Quote:
Originally Posted by mr dave
Here's my beef with that angle. Let's say you're realm is the visual arts. You've dedicated years of your life to learn to paint. Then some kid shows up, snaps a digital photo of a scene you've been working on, spends a few hours in Photoshop running filters over the image and then VOILA! their end result looks like a painting. Is that person an actual artist or just an image manipulator?
That's the thing that seems to be lacking for me. A lot of people arguing that angle seem to put musical instruments on the same level as the computer - it's just a tool the musician uses. Which, on one level is completely true and accurate. On another it's complete wrong. There is no other purpose for a piano, guitar, drums, etc to exist other than to make music. That's why they were invented. The computer, not so much.
I guess that's really my main beef with computer / non computer musicians. If you've never actually learned a musical instrument I can't bring myself to call you an actual musician. The computer is NOT a musical instrument.
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As a person who actually is a professional in the field of visual arts, I have a couple of issues with the comparison you're making here. The first, as has already been pointed out, is that photography is a well established and respected medium of visual art. You'd be hard pressed to find anyone who has studied art academically who
doesn't consider photography to be art. Secondly, there is no Photoshop filter in existence that can replicate all the nuances of an actual painting. The only way someone can accomplish that is by being a talented visual artist who is highly skilled in Photoshop. It's a tool. Used poorly by many and beautifully by some. Just like a pen, just like a guitar. The irony of this kind of argument is that, in its defensive attempt to highlight how much skill and practice goes into playing a traditional instrument well, it completely misrepresents how much skill and practice goes into doing these things well electronically.
To reframe your question: My realm is visual arts. I went to school for it, have dedicated many years of my life to learning my craft, and have been doing it professionally full-time for almost a decade and a half. Are you really saying someone who paints for a hobby on the weekends is more of an artist than someone like me, simply because I generally use a computer to produce the stuff I do?