Intelligent Design

Images of delight

Images of delight

This morning Antoinette Ledzian of Stonington, CT wrote:
"Digital art has been my savior. Moments which might have been
blurred have turned into transformational pieces through my use
of Photoshop. I love the instant processing, the ability to
rework my images and go right onto another piece. I could never
do this when I practiced calligraphy or painted. Possibly I've
finally found my medium. What's happening?"

Thanks, Antoinette. It's an epidemic. Creative folks of all
stripes find the making of digital art to be almost
irresistible. Brilliant software--on a constant arc of
improvement--permits ever more speedy and imaginative
manipulation. Through portals like Flickr, images are posted
and feedback is immediate. Communities are born and people are
empowered. Instant gratification is the order of the day.
Worldwide, more than a thousand new images are currently being
posted every second. Like poetry in the last century, more is
being made than seen. And like poetry, the making of it is
absorbing, challenging, life enhancing, and full of beautiful
"aha" epiphanies. Digital manipulation is probably the fastest
way to cross-breed motifs and ideas. Everyone who tries it can
see that it's a creative tool like no other. To get an idea of
current and cutting edge digital art, I've asked Andrew to put
up a collection at the top of the current clickback. See URL
below.

And yep, digital has its problems. While holding out the hand
of democratization to all who would participate, like
photography itself, it also runs counter to the role of art as
commodity--digital is difficult to make rare. Its facile nature
and general proliferation tend to render it less valuable.
Those who would commercialize digital are faced with the
question of what to do with it. Posters, art-cards, gallery
sales, even pay-per-view on the Internet have so far shown only
faint success.

For us, digital is a celebration of looking and seeing, of
delight in what nature has given--and what the human creator
can do with what is seen. Its champions and masters are now
appearing. Digital is a welcome force for human exchange and
universal understanding--a sort of instant handshake that helps
to make real our essential brotherhood and sisterhood.

Best regards,

Robert

PS: "A computer is an interface where the mind and body can
connect with the universe and move bits of it about." (Douglas
Adams, 1952-2001)

Esoterica: In Leonardo's time there were few artists and those
few made magic that the wise and privileged desired. Today the
wise and privileged make magic for themselves. We can still
make our mark with brush and canvas, or chisel and stone--but
we are also blessed with the grace of a higher technology. In
the words of Daniel Bell, "Technology, like art, is a soaring
exercise of the human imagination." Can it be that this
technology is a window to a brighter future? "The new
electronic interdependence recreates the world in the image of
a global village." (Marshall McLuhan, 1911-1980)

In Praise of Days

Pearls from Robert Genn

Yesterday, Nancy Hall of Sandy Hook, Manitoba wrote: "As an
artist, mother, farmhand, two-dog owner and a writer, I would
sure welcome some organizational tips! I'm curious how you pack
all you do into your life."

Thanks, Nancy. Early one morning when I was a very small kid, I
was standing on some rocks at the beach below where we lived.
The water was flat calm and grey to the horizon. I remember
thinking what a remarkable thing a day is. I wasn't thinking
about a "special" day, I was thinking about an ordinary day--a
day you could do things in. As I grew older I came to realize
that days are golden units by which our lives are measured. As
a self-anointed self-manager I realized that if I were going to
get anywhere, I needed to bring good habits, joy and a certain
amount of sacrifice to my days. By the time I was in my teens,
I had figured out that habits were holy--I saw in habits the
key to an independent creative life:

Work doggedly, one thing after the other.
Begin work early, finish many things each day.
Work on what comes to hand, what demands attention.
Have rough plans--work them daily.
Rest from the work--look at the water.

Regarding joy, Winston Churchill said, "It is no use doing what
you like; you have got to like what you do." I observed that
all kinds of people worked at jobs that were distasteful to
them. I didn't want to be like that. Besides, I was struck with
a peculiar disorder--I couldn't concentrate on dull jobs. I was
really lousy at everything except those things I wanted to do.
I needed to have work that was some sort of automatic or
semi-automatic joy. I wanted to be most often in "the joy
mode." I figured my work habits would take me there. By my
mid-twenties I had discovered that work is not work when the
work is loved. I had fallen in love with art.

Regarding sacrifice, early on I found that my days were not
long enough. I had to be more efficient in my use of the time
allotted, and I was prepared to make sacrifices. It was okay to
cut back on the time taken socializing, commuting and eating.
One must not, I thought, sacrifice sleep, exercise,
contemplation, love, family or dog activity.

