BLOG 03 : Is the Digital Era Improving or Ruining the Experience of Art? | Sandy

 

    Is the newfound digital era a burden or a blessing to art as a whole? When tasked with this question, it's important to see both sides of the argument before evaluating the effects of art in the digital world. Imagine the world we live in without any form of digital art -- pretty boring, isn't it? Without the surge of digitally-based media, our lives would be a lot less interesting, at least in that of media consumption.

    With the ability to access digital devices/media being easier than ever, it provides many opportunities for the public to experience art in a way that has never been done before. For example, you can find a surplus of images of famous artworks such as The Mona Lisa and Girl with a Pearl Earring. Previously, in order to see these works, people would have to travel to museums and locations that are hard to reach to a global audience. Online images, though they don't quite yet capture the full experience, let people appreciate art, and it allows them to venture through galleries' worth of art and history from the comfort of their own homes. Museums such as The Metropolitan Museum of Art feature collections online for the world to see. Readily available global access is a breakthrough in the world of art.

    The digital era also allows affordability to not only the consumer but also the artist. Digital software used for drawing such as Photoshop, PaintTool SAI, and Clip Studio Paint allow artists to create as much art as they want with a much lower cost. Artists in the traditional art world have to constantly buy supplies, and they can get very costly. On Winsor & Newton's website, one of the most -- if not the most -- highly regarded art companies, one fluid ounce of high quality oil paint can reach up to $25.00, and that isn't affordable for many artists, especially ones that haven't yet made their mark in the community. Though high quality digital art software do cost money, they can be significantly less, and there isn't a limit to how much art you can produce. Though digital art is lacking in some ways compared to traditional art, it excels beyond traditional art in many other ways, and it will only continue to improve in the future. The digital era also allows artists to make prints of their work, making art more profitable. Some artists will sell the original piece as well as prints. Original works can be extremely costly, ranging from hundreds to millions of dollars, and prints can be a cost efficient alternative for the average consumer.

    Everything will have its faults no matter how good it is, and digital media is no exception to this. Things like NFTs and AI art arguably take away from the experience of art, and they cause a divide in the art community as people discuss whether they are okay or not. In the case of NFTs, they are horrible for the environment as hosting them releases greenhouse gases and contributes to global warming at an alarming rate. According to Earth.Org, the carbon footprint of just one NFT transaction is equivalent to that of 74,000 VISA transactions.Though it may be cool, AI art to some takes away the importance and recognition of hand-made art. AI art is improving faster and faster, getting closer to the level of hand-made art, and it could possibly take away the value of other people's work. Some generators such as DALL·E 2 take only a sentence to create original art, and regardless of how cool it might be, it undermines the hard work of real-life artists. Some artists rely on commissions and other projects to make a living, and free online generators are taking away from their income. The improvement of these types of generators like DALL·E 2 within the past few months is striking, and I can't imagine how good they will come to be in the near future.

    I think that with the digital era's benefits, there still are some issues that need to be addressed and fixed. However, I think that overall the good outweighs the bad, and the digital era has ultimately improved the art experience. Inevitably everything will have it's faults, so while being aware of the negatives, it's also important to remember the positives sides. I think that since a lot of us have only lived in a world with digital access, we don't know how it is to really live without it, and it makes it easy to undervalue the importance of digilitization in art. Now more than ever, people are able to experience the fascinating world of art, and the art world will only continue to flourish for years to come.

- Sandy