CREATION by Miyuki Sena

Yesterday, I worked a co-op shift at Palos Verdes Art Center group called The Artists’ Studio at the gallery. There was the usual down time but occasionally, and sometimes in droves, people will come in and look around. A gentleman came in and asked me what I do. I respond that I’m one of the artists. They look at my laptop with eyes glazed over and some nod politely, but I’m pretty sure they don’t put the two together—the art and the laptop.

This particular guy seemed to understand that I use digital medium. He asked questions about my process and I demonstrated with Adobe Photoshop and a Wacom tablet with a stylus. I began to feel like I had gotten through to one person and was feeling pretty good when he spoke, “You really can’t charge people that much because it’s not fine art. People want an original, a one-of-a-kind.”

My heart sank. I got a little angry. My pupils dilated, I swallowed, and then I proceeded on a rant that went something like this:

1. Crappy art is crappy art, oil, acrylic, watercolor, photo, etc., and well-done art is, well, well-done. Whether a schooled painter, an elephant, blind person, paraplegic using their mouth, or a monkey applies paint onto paper, canvas, wood or whatever, art is art. Art is whatever one considers art for themselves. it’s personal in the largest sense. Therefore, one will pay what one will pay if it has value to them. It’s an artist’s task to figure out what that value is, the pulse of present-day art appreciation, and where the threshold lies. Of course, an artist can also not give a shit and produce art for art’s sake.
2. At various times in the history of people and their art cultures thought that photography, etchings, acrylic, tempura, charcoal, ink, etc., were not considered fine art mediums. As soon as a camera was invented, artists used it to capture images and make it their art. But because it was known that with a chemical process and a negative, one could produce multiple, if not endless, numbers of prints—photography was not seen as art… not even considered art. Can we all agree, now, that photography is a respected form of fine art, hanging in galleries all over the world right alongside, oils, and bronze sculptures?
3. Time, as in the passing of years, decades, eras, is known to be a dubious indication of value. Your great uncle’s school art project may be of great value to you, but unless his art had been revered in some great galleries, or auctioned off at Sotheby’s, it will hardly be of any value to others. A well-done, interesting, and maybe beautiful painting, taking a decade to paint by a nobody is nothing compared to Seurat’s drop cloth. Time put into creating something; time in experience; time in the care and thought of a piece of art should be weighed in to the value of that art no matter the medium. “Digital” sounds fast, convenient, and easy but it isn’t. Appreciate the education, skill, cost and the time put into learning to use this medium.

And so, we come back to the debate on whether digital art can be considered fine art. Can a piece of work printed on metal or paper, created with a digital app hand along side an oil painting? Is it fine art?

Only time will tell.