Best regards,

Robert

PS: "Normal day, let me be aware of the treasure you are. Let
me not pass you by in quest of some rare and perfect tomorrow."
(Mary Jean Irion)

Esoterica: To be fair, a supportive partner and studio
assistants go a long way toward fooling people into thinking
that one is organizationally competent. Helpmates are above
angels. The telephone and the computer, on the other hand,
present special problems. I save some outgoing calls for the
car--and actually look forward to making them on a relatively
safe, hands-free (Bluetooth) system. A studio computer frees
up, speeds up, and actualizes an artist. Around here, Tuesdays
and Fridays are particularly full because there are so many
Inbox friends. As I'm older, and perhaps more mature, this
universal socializing is hard to resist. I'm eating better too.

Paris Hilton targeted in CD prank

Sunday, 3 September 2006, 14:04 GMT 15:04 UK

Hundreds of Paris Hilton albums have been tampered with in the latest stunt by "guerrilla artist" Banksy.
Banksy has replaced Hilton's CD with his own remixes and given them titles such as Why am I Famous?, What Have I Done? and What Am I For?

He has also changed pictures of her on the CD sleeve to show the US socialite topless and with a dog's head.

A spokeswoman for Banksy said he had doctored 500 copies of her debut album Paris in 48 record shops across the UK.

She told the BBC News website: "He switched the CDs in store, so he took the old ones out and put his version in."


"It might be that there will be some people who agree with his views on the Paris Hilton album"
HMV spokesman

But he left the original barcode so people could buy the CD without realising it had been interfered with.

Banksy is notorious for his secretive and subversive stunts such as sneaking doctored versions of classic paintings into major art galleries.

His spokeswoman said he had tampered with the CDs in branches of HMV and Virgin as well as independent record stores.

He visited cities including Bristol, Brighton, Birmingham, Newcastle, Glasgow and London, she added.

A spokesman for HMV said the chain had recovered seven CDs from two Brighton shops but was unaware that other locations were affected.

Artistic leeway

No customers had complained or returned a doctored version, he said.

"It's not the type of behaviour you'd want to see happening very often," he said.

"I guess you can give an individual such as Banksy a little bit of leeway for his own particular brand of artistic engagement.

"Often people might have a view on something but feel they can't always express it, but it's down to the likes of Banksy to say often what people think about things.

"And it might be that there will be some people who agree with his views on the Paris Hilton album."

A spokesman for Virgin Megastores said staff were searching for affected CDs but it was proving hard to find them all.

"I have to take my hat off - it's a very good stunt," he added.

Meauring Tenacity

The English landscape painter John Constable spent a lifetime
studying clouds. Seeing them both vaporous and solid, he found
them to be the most challenging of actors. Yesterday near
Ashern, Manitoba, under the prairie sky, I entered into their
leaden tops, slid down their warming gradations and confirmed
the dimensions of their mysterious volumes. Turning my
attention to their edges, I saw that they were cut with yellow
counter-light, while subtle tones slid progressively down the
colour wheel as they moved toward grays. In addition, their
flattened underbellies were brilliantly warm where they
reflected the golden fields below. Wispy micro-cloudlet
partners added vivacity, energy and design. Still, these clouds
were lit and shaded like any art-school blocks. "When such a
simple thing is so complex," said Constable in a similar
situation, "one needs tenacity."

In degrees of tenacity, some of us are steel-toed hiking boots,
others are an old pair of flip-flops. This understanding just
may determine how far we go. Thankfully, within the creative
universe there are different personality types--the sensitive
and the insensitive, the automatically creative and the
developmentally creative. Right- and left-brain tendencies as
well as other personality quirks provide a wide range of
possibilities and expectations. Constable, the most gentle and
sensitive of men, was also tenacious. I've asked Andrew to put
up a few examples of Constable's clouds at the top of the
current clickback. See URL below.

Sometimes I think this art business is all about channelling
and focusing our tenacious natures. These days, the general
ease of life promotes playtime, laziness, goofing off and a
"let George do it" attitude. But thriving artists often have
what I call "the relentless pursuit of entitlement." I'm not
talking about the entitlement to be supported--grants,
residencies, etc. I'm talking about the entitlement to "get
good."

Getting good takes work, and tenacity shows itself best during
the process of making art. "Genius," said Jane Hopkins, "is the
infinite capacity for taking pains." These pains can be minor
and yet powerful. John Constable was among the first to
tenaciously sit out in nature and try to work out such
seemingly lesser issues as relative darkness and lightness,
plainness and complexity, form and formlessness, weakness and
strength.

