..INVENTIONS CHANGE EVERYTHING...
…TECHNOLOGICAL INVENTION HAS CHANGED FLAT ART …
Some of the latest technological inventions in our art-world are bound to make changes that we cannot foresee. That has always happened of course. So let us take a quick look at the past and see if it helps look into the future. You never know, it might.
Long ago.
Way back the first art was painted onto cave walls using 'paint' made from charcoal, blood, chalk, egg yolks, earth and nothing much else. Then technology changed it all. People invented clothes to replace animal hides covered in fur, and artists started to paint onto ‘cloth’. Art painted onto cloth made all the difference because you could move the artwork around from place to place. Art could serve a different and new purpose.
Later.
Then artists discovered that ‘sticky oil and pigment’ mixed together could be used to paint long-lasting art onto flat wooden panels. Obviously the technology to make ‘metal saw blades’ had to be invented first to make the flat wooden panels.
By this time the human race was exploring new places all over the globe. The technology of using ‘sailing boats’ meant that the technological invention of ‘paper’ in China could be shared. Maps and illustrations made by hand spread the knowledge. Artists became valued because they had the skill to make the illustrations.
Middle ages.
Leap forward to the technological revolution of ‘printing’ on this paper. Illustrations were in demand. But next they had to invent and develop the technology of metal plates, ink and engraving etc. Printed books were able to share the pictures with a much wider elite audience. The religious powers grabbed the chance to nurture and control art that captured attention and enforced their message.
Modern times.
‘Lithography’ printing introduced multi-colour print-making onto large sheets of heavy-weight paper. ‘Photography’ enabled a new source of images. It became quite practical to provide quantities of affordable art to anybody interested. The audience became much wider. The purpose of making art changed. So flat-art changed. Everybody could get flat-art to hang on their walls at home. Hooray for artists.
Latest.
Then they invented, discovered, created, the biggest technological revolutionary breakthrough of all, ‘computers’.
Now we have got the ‘Internet’. We can share on-screen versions of images and obtain a variety of visual art pieces. Artists can create new artworks using revolutionary technology.
Artists can fuse the technology of image capture with photography plus the technology of digital image creation, with the technology of inkjet printing using the technology of lightfast inks to make art.
‘Acrylographs’ are hybrid creative mixtures of all these plus the use of acrylic paint.
Oops! I forgot to mention the technological revolution of quick drying, water based, permanent, ‘acrylic paint’.
Conclusion.
Therefore we have…paint, cloth, metal, saw-blades, sticky oil paint, sailing boats, paper, printing, lithography, photography, acrylic paint, computers, Internet, and [drum-roll] acrylographs.
Maybe the latest recognition that we can live and communicate in a home based social technology will change the way we can share and appreciate the joy of making art. Artists can Zoom together with art fans who can feedback to inspire new art. We can u-tube videos of our studio progress. We can quickly exhibit our work to a global audience of millions. The latest technology is already changing everything.
So whatever next?
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