insite
: : kevan nitzberg
a
foray into the aesthetics of multi media art
In
exploring the internet for material I have included in many of the articles I
have written for the Insite column, I have developed quite a fascination with
the range of digital artwork that seems to keep coming up as focal points in a
good deal of my writing. So much so that now as an artist and art educator, I
have begun quite seriously working with digital media in creating my own artwork.
The intrigue with image manipulation and extended possibilities afforded by running
still images through software such as Adobe Photoshop, has now given way to working
with digital video. Here too may be found a huge variety of applications made
realizable from early to later versions of iMovie as well as working with more
challenging editing programs such as Final Cut Pro and the considerably cheaper
version, Final Cut Express.
There
is also the additional element of combining both manipulated still and moving
images in digitized films that continue to explore even richer levels in the works
being created that can in turn be viewed in ways that open up doors that otherwise
remain closed to more traditional art forms.
The
tools that now replace those more familiar to the ways in which I used to exclusively
work require no less dexterity and subtlety in their implementation. Degrees of
how much, in what combination, towards what end, and how best to convey the moment
in visually aesthetic metaphor, are important in the use of computer hardware
and the software that provides the interface with the electronic 'canvas'. This
is not to say that the visceral nature of applying paint to conventional primed
canvas has been replaced with a synonymous art making process, but rather a new
methodology and awareness brought on through utilizing a brand new art form has
now become available to use as artists consider what and how they wish to create.
Additionally,
I find that as I go deeper into exploring the possibilities that digital editing
provides the artist, the quality and emotive aspect of text, sound, motion, time
and sequence all take on additional elements that add levels of awareness and
richness to the works being formulated.
As
I utilize the combinations of tools that I am now presented with, the blending
of their individual qualities begins to create a metamorphic transformation of
the distinct components being employed. Words being animated with various effects
that are used to alter their appearance, float within images reflecting unspoken
meaning that are in turn flavored by sounds. Together these spark various sensations
that help us interpret what it is that we are experiencing. Digitized effects
in a series of images are imbued with both mystery and a sense of otherworldliness,
their initial essence now transformed into shapes, forms, colors and line that
move and twist with a pulsating energy that brings a sense of wonder and enchantment.
When so many stages are all brought to bear upon the interface of the artwork,
the meanings can become both more complex as well as richer in substance.
I
have begun to wonder with all of this, how in fact what has become possible through
transcending the traditional limitations that we have had in the past with relating
to and experiencing artwork, will translate into other forms of communication.
I can think of other ventures into multi-sensory experience in the past that have
been explored where various senses are engaged and often fooled through effects
that are brought into play (3D film, movies that also had 'smells' broadcast as
part of how they were experienced in the theaters, sound effects combined with
images, theme rides that moved while watching filmed sequences, etc.). However,
the ease of access afforded through the technology of digital film, stills, and
the computer software that supports them, will certainly help to ensure that how
we come to interpret communication in all of its many forms, will be considerably
more involved than simply watching a movie, reading a book, listening to music,
or even simply looking at signs.
As
for those who are involved in the art-making process, the application of so many
strata of artistic vehicles through digital editing with which to build multimedia
metaphors, has also become much more accessible. This could lead to a much greater
level of communication and meaning that is commonly shared among larger populations,
coupled with a heightened sensitivity and awareness to both an individual and
shared sense of that which is interpreted as reality. On the other hand, one could
reasonably argue that not all art is created with the idea of conveying a specific
message or that, apart from itself, the artwork has any explicit point at all.
It is the very ambiguity that makes it a work of art and this needs no further
definition. However this could equally be said of technology based multimedia
artwork.
As technology
continues to stretch the limits of imagination and possibility, so too are the
art forms that are facilitated by that growth, going to broaden both our understanding
and our amazement at the diversity of what these tools are capable of producing:
continuing to reshape the bounds of human experience and expression.
All
images are by Kevan Nitzberg
© 2006
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