The Digital Art Revolution

Digital art is not real art? Purported by my daughter's friend, and i felt slighted. What an ignoramus, i thought! But, then again i realized, she was among many who had no clue what it meant to create art with today's new high tech tools, and electronically. I felt a need to 'educate' the uninformed, therefore this blog. This is my way of disseminating information on the growing global art revolution. I personally needed to know about the community which i belonged, who artists were getting recognized, how good they were, what cutting edge tools were being used. My research brought on tremendous news and enlightenment. It was exciting! I was encouraged to find how dramatic the change in the creative landscape. Someone's ignorance turned for the good, and became my treasure. Among other things, for the first time, I felt a connection with the Masters of old, the Impressionists experience, when they found themselves pitted against the "Realists" beloved by a traditionalist society. Imagine works now valued in the hundreds of millions, were initially trashed, rejected. Monet, Manet, Degas, Renoir, Pizzaro, and their peers were art revolutionaries. Today, we witness a new revolution of the oil free, electronic mouse brush, Mac canvasses, programs, applications, themes and subjects via digital photography is limitless, and every artist have access to 24/7 showcasing with online galleries and setting up their own art stores.

Prolific art collector and gallerist Charles Saatchi was asked in an interview, "What do you look for when buying a work of art?" He answered: "There are no rules i know of."

Someone said, the most important thing is to buy the art that moves and inspires you - regardless of whether it was created with a brush or a mouse.

Digital art is now dominating the art world, growing in popularity, price and market. If one is a collector, this is the time to take advantage of the growth trend in the art market. You never know when you may just discover the next Warhol or Picasso of the digital age.

I often say i'm like a wild child with her crayons, but i consider myself a very serious artist, so much like a painter or photographer, with skill, technique, and imagination. I took a full course in computer, and extra lessons from a personal tutor so i can paint electronically. I create my art with the use of a computer program, and at times, this involves other medium, from photography, canvas painting, and a few other methods and process, depending on where the artistic juice wish to flow.

There are several styles in doing digital art, but the following are the three i am more familiar with:

1. Digital Painting/illustration - Painting on the computer. Most digital painters use a tablet or a pad and pen set that takes the place of the mouse, so they are creating brush strokes and drawing the forms just like a "conventional" painter would do. It is just as complex and as diverse an artform as painting with oils.

2, Photomanipulation - Photomanipulation is a varied field that encompasses slightly edited or superimposed photographs to incredibly dense and textured pieces . It is as old as photography. Before computers, manipulation was done by retouching with ink, double-exposure, piecing photos or negatives together in the darkroom or scratching the emulsion.

3. Collage/Montage -This is the assembling of different images, in my case several photographs, into a new piece, and is a process that lends itself easily to the medium of the copy. This is my current 'challenge', and where i'm pushing my artistry. I have done a few, but feel, i'm not quite there yet.

Like other digital artists, i believe it is important to protect and preserve the ‘originality’ of our creation. There are many ways to do this, and not be fearful of copycats or cyber art thieves.

I thought it would be worthwhile to mention a few digital artists who have made their mark in the world...

Diane Fenster. Her work and efforts have helped the field of digital photography and digital illustration become widely accepted both in the commercial world and within the fine art community. In year 2001 in Tampa, she was the first person inducted into the Photoshop Hall of Fame.

Martina Lopez: She has received a Master of Fine Arts degree from the Art Institute of Chicago and teaches photography and digital imaging at the University of Notre Dame. She received the prestigious National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, 1992. Martina's digital images are included in the collections of several prominent museums, including the Art Institute of Chicago and the National Museum of American Art, Washington, DC.

John Paul Caponigro: He is a renowned artist, author of Adobe Photoshop Master Class, who combines his background in painting with traditional and alternative photographic processes using the digital platform. He is recognized as one of the most prominent artists in the world working with digital media processes.