Technology: Boon & Bane for Today's Artist
As a teacher's aide, I regaled whining students with "How
we used to write term papers:
searching card catalogs at the library (20 miles away), waiting for that one
book to be returned, then researching (by turning pages and reading), rough
drafts, revisions, scheduling time in the typing classroom, editing with whiteout,
etc." Not long ago, marketing
art was equally complex; in order to share work, an artist had to take a
perfect photo of it -no editing, cropping or previewing it- you didn't know the
outcome until the slides came back from the developer. If they failed, you'd have to shoot the
rest of your new roll of 35 mm, 24-exposure film in order to load another roll
of slide film and start over again.
Artists had to label slides, put them plastic sheets and mail them to
galleries.
Just as it's made school work easier, today's technology allows
artists to learn, share, create, market and earn income in ways never imagined
by our predecessors, but along with its blessings, technology can drag a person
out of the creative realm altogether!
Boon:
I used to think I'd never become an artist without a college
degree, but the Internet gives me access to information that supplements my
lack of formal education. Historically,
artists without formal training needed a mentor or years of trial and error;
today, all aspects of a medium are at our fingertips, and we can buy supplies
online.
Bane:
The Internet provides easy access to art market trends,
which might incline our work toward the commercial rather than truly expressing
ourselves. Would Van Gogh's art
have been as fabulously raw, unique and expressive had he contact through the
web to art trends? Like Van Gogh,
we must paint primarily for ourselves in a way that's honest.
Boon:
Technology has changed art making, and I'm not talking about
computer-aided art. Rather than pulling
a curled 4x6 reference photo from a stack of shoeboxes, 14,000 photos are
easily accessed on my laptop. I open
them on my iPad, where I can zoom in on key areas of a reference photo.
Bane:
Today's ease of cataloging and editing photo references
keeps many of us from painting the real world, which is full of nuances that
can't be recorded with a camera.
I'm blessed to have my photo references when painting animals, but if I
didn't apply my own first-hand experience with the subject, photographic
distortions would be apparent to anyone with knowledge of the animals I
paint. It's important to paint
from life often to keep the rules of light, perspective and color fresh in your
head.
Boon:
Artists can share work with the entire world in an
instant. We can snap a photo, crop
it, label it, price it, email it to a gallery, and post it to our website, blog
and social media accounts without even stepping away from the easel. The Colorado gallery representing me sold
a piece that was still wet in my Wyoming studio. What if Van Gogh could have posted new paintings of his room
in Arles online? If he'd had a way to share his work -and thereby, his story-
in a social format, Van Gogh may have found not only clients, but also others
who could relate to his personal struggles.
Bane:
While an online presence is vital in today's art world,
artists must walk a line between social media promotions and the studio time required
to develop their body of work and refine their skill. I doubt Van Gogh's paintings would have been as original or
unique had he'd spent 3 hours a day online.
Boon:
Remember when we had to get on the computer (via dial up
Internet) to check our email? Heck,
remember when all mail came from the post office? Today, our phones buzz and
ping with every email, text, inquiry or comment on a multitude of media,
allowing artists to provide customer assistance in a matter of seconds.
Bane:
The convenience of communication technology makes these tasks
more prevalent in our lives, as we no longer schedule time at a desk to perform
them. We've become a society of
multitaskers- does it save time to interrupt a painting to answer inquiries
immediately, or should I schedule time to do all the "business stuff"
at once? I'm trying to draw a line between the business side & creative
side of art, but my paint-smeared phone tells another story.
Today's technology is a huge factor in making a living on art,
but like any modern convenience, these tools must be used sparingly to keep our
art alive, fresh and honest. May I
cling to those aspects that truly edify my career and flee from that which
pulls me away from the studio or keeps me from sincerely expressing myself.