Best regards,

Robert

PS: "Whatever is worth doing at all, is worth doing well." (P.
D. Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield, 1694-1773)

Esoterica: Nuances are those subtle and seldom noticed
differences occurring in nature that many artists need to bring
into their work. Nuanced work depends on observation,
understanding and application. Nuance is often the difference
between ordinary art and great art. The tenacious artist takes
the time to get it right. Good enough is not good enough.
Further, tenacity and humility can be friends: "I know very
well what I am about and that my skies have not been neglected,
though they often failed in execution--and often no doubt from
anxiety about them." (John Constable, 1776-1837)

Scholarly Perspectives on Digital Art

From artist Bruce D. Price
A recent issue of ArtNews (November, 2003) featured a Russian artist said to be pursuing "a digital aesthetic." His works, it turns out, are "pixel-based paintings of art-historical classics." Why, one might ask, does digital art need to refer to anything historical? What's the point? Digital is the unpredictable present and the unseen future. Let's see where that goes.

At the start of the 20th century, intellectuals hailed the beauty of the machine. This philosophy was called Machine Aesthetics. What the intellectuals meant was the sleek aerodynamic surface of the racing car or ocean liner. (They did not mean the dirty engine or dangerous boiler.) At the start of the 21st century, we are entering an unexpected new chapter in Machine Aesthetics. Now there's no beauty on the surface, as the computer can be in a cardboard box or hidden in the wall. The beauty is deep inside the silicon chips that enable computers to perform a billion calculations a second. Digital art can be understood as Machine Aesthetics II--The Inner Beauty.

A sculptress (more precisely, a potter who makes artistic ceramics) was interviewed in the Princeton Alumni Weekly. "Sometimes," she said, "the most interesting pieces come from a series of guided accidents." Exactly. Many digital artists would tell you the same thing: "I'm looking for those wonderful accidents that are more beautiful than anything I might think up beforehand. Serendipity--that's the best part."

Digital art can be used to replicate traditional media and to represent traditional subjects--e.g. to paint a flower or a nude. Brilliant work will be done in this direction. But why use this exciting new medium in old-fashioned ways? Avant-garde thinking suggests: this new kind of machine (the computer) should be used to create new kinds of art.


How do they do it? Hard to say. Even digital artists can't always tell how other digital artists achieve their effects. There's trade secrets and luck and even unexplainable, unrepeatable results. In an odd way, digital art of today is like glass blowing in Venice in, say 1000, when every glass blower had personal secrets and techniques. This mystery is part of the fun in digital art. But don't be intimidated. If you don't like the art, it's bad. If you like it, it's good. Buy it.

That Jackson Pollack dripped all those paintings was a big problem for many people. Cynics said, "My kid could do that." The Jackson Pollacks of today are digital artists. People ask, "So, when my kids get a computer, then they'll be able to do digital art?" Sure--exactly to the degree that when they get a set of oil paints, they'll be able to do oil paintings.

A new field is emerging, the sociology of computers. Here are the first findings: Turns out that almost half the population thinks the computer is bad, a devilish machine that is both impersonal and anti-creative. This Luddite perspective views the computer as a cookie-cutter drudge. For these people "computer art" is an oxymoron... Simultaneously, almost half the population thinks the exact opposite! Computers are gods. Push a button and opera comes out. Any child and a computer can write War and Peace and outpaint Manet. An artist painting on a computer isn't doing anything because the god-like computer is doing the work. Sorry. Neither view is very helpful. The computer is just a tool. A word processor--i.e. a computer programmed to manipulate texts-- doesn't create poetry, and an image processor--i.e. a computer programmed to manipulate images--doesn't create art. As always, poets make poetry and artists make art.


Digital art--here's one reason why the art world sometimes tries to pretend it's not there--is hugely democratic. Once a piece is created, the artist can make multiple copies. In this respect it's exactly like the photograph, another much maligned democratic medium. For the first 100 years of its existence, let's say 1850-1950, the camera was not considered a real artist's tool. What did the photographer actually do? Push a button, that's all. Much too democratic. But little by little, good artists went to work with the camera and made great art. Philistine opinion gave way. The same story is now being replayed starring the computer. What took a century in photography's case will pass by in relatively few years for digital art.

Andre Breton and the Surrealists said that artists should liberate the unconconscious. The idea was that you don't try to control everything. You let the creative process loose. Turns out the computer is a natural ally to experimentation, freeing the unconscious and, in effect, getting out of the way.

Toward a Digital Manifesto: the pixel is the language of the future. Digital is the landscape on which we will live. The goal of the digital artist is to explore the vast new aesthetic possibilities that digital technology has presented to us.

Welcome to the digital universe.
© Bruce D. Price 2004

Resonses to "Hope"

"When artists slip the collar of convention, only then can they roam the forest of new found sites. With skill they may return with their visions for others to see in the code of their paintings. I do not understand the language or code of the birds but I do still love their songs. New visions need not be fully understood--only agreeable. I believe that true genius does not understand the word fear--instead their sails are set by hope of unseen shores."

Todd Plough