Selected Courses on Digital Art-UOWM

Digital Technology as a Tool
Process v. Production: What are the distinctive characteristics of digital
media reflected in its language and aesthetic?
• Multiple kinds of manipulation
• Analog v. digital
• Real v. unreal
• Blurring distinctions between different media and seamless combination of
art forms
• Recontextualization through appropriation and collage (dada, cubism,
surrealism)
• Relationship between copy and original
Walter Benjamin: Work of Art in the age of Mechanical reproduction
• Impact of reproduction in new media on art experience
• Authenticity, authority and ‘aura’ of the object
• Jeopardization by the possibility of mechanical reproduction and creation
of identical copies
• Takes for granted…
 Copying without degradation of quality
 Increased accessibility of visual materials (via internet)
 Digitization->Copy->dissemination
Digital Imaging, Photography and Print
Ex. Charles Csuri www.siggraph.org/artdesign/profile/csuri
• Language and aesthetic- variation driven by algorithm
• Early Works- Digital Plotting and algorithmic paintings
• Forms are driven by mathematical functions and their repetition and
reiteration
• Abstract Imagery consisting of formal variations driven by mathematical
functions.
Ex. Nancy Burson www.nancyburson.com
• Composite and Morphing
• Early Composites- He/She and Human Race Machines
• Computer generated composite photos
• Morphing- transforming of one image or object into another
• Addresses notions of beauty defined by society and culture
• Culturally defined ideals
• Suppression of individuality
Ex. Lillian Schwartz www.Lillian.com
• Study and Comparison of structural and compositional elements
• Mona/Leo: A composite of faces, blurs boundaries between identity of
painter and the subject
• Composite and Collage
• Disparate elements can be blended
• Focuses on a ‘new’ simulated form of reality vs. juxtaposition of distinct
components
Advertising
• Manipulation and proliferation of imagery in a media society
• Representation and branding—concept and value
• Image consumer culture
Ex. Annu Palakunnathu Matthew www.annumatthew.com
• Bollywood satirized series
• Satirizes the aesthetics of advertising and branding
• Focuses on the politics of gender and race
• Uses the language of film industry
• In the realm of collage, montage and compositing
The Hyperreal
• Challenges the traditional notions of realism
• Creation of alternative or simulated forms of reality
• Reconstruction and manipulation of reality
• Questions the authenticity of all images
Ex. www.patriciapiccinini.net (Reality which incorporates fantasy)
Abstraction Through Erasure
Ex. Charles Cohen www.antecamara.com.mx/articulos/article_63.shtml
• Eradicates human figure in porn
• Subverts the original function of the image
• Creates a void where absence is presence
Ex. Alexander Apostol www.sicardi.com/artists/profile.cfm?artistid=78
• Polished tenement
• Without doors or windows
• Emptiness- the perfection of form
• Inaccessible monolithic monuments and artifacts
Synthetic
Artificiality
Alternative Realities and Heightened Realities
(Neither artificial nor authentic representations)
Ex. Paul Smith www.eyestorm.com/artist/paul_smith_interview.aspx
• Deconstructs myths of masculine stereotypes and glorification
• References superhero action flick
• Heroic fantasy becomes reality
Ex. www.CraigKalpakjian.com
• Depicts landscapes of everyday, office buildings and interiors
• Totally computer generated- artificial fabrications
• Corridors depict emptiness and formal reality
• Synthetic- artificial and alienating effects of modern architecture
->Dematerialization of the naturalistic aspects of representation
Enhanced Nature- artificial life
Ex. Joseph Scheer www.photoinsider.com/pages/scheer/scheer.html
• High Res scans of moths
• Supernatural detail
• Heightened physical presence of nature
• Enhanced
Ex. Daniel Canogar www.artnet.com/ag/fineartthumbnails.asp?aid=3566
• Dismemberment
• “Other” Organic whole
• Composite collages reflect relationship between the body and its image
• Merge body parts into structures and patterns that transcend naturalism
Is the Digital Image Representational? Painting and the digital image
• No- it is encoded and doesn’t record or reproduce physical reality
• Yes- Content of the image simulates and represents a physical reality
• Production- the image consists of discrete modular elements, pixels based
on algorithms, math formulas
• Bits- threads of light- do not require a physical object to represent
• Is there an erosion of boundaries between media, merging of processes?
Ex. Carl Fudge www.feldmangallery.com/pages/artistsrffa/artfud01.html
• Digital media and traditional painting merged together
• Step in creation of print
• Manipulation and abstraction on canvas with digital feel
Ex. Joseph Nechvatal www.nechvatal.net
• Computer robotic assisted paintings
• Virus like program performs a degradation and transformation of the
image
• Interface between viral, virtual and actual, biological and technological
Is there a loss of relationship with the mark?
• Distance -Lack of personality in the mark one produces on the computer
screen
Is there an individual voice in the digital art work?
• Distance- the artist does not manifest in a direct physical intervention
What carries the authentic signature of an artist in the digital realm?
• Concept
• Elements of composition
• Writing software
SCULPTURE
• Digital technology employed in the creation of sculpture
Ex. Michael Rees – www.bitforms.com
• Rapid phototyping
• Creates objects from medical anatomy
• Uses science and its imagery as a way of weaving systems analytical and
intuitive
• Life Series
• Joins body parts with paying attention to function
• Represents body as mutable and clonable
• Uses links and modular elements
• Implies body parts are components that can be reconfigured at will
• Objectification of the body