DIGITAL MEDIA

Not long after I was introduced to computers, I realised the fascinating possibilities this new medium had to offer. The Internet showed me an abundance of new ways of artistic expression like fractals, digital paintings, photo-manipulation, 3D scenes, etc.I found it all very inspiring and decided enthusiastically to give it a place in my world. I acquired the necessary software and started learning. Apart from the normal ups and downs I often had the impression of being back in school. Not art-school, but some weird kind of engineer's school. I couldn't help but think in the back of my mind that there wasn't much artistic about it. The better I learned to use the software, the more many of the works I saw became superficial and technically recognisable.

What I had been creating myself had been fun and was exciting whilst busy creating but it never gave me the satisfaction of drawing with a simple pencil. Somehow it seemed to be happening “there” inside that monitor, not “here” where I was, or in the dimensions of my imagination. Furthermore there was no original. So I decided to consider it on the same level as I make sketches: preparatory exerciises to tune into real inspiration.

Then came “ De Natura Luminis”, a reworking of my Labyrinth X with a digital pen. And suddenly I was "inside". It got me excited as I hadn’t been in a long time. Suddenly I grasped t(hat these were/are clearly a fascinating set of new tools. The only thing that is needed is to use them without thinking what can be done with them.

Meanwhile I've seen how digital art has grown, and what some great artists can create with them, fully using these tools as means and not as handy hazardous creation machines. There's more to it than clicking some option to have some filter calculate a certain effect. More personal engagement is needed, and less dependance on cheap effects.

The best way to show digital art I think is on screens. Prints or 3D sculptures are in fact reproductions, not the “real” thing. Treat them as such and it’s ok by me. But I won’t join the “limited series” circus because that’s cheating: there is no wear, no original - no equivalent of a copper plate, a woodblock or a lithograhy stone, and nothing in the printing-process is hand-created. The only thing that this "limited" stands for is to cultivate greed. Which is not exactly what I like to associate with aretè.