaminate. But the label of Digital Art could not be attached to the work he is currently producing.
I am convinced that there can be no single label that defines what digital art is, it evades aesthetic categorisation. The multitude of artistic styles will continue to evolve and expand as more and more artists adopt digital technologies in the coming years. How, and to what extent, the digital tools are used to create the art will continue to fade in importance, but their impact will be significant on visual art, as any new technology used from photography to acrylic paint, has been.
In the recent discussions on the web forum, an artist posted the following that addresses my search for a definition of digital art, very well: If 'Digital' is to describe a movement in art, then I am hard pressed to come up with a historical art movement that was limited to a certain set of tools and materials. Perhaps the term digital is too narrow for such usage and can only describe a set of specific tools. But, given the pervasive way in which digital computers are being used in our society, I suspect that a recognisable digital culture will emerge and digital art making will be at its forefront (Anon. 2004: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/digital-fineart).
So digital art is not a label you can attach to a genre or movement, though it could be used to describe the media in the same way that oil painting does. It is certainly a powerful tool and a technique that artists can use, along with other tools, methods, and media. I think the most profound effect for me is in the way I am able to work as a result of using digital tools. My form of expression is benefiting by discovering a method of working that is in keeping with my own personal way of formulating an idea and developing it through to a physical work. 'Before computers, creation was a linear process. Now, it is a branching evolution where old paths can be revisited in an instant, and multiple procedures can be compared side by side' (Schminke. 2004: p153).
In all the articles, books, and papers that I read the authors were, of course, in agreement about the basic principle - the quality, vision, expression, and soul of an artists work was still very personal and could not be achieved as a result of the best tool or working method in the world. Digital technology has given me a valuable tool that is allowing me to do things that I could do in no other way, in no other single medium. I describe myself as a visual artist working in mixed media, combining digital tools with traditional materials. I use digital tools and techniques alongside my photography, drawing, painting, collage, and traditional printmaking methods. My work is mainly abstract in style, inspired by the variety of surface patterns, structures, and textures that I see in the physical world around me. The satisfaction I have with expressing my art is greatly enhanced by developing a method of working with media and tools that are as mixed and varied as the artistic inspirations.
Bibliography
Hopps, W. and Davidson S. (1997) Robert Rauschenberg - A Retrospective; New York: Guggenheim Museum Publications Paul, C. (2003) Digital Art; London: Thames & Hudson, Limited Platzker, D. and Wyckoff, E. (2000) Hard Pressed - 600 Years of Prints and Process; New York: Hudson Hills Press Schminke, K. and Krause, D. and Lhotka, B. (2004) Digital Art Studio - Techniques for Combining Inkjet Printing with Traditional Art Materials; New York: Watson-Guptill Publications Tallman, S. (1996) The Contemporary Print - From Pre-Pop to Postmodern; London: Thames and Hudson Limited Whale, G. and Barfield, N. (2001) Digital Printmaking, London: A&C Black, Limited Gollifer, S. (1999) Printmaking: A History of Technological Mediation, Computers & Printmaking; Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery, 18th September - 5th December 1999, Pg9 & 10, London: Camberwell College of Arts Publication Hamilton, P. (2002) Designing the Digital Studio; Printmaking Today, Vol. 11 no. 4 Winter 2002, pp23-24, Oxon: Cello Press Limited Humphries, T. (1996) The Nature and Status of the Computer Print; Transformations - the Fine Art Print and the Computer - The Integration of Computers Print Technology and Printmaking, pp. 6, London: The London Institute Publication Bernard Jacobson Gallery. (2004) Robert Rauschenberg 2K+, London: Bernard Jacobson Gallery Publication Wakeham, P. (2000) Painting with Numbers - A bridge between painting and the digital image. London: Colville Place Gallery Publishing ISBN 0-9536240-3-X Anon (2004) Can Digital Art Be Labelled?, Internet discussion forum topic for members on <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/digital-fineart/> (Occurred during August 2004) Chan, M. (2000) The Evolution of Digital Prints? Is It An Original?, (Internet), Available from <http://www.csuchico.edu/art/contrapposto/> (Accessed 28/10/03) Haworth, J. (2002) Embodied Mind and Creativity in Digital Fine Art: putting the body back into human-computer interaction, (Internet), Available from <http://www.haworthjt.com/cemdfa/> (Accessed 21/06/04) Herland, M. (2003) The Impact of Giclee - A Shift towards digital print in future art, (Internet), Available from <http://moca.virtual.museum/mamta/mamta-essay.htm> (accessed 31/12/03) Jarvis, J.D. (1998) Art: The Quest for Presence, (Internet), Available from <http://ww.dunkingbirdproductions.com> (Accessed 6/11/03) Jarvis, J.D. (1999), A Digital Manifesto, (Internet), Available from <http://ww.dunkingbirdproductions.com> (Accessed 6/11/03) Jarvis, J.D. (2003), Toward a Digital Aesthetic, (Internet), Available from <http://moca.virtual.museum/> (Accessed 30/12/03) Krause, D. (2001) Off Center (online image), and Patchwork (online image). Available from <http://www.dotkrause.com/art/sacred/> (Accessed 07/11/04) Lhotka, B. (2003), Flow (online image), and Bush Frost (online image). Available from <http://www.lhotka.com/bonny/gallery/elements/> (Accessed 07/11/04) http://www.jcurleycannon.comLinks: http://www.camberwell.arts.ac.uk/ http://www.arts.ac.uk/index.htm http://www.southhillpark.org.uk/index.jsp ©Janet Curley Cannon MA Printmaking 2005 Camberwell College of Art 01 December 2004
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