The 21st Century Painter and VR

What does it mean to be a media artist? Before I tackle that question, let’s get more pinpointed about the more overarching question: What are the implications of the current age for the fine artist, specifically, for the painter? Whether you are a media artist or you “just” work with oils on canvas or a related medium, this is the overarching question. What is it all about for the painter of the early 21st century? What do we know and what are we finding out and going to find out? And who is going to teach us? The amazing thing nowadays is that anyone can teach you, not just the celebrity, not just the famous person. Yes, you can learn from a teacher in art school. You can also learn from me. You can learn from anyone who claims authority and then exercises that authority with integrity and know-how. It seems that the world just keeps expanding. The art world has its explosions and implosions, but mostly explosions. Art is never satisfied with limitations, and will only box itself in when it has crushed the box and needs new limitations to get itself going again.

I don’t claim to know all the art happenings, what’s in and what’s out. I don’t claim to be a mover and a shaker. Yeeze. I think a lot of that is bullshit anyway. But I do…have a finger on the pulse. I try, anyway, to keep my eyes open.

What it’s all about, anyway, is what’s happening for you, you, the painter, you, the artist, regardless of what anyone else is doing, regardless of what art movement (Are there any? Quick, raise your hand. Shall we start one?) is about. And what affects you is the general flow, the zeitgeist of the era.

Well, enough BS. Let’s get down to business. Answer the question. If you have any doubts as to what the question is, well, let me copy and paste. Here it is: What are the implications of the current age for the fine artist, specifically, for the painter? Okay - deep breath – here we go.

The fine artist, the visual artist, has always been about creating a vision. Yes, other artists are about this as well. Everyone has to have a vision, artist or not. The creative and powerful person has to have a vision. Sure. Have a vision for your business plan. The painter, however, is at the forefront with this aim, this goal, this raison d’etre. It would stand to reason, right? Visual artist, vision… Not simple play on words. The fine artist is about vision. He must see beyond the ordinary. Well, he must see in an extraordinary way, even when he paints ordinary things. That’s why he is a painter.

Okay, I think you are with me so far, and I hope you can agree. Painters bring us vision. They are, and must be, visionaries. Perhaps they see the future, perhaps not. What they really do: Create new ways of seeing. The artist generally, and the painter specifically, carves out the new ways of seeing. They have always done this, the best of them. Sometimes we could get with that. Other times it took awhile, and the artist did not profit. Anyway, so this question of what the current age holds for the painter, it is an important question. The painter must be asking himself, “What new way of seeing can I create?” This is the question he asks himself. And the changes are happening so fast these days, he is bound to wonder what it all adds up to for him and his quest for the new way of seeing. So it is an important question, one that must be answered.

Two forces - and they are not exactly the same – dominate the artist’s world today: virtual reality and digital information. Virtual reality is mostly visual. Digital information is mostly communicated in words. Therefore, it is auditory. Digital information is about meaning. Virtual reality is not about meaning. It is about how meaning and everything else can be distorted and manipulated and controlled and synthesized. Virtual reality is not about meaning. Digital information is. And, of the two, digital information is what dominates our world today. The ability to easily and inexpensively digitize content and easily and inexpensively flow it into the global community, making it accessible to anyone, is…well, beyond words. This is changing the world at lightening speed. Virtual reality is not far behind. Hmm. Just what is the role virtual reality plays in this? You would think the visual artist would want to know since virtual reality is more visual than it is anything else. Sure, we get excited about throwing all sensations into the pot and brewing a virtual stew that will knock your socks off. But let’s get back to the meat of this thing. Virtual plays with the eyes. What you see is what you get… Is it? What is it? It’s…whatever you make it. And there we are. Yes, even though digital information is the more powerful force – and I maintain the two are distinctly different, digital and virtual – virtual reality is what the visual artist is working with these days.

I’m going to take a leap and tell you what I think this means. Digital information