THE GOOD SIDE OF ABSTRACT DIGITAL ART

When I sold my first digital painting printed on a high-quality canvas, I couldn’t quite avoid a feeling of strangeness. I bridged the gap between my pretty digitalised way of living and working with this strong, woven cloth that represents traditional art material: the canvas. I remember the lively conversation around how this piece should not be replicated for anyone else as the buyer wanted to be the exclusive owner of it. That is a challenge digital artworks are facing in comparison to a conventional canvas covered with oils and acrylics but let’s see what the NFT world brings us. Digital artwork seems to be easily replicated and manipulated and therefore, can lose its uniqueness. Digital art however still requires no less skill than traditional artmaking. In today’s blog, I’ve listed some positive aspects to show it’s worth integrating digital art and paintings in our lives. I suggest you do not worry because traditional art won’t be replaced by digital art but is complemented by it.

Promotes openness for the ever-changing nature of technology
Technology and its rapid evolvement in all areas of our lives are here to stay. A study forecasted that 85% of jobs that will exist in 2030 haven’t been invented yet. For example, integrating digital art into the school’s art curriculum could help students get open and confident in navigating in a fast-changing hyper-technological and digital environment. But also selling and buying digital art via NFTs has opened a new world, and we don’t know 100% yet where this will lead us to. It’s exciting!

Almost unlimited ways of display
Unless you as an art lover and buyer insist on displaying your canvas on your walls at home, in museums, or in art galleries, there are multiple other ways to showcase a piece of digital art. One great example here in London is W1 Curates creating an intersection of the public with digital art. It accelerates the trend to publicly “artify” our environments and cities. Screens as canvases, why not? To take you on an even further future art journey, watch this video.

Immediacy & flexibility for the creator
In September, on my trip through Germany, I took a train ride from Berlin to the Baltic sea. Because of the pandemic, it has been my first trip in two years. At that moment, thoughts and emotions of the past months mixed with the excitement that many things had and will be changed forever, I felt the urge to capture that in a painting. No way could I just unpack brushes, colour tubes, and a canvas there on the train but I could grab my iPad and Apple pen. My contemporary canvas and brush are not only for those on-the-go situations. Personally, I really enjoy the advantage of being able to create art at the moment I feel I have to and can imagine others would, too.

The impact of art is more important than how it’s been created
In case you think that a digital painting or any other form of digital art is less worth than Rembrandt’s masterpiece The Night Watch, I personally won’t say anything against it. Nevertheless, I believe that the impact of artwork on us humans is paramount to our species. Art connects, communicates, and expresses. It can help us to develop soft skills such as thinking creatively and becoming more adaptable to change. It provides context, teaches about the past, and accompanies if not prepares us for the future.

You’ve made it to the end of this post, amazing. Thank you for reading this blog today. Above you saw a series of digital paintings I have created in the past few weeks and months. It’s my response and counterweight to the easily adopted pessimistic outlook and way of dealing with current challenges and crises. My art is bright, colourful, and energetic. Very much the way I see our future.

Feel free to leave a comment to share your thoughts.