So should someone who makes abstract art produce it by using software, in other words, are they better off doing digital art - rather than sick to the real, ie. physical brush, canvas and paint. Like, there are already so many choices to make without deciding on whether to go digital or not.
Right off the bat: the really obvious advantage to going digital is that there is no pollution from using paints which need to be manufactured, and the same can be said about the brushes and canvases. But - and it's a big one - we're only referring to the visible part of the ice: below the waterline lies the hidden pollution linked to the spotless world of the digital.
Personally, when I woke up at 3 am to write my big post because I wanted to show Google that I was still very much active in the world of virtuality, I really thought of just quitting my crazy idea of living from art. I've been trying really hard, you know, tested several different directions and methods, so far all I have to show for my pains is zilch; sweet Fanny Adams; zero.
We're so much in a world no longer connected to real, tangible items, it's almost frightening, we can't tell anyone about what's different in the way a zucchinws compared to a banana. I was really ready to give up trying altogether, and revert to good old habits: I would just create real paintings with real material and hope someone in that wide world would by some magical synchronicity set their eyes on my creations and propose to buy all my paintings for at least 20000 €.
Richer for a while, I would perhaps even go on holiday, buy some new clothes,... Oh my God, Mario! Stop! Stop it! Get these fooliish naive ideas, OUT of your brain, get real! Because out there business focus has largely become about how fast things can be produced and how good they look on a screen! Consume, discard! Could be nowadays' motto, except now we're throwing away our only planet, heading straight for that brick wall, with apparent nonchalance and breezy hubris. And yet, here I am, back for more pain and humiliation.
I really am estranged to this way of venerating, being overly appreciative of everything virtual, everything online, everything digitally perfect looking and glossy, of digital perfection. Nothing wrong with perfection, except that the digital world is just a fake, an illusion, a recipe for samsara.
I would say, let's preserve this beautiful complex world that we have and take a few steps back from the precipitous edge of Niagara Falls.
And as for digital, Be it so, for the time being, I'll go along with this for now, we'll see where it leads us. And as the zen matter just nodded his head and said no more.
Of course, using the digital weapon to produce spotless looking art fits perfectly within today's "produce-consume and move on" zeitgeist; but with the overwhelming burden on the environment that accompanies it, is not going to be sustainable for long. Again, this is a "solution" to not using materials such as paint and canvas which looks good in the short term, but at the same time, long term, needs to be adopted to climate change and planetary real constrants. Moreover, going digital creates more dependence on external"solutions" providers such as Apple, Adobe etc.. This debate is not about whether to use electricity to"fuel" our modern lifestyle. It's more about where the electricity comes from- fossil or not - than where we want it (YES, we do!). That being said, I really enjoy putting my hands into a clump of real clay or seeing the way real paint flows onto the real 😁 canvas (I enjoy the feel of cotton, the small "imperfections" of artistry, the smell of wood) and then the pleasure of seeing the paints come together to produce magic, in sizes and dimensions which impress. And although I can obviously print out my Photoshop file on a 1 by 1 square meter sheet of canvas, paper, acrylic or whatever else may be the choice, seeing my result immediately and in full size, is special in my opinion.
And besides, I really hate having to stare at a small screen just to produce pixels which I can play around with at will and manipulate as I desire - but never get to really touch or feel with my hands, or smell.
I'm certainly old-fashioned because, for me, a true painting is one produced with a real canvas or other material and with really smelly paints which produce real spots on clothing in real settings. When I paint, I like usingb the whole body with its complete array of senses. Perhaps the day will come when technology will allow us to really see (but in a virtual manner) the ways different oils and resins flow and smell, the way materials would behave when blended, on large tactile screens, so much to let go of when going digital.
And perhaps that's the conclusion of this debate; each time new technology comes along, going with the flow obviously is going to mean losing out on something we'd gotten used to, letting go of the one to make way for the other. As long as collaterals are well managed ( ie. Clean non fossil and non nuclear electricity), I welcome the technology and see it as just another tool in my toolbox, not replacing my current way of producing art, but extending it, making it more complex and interesting.