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Our definitions of visual art have extended far beyond the canvas since the beginning of the twentieth century (Rush, 1999, p.170). The increased availability of computers in the 1980s has caused a burgeoning of computer based visual art, also known as digital art. This has developed into a broad range of computer graphics, animation, digitised images, cybernetic sculptures, laser shows and online comics (Rush, 1999, p.180).
Computer-based visual art can be purely computer-generated, such as fractals, or taken from a different source, such as a scanned photograph (Art History Club, 2005). To visual artists, some consider the computer to be a design tool (Popper, 1993, p.78). Utilising the available techniques of pasting, erasing, displacement, and multiplication, artists are able to develop their own 'electronic palette' to assist them with their creations (Rush, 1999, p.177.).
The technologies used for creating visual art can enable collaboration, lending itself to sharing and augmenting by a creative effort similar to the open source movement, in which users can collaborate to create unique pieces of art (Wikipedia, 2005.)
There are two forms which should be distinguished when referring to computer graphics; two-dimensional and three-dimensional imagery (Popper, 1993, p.78). The former refers to an image that is not plastically modeled and only exists in two dimensions, whereas the latter refers to pictures based on algorithms for modeling different three dimensional effects (Popper, 1993, p.78).
David Em is an artist who uses the computer as a design tool to produce illusionary three-dimensional imagery (Popper, 1993, p.80). In 1986 Em created a group of digital landscapes inspired by methods of topographical illustration (Popper, 1993, p.80). To many observers, Em's cosmic fantasies represent the aesthetics and subject matter of computer-based art (Popper, 1993, p.80). Yet, Em still thinks of his works as paintings in the traditional sense, despite the highly technical nature of his artistic implements (Popper, 1993, p.80).
Another artist is Harold Cohen, who develops computer-controlled drawing machines that continuously execute a series of drawings, without having any idea of what the final result might be (Popper, 1993, p.80). From this perspective, the computer is no longer merely a tool but a creator or simulator of memory, of reasoning and the brain itself (Popper, 1993, p.80). Cohen considers the computer as analogous to the human intellect, and a creative entity in its own right (Popper, 1993, p.78).
The widespread popularity of computer based visual art has led to questions about whether the computer is a tool, or an autonomous creator (Popper, 1993, p.80). Digital art is yet to gain the acceptance and regard reserved for 'serious' art forms such as sculpture, painting and drawing, perhaps due to the common impression that 'the computer does it for you' and the suggestion that the image created could be infinitely repeatable (Wikipedia, 2005).
Books
Popper, F. (1993) Art of the electronic age, New York: Thames and Hudson. ISBN 0500279187
Rush, M. (1999) New Media in Late 20th-Century Art, New York: Thames & Hudson. ISBN 0500203296
Web Documents
Wikipedia (2005) Digital Art, retrieved October 26, 2005 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Art
Art History Club (2005) Digital Art, retireved October 26, 2005 from http://www.arthistoryclub.com/art_history/Digital_art
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