Tuesday 31 August 2010

Computer Art

We had the opportunity, recently, to see some pictures produced with the assistance of a computer. This brought up the debate about whether computers are a valid way of creating art. Here are some of the points we discussed.

A computer can produce better results because bad bits can be fixed or re-done. Yes, but artists have always painted over bits of their pictures that they didn't like, or torn them up and started again.

An artist's individual skill is still needed to decide on the subject, compostion, style, etc. Computers can't come up with the ideas unless somebody has already built that feature in to the system. That's right but who knows what computers may be capable of in ten or twenty years time.

A computer to paint pictures is like a sledgehammer to crack a walnut. If you want a painting, use paint and a brush. But a computer is simply a tool that can be used to create a picture, it is just a more complex tool. New technologies have regularly been adopted by artists. Oil paint was a new technology at one time.

Using a computer is cheating, you avoid the skilled and time-consuming work that the artist does to create a work of art. It may simplify some of the work but the computer only does what the operator tells it to do.

It comes down to the point that if you want a painting, pick up a brush and paint. OK, for traditional art that may be the best option. Computers may be better suited to new styles of art rather than mimicking current styles of drawing or painting.

A computer can't make an artist, there has to be some artistic ability and skill to use the computer as a tool for creating art. Yes, art is, perhaps, the creation in the mind of the artist, not the resulting physical representation of it.

Whether or not you like art produced using a computer it still needs the creativity and skill of an artist to come up with a subject and control the computer. But the advantages and flexibility of using this method mean it is likely to become more and more prevelant in the near future. Of course, there is always the potential that computers will be programmed with some of the artists skills, it is happening now in a limited way. Will creativity be the only role left for the artists of the future?


Vicky and Vince,
Love Your Art

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