A New Definition for “Modern” Art

Prior to the age of technology, art sported an entirely different definition. Now, we have a superfluous amount of programs for the purpose of graphic art and design. Don’t get me wrong; I truly believe that digital art is amazing and requires a heap of talent to create and perfect. What I’m getting at is that art has evolved over time, and is continually evolving during my generation to adapt to recent advances in technology.

With graphic/digital art:

• You can make mistakes. When you’re digitally painting a picture, you can completely erase a portion if you would like. You can make a million edits, change the coloring, saturation, etc., which is impossible with fine art. It’s still possible to touch-up or refine your work, of course, since artists are humans and all humans make mistakes. The key is knowing how to effectively adjust for them.
• You can work in layers. Sure, this applies to fine art, but if you’re working on your second layer of watercolor, you can’t go back and adjust your base layer.
• You will always be working in two dimensions. Even if you’re working with 3D models, your computer screen is still two dimensions. When drawing from observation, you’re going from three dimensions to two (object to paper). If you’re sculpting, you’re staying in three dimensions.
• You can make as many copies as you would like and it’ll still be considered the original piece.

It can be argued that technology allows us to become more “perfect.” This means more precision with fewer errors in everything we create. In my minuscule 22 years of existing, I’ve seen video games go from Atari to Xbox, where our games (for the most part) cease to freeze up, record players to MP3s, where we no longer experience “records skipping,” dial-up to wireless, where we don’t have to worry about our siblings picking up the phone, consequently disconnecting our AOL chat room session. Not that I used chat rooms…I swear! Anyway, the point I’m trying to make is that as technology progresses, (supposedly) simplifying yet enhancing our lives, art has (and will) subsequently evolve as well.

I’m in no way disparaging digital art/artists; in fact, I think you guys are really awesome! I’m an advocate of art encompassing an infinite number of mediums, conveying the message fully intended to be expressed by the artist. I’m very interested in learning how to use Photoshop and Illustrator because they seem so darn cool.