Response to The Future of Computer Art

After reading this essay by Herbert W Franke, I came to the conclusion that he was defending computer art. I liked the statement he made when he said "the computer might equally well have been invented as an instrument of art". I liked it because I am a New Media Design major so I have to look at the computer as an instrument of art. Herbert explains how computer art is in its early stages of development and how it can't possibly mature yet because it simply hasn't been around long enough. He talks about how computer-generated images of objects and landscapes have drawn attention over the years. The realistic aspect of a digital image is something that is interesting to the new age of viewers. I thought it was interesting how he anticipates that high-resolution screens will eventually lead to better images and that improved computer performance will permit real-time animations of photorealistic images.

This essay was written during a time when people were used to seeing images from paintings or poor quality images, so for him to say this was very wise of him. The computer has allowed photography to advance drastically, and in this part of the essay he almost contradicts what I thought he was defending. An element of digital art that is becoming more and more popular that he mentions is Photoshop images. The different effects and tools used on this software are making images less realistic. The addition of color and highlight to ordinary images has created a completely different style we now consider digital art. He touches upon the fact that the computer will take care of perspective, which I never thought about before. I agree that the computer can manipulate a photo completely, but that is no different than adding more paint to a painting to me. This is just a much more advanced way of doing it, in that you can create almost anything, from anything. The possibilities are endless on the computer. It is harder for me to appreciate the development from classical art to new and upcoming digital art because I have grown up becoming more and more familiar with the computer and the wonders it can do.