Post #596078 by MadDogMike on Sun, Jul 3, 2011 8:54 PM

No matter how pure you think your art is, technology has crept in. So maybe ceramics is still a pure art, safe from technology? Not unless you mined your own clay, ground your own glazes, and fired it in an anagama kiln. No, I ordered my glazes from the internet, they were delivered UPS with a tracking number, and fired in a microprocessor controlled kiln. (OK, I'm too cheap to buy a microprocessor controlled kiln, just play along with me here)

I understand the issue of "just a tool" vs "no soul" but it's all in how you use that tool. If you take a 4 inch bruch and paint a wall white it is a serviceable wall but it has no soul because no part of your soul was put into it. Yet take that same brush and paint a mural, you have poured part of your life into it and it has soul. The same is true with the computer. You can take a stock photo and apply a couple of quick filters to it, you have a serviceable image for a print ad but it has not soul. Or you can take that same computer and program to create art by putting your soul into it. Alternatively, the human touch and the lack of technology do not automatically breathe life to art. The finest canvas, paint, and brushes in the hands of an uninspired artist still produces crap.