CyberART

The frontpage starts with the words "The tenth daughter of Zeus and Mnemosyne is the Muse of Photography.....". The old Greek mythology, that is one of the corner stones for our modern tradition, taught about the nine Muses, who each were supervisor of a science or an Art. After photography appeared as a complete new form of Art, H. van Kay suggested in 1974 that the tenth Muse is responsible for film and photographs.

The last decade of the last century is the time of the digital revolution, especially in the visual area. When we look at music we see that in the years before an evolution of digital Music had started.

What is the difference between traditional paintings and CyberArt?

One can compare CyberArt with the starting years of professional photography, about a century ago. Photography was considered as a technique for registering. It was an instrument, not a way of expression. In later years photography became a mature and appreciated form of Art with its own area of dramatic expression. .

Although CyberArt ('digital art' are better words) still is in a process of evolution, one can say that many talented artists produce poignancy with their digital pens.

CyberArt is much more then taking a photograph, scanning it in, an applying a simple software filter. Filters may create interesting effects. But the connection between eye and heart is vital. It is the same as in all other forms of Art.

A problem with the young CyberArt is that there are no real "originals". A file is stored on a harddrive. A monitor screen provides an image of pixels. Printing this image causes a huge loss of power. The luminescence of the screen is part of the image.

An illustration explains more then a thousand words. At the right hand you see two small images. The top one is "forest of dreams" and the bottom one is from the series "Avenue of the Counts". Both images are based on the same digital photograph. The photo was made with especially the top image in mind. The result was an image that was much more powerful than the original photograph. To change this image to a pen drawing took about ten weeks of extensively trying, changing, erasing, testing and painting.

CyberArt will grow. The rise of digital cameras is now changing the worlds of film and TV. Jurassic Parc could never have been made without digital techniques. Digital TV asks for digital productions. Digital images ask for software manipulation.

Let us hope that digital art will never push away the combination of canvas, brushes and paints. Both techniques will complement each other.

H. van Kay (2000)