I am also taking a History of World Art class this semester, which I have found very interesting. Last week before break we started our unit on Art and Change. The first lecture was about photography. My professor challenged us to think about how photography is art, or if it is art, why and why not. Do you think photography is art? All the time? Only in certain cases? Never?
Photography was this incredible new science in the late 1800’s. Scientists were the ones to develop it, using chemicals and processes to capture light and create an image. Photography was used to capture portraits, which was much cheaper and faster, eliminating the need for a painter. Photography was also initially used to capture the movement of animals and people for scientist to study. Photography has this complex dual identity. Today it is even more complicated, because taking a picture is so easy and assessable.
I believe that what makes photography art is the process and thought behind it, and the message or emotion it is depicting. This is the direction that art has been going most recently. Artists are using new and strange mediums to produce works that evoke an emotion or response, make a political or social statement, and make viewers think about what the artist is trying to tell them.
This week we had lectures on political and visual radicals in art. These artists stepped out of the traditional in some way shape or form to express themselves in a new and shocking way.
I think digital media can be related to this. Digital media can be used in so many ways for so many different things and programs and techniques can be combined. The digital world has hardly reached it’s potential. I think computers and the software for them can be compared to photography. Software like Adobe is used in corporate environments to create “commissioned” work and is also used in the art world.
We are learning to use these programs, and we have specifications for the projects, but I think we should be looking at it from an art perspective as well. What are we trying to make people see or feel when they interact with our digital media pieces? Are we being radical and memorable in the way we use these complicated programs? In what ways can I use all these tools and resources to make something unique and important?
Most people don’t think of themselves as artists. I think more of us are artists than we think. All of the projects we have done in this class could lead to art pieces. Creating an artwork is a mindset and a process. Will you be the next radical artist?
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