What is ART?

A silly question you say ? really? think about it, it seems that since the dawn of time, nobody can agree wholey on what is considered art.

The cave mans paintings, writing or art? or both?
Is graffiti art or vandalism?
Modern art, art or worthless?

Its all down t a matter of opinion, and the great thing about art, it doesn't HAVE to actually meet anyones expectations, it could be Michelangelos work or a 5 year olds, art is what moves us, its expression, art is infinite.

as ive discussed we are in a digital era, so why should our digital technology not me used for art purposes and still be considered art.

Many argue that art is paint, its sculpting, i argue with todays technology we have cut out wasting resources, this is a good and bad thing, bad because it may in the end up make quite a bit of art worthless, ie creative common laws would need to be properly in place so credit goes to the proper artists. However regardless of selling and buying art work, Digital art, is still art.
Its just a different medium.

Im of course biased as i wish to be an illustrator or animator.
Illustration can be captured so much better computerized, not because its any easier. speaking from experience, drawing a sketch or water colour painting is vastly easier on paper than it is using software. creating the same or more HD effects are extremely difficult, so i laugh at those people who say because the technology is easy used, it does the art for you, this is extremely wrong.
As Steve Jobs said in a speech once- Technology is irrelevant, it's what you do with it !

illustration done using software for example if i wanted to change a minor detail, i wouldn't have to start again, or waste more ink or paper, id simple erase it and continue.
I could also thanks to modern technology mass distribute my work. Using the internet i can send it to several persons, no matter whee they are in the world. instantly !
forget crumpling the art work in the post, forget extra man hours, forget envelopes and postage and waiting, forget only having one copy of your art work.... i can send a copy to several publishers or artists at once, and they will all see the same image undamaged at the same time, no matter thier location.

Animation, is digital. I'm fond of 2d, now imagine me making a 2d clip of anything without technology. lets say all i had was paper and pen.....no imagine how many pages id need. considering its 2 frames/pages a second, and thats not including any mistakes or scrap pieces.

Technology if used correctly is art. Its easy to access the software that famous names use for digital paintings and block buster movies..... doesnt mean the same level of skill is using this technology.
So it is the artist not the software.

It may be weird that art can now be mass produced, but isnt that the same as original mass production, it lowered the value in some aspects but heightened it in others.

The National portrait museum is my favorite example to use in an argument when others doubt technology is not art. Do you consider those grand paintings and portraits art? well, have you noticed how they are all left handed? one in seven people are left handed, so whats the chances EVERY model used in the museum were left handed. answer is, there isnt really.
So how was this achieved, its almost like a photo was taken, but they all date before the first camera was even thought of, so what was it, time travel? no the secret is the artists used a pin hole camera, like a projection, but it created the image upside down, making the subject back to front, ie left handed.

Moral of this example, technology is not a 21st century thing, we have all used technology of our time to suit our needs, be it the dawn of time, renaissance, or 21st century.

Claire