Tyrrany of the camera
February 14, 2022There are huge benefits of everybody having mobile phones with cameras, but ……. these are training the human eye to expect every picture to be ‘like a photo’.
So - this is a rant on behalf of creativity!
A painting should offer viewers so much more than a mere click n point snapshot. It is a fruit of imagination, every pixel has been placed after thought about the composition, colours. It tells a story from the artist’s perspective, designed to trigger a reaction in the mind of the viewer.
BUT - back to the viewers’ expectations …… we all see hundreds of camera-images all the time. Our brains therefore expect pictures to look like those.
The opportunity this opens up is to deliberately and carefully create art that is NOT ‘like a photo’, for the difference to present the viewer with their first challenge - to pause and take a second look - ‘What is going on here?’
[footnote - I have nothing but admiration for photographers, and I cheerfully use a camera a lot. I am not trying to stop the inevitable rise of this tide, only saying that because of it, painted art needs to address a new challenge - the eye of the viewer.]
Many more people have viewed my art on their mobiles than have seen the real thing.
Much more art is sold online than from high street galleries.
Another challenge then - my paintings need to have ‘small screen appeal’ - I ask myself - how would this have changed the pattern of art in the past??