Reading Response- Digital Art- Wake

For this week’s reading response we had to examine and analyze a piece of digital artwork. My original choice was “Idealine” by Martin Wattenberg, which provides an interactive time line of the digital art realm using some sort of flash/shockwave software; however, since most of the links on the page were broken (non functioning), I decided to go a different route. I chose my other art piece, “Wake” by Gary Simmons, and began my analysis promptly. I noticed at the homepage that flash would be involved, and formed some preconceived notions of simple animation videos. After clicking the start link, I was prompted to disable my pop up blocker, and once I had done so, I was ready to go. The artist had designed an interactive, photographic matrix with the dimensions of 7x7. Each square in the matrix would activate and showcase a tiny image the viewer’s mouse pointer hovered over them. If a user were to scroll the entire matrix very quickly with a mouse pointer, multiple squares would activate and illuminate; revealing a much larger image that consisted of the multiple squares. In my case each of the squares highlighted a portion of what ended up being a picture of an elegant ballroom/dining room with a golden chandelier. If a viewer were to click one of the squares, the program would refresh and a different image would be generated, for the user to view frame by frame. After viewing this piece, I sat and thought about how this digital art piece, along with other forms of digital art would affect how we as viewers interpret and influence our perceptions of art. Artwork is artwork no matter how you perceive it, and thus digitized art should be granted the same merit as regular traditional art. The creators still get inspired, they still convey a message, the only difference I can note is that rather than using traditional art mediums/tools like pencils, pens, canvases, paints, etc., digital artists use tools like computer mice, keyboards, writing tablets, and various art inducing software. Digital art is by no means easier than regular art in the fact that it requires a lot of training (learning how to use the computer devices), patience (being able to sit down at a computer to develop the piece), and precision (being able to pinpoint the right coding for a certain color; get certain sizes, shapes and angles to be perfect; and making sure that if the digitized artwork is an interactive experience (that the coding and the links are all fully functional). By making a good portion today’s art digitized, users are then allowed to zoom in, edit, and manipulate the artwork, theoretically exploring the artwork from the inside-outward. By making the artwork more interactive, individuals my become more interested and more involved with the artwork; I feel that with society’s transition to a more technological mindset, placing artwork on the web will make it more accessible by individuals all across the globe. With online libraries, databases, and image galleries, users can really get deeply involved with the digitized artwork; and thus, possibly gain a new found respect for art.

"Wake" by Gary Simmons -- Website