Art and Technology

Two interesting articles in 'The Guardian' this week which discuss the use of modern technology in art. The first article discusses the demise of the compact camera and replacement by cameras found in Smart Phones - link here. Photographers like Cartier-Bresson used the Leica with a fast lens so they could move silently around and capture their subjects without drawing attention to themselves. A camera smartphone provides a similar ability and lens quality is certainly sufficient to produce an image of good enough quality for posting immediately on the internet. There are also basic tools which allow manipulation of images. I have recently acquired an IPhone 4 - for me the jury is still out - but I have been impressed by the quality and suitable for art photography and where speed is important to transfer an image from one place to another. I will not however be throwing away my Pro Cameras just yet!

The second article - link here - discusses the use of the iPad by the artist David Hockney. He says in the article "When we first talked about it I'd never even heard of an iPad, let alone worked with one......." ".....It's like an endless piece of paper that perfectly fitted the feeling I had that painting should be big." (The Guardian Friday 13 January 2012)

I don't have an iPad but I can see the benefits for an artist on the move who wants to create work and multi-task with email and other word-processing etc.

The answer for me is not to follow slavishly, check out technology for yourself, decide if you can afford it, and experiment with as many different options as possible.