Seamlessness of Collage Art- Digital vs Ernst

Sometimes I think digital art can be seen separate from traditional art. The fact that everything is done on a computer adds an element of distance that is not the same as using a paint or pencil to create a piece of work. When you draw a red circle on a piece of paper with paintbrush, you understand that there is red paint, created with red pigments, and brush made of hairs and wood, and there is no secret to how you make the red circle appear in front of you. I know this sounds incredibly simple, almost too simple, but now think of a computer. How do you create a red circle on your computer? You click a button, drag your cursor, pick a color and there you go. Do you actually know the process of how that circle got there? Not the average person does and that’s what creates the distance. People don’t respect what they don’t understand. At the end of the day, a computer and a pencil are not that different artistically because they are both tools for creativity.

Today, I feel that photoshop, which would fit into the category of digital art, never really gets recognized as art. I’m not trying to say magazine covers with girls altered to look thinner is art but there is something to be said when you see an image of something completely imaginary that has been made on a computer but it is so seamless it looks real. These pieces are just as seamless as Max Ernst’s work but they are never revered on the same level. Of course, Max Ernst did not believe his art was first interpreted properly, so it will be interesting to see if attitudes toward digital art will change, and if it will become more of an art norm in the future. I know the workshop on Wednesday taught me to have a little more respect for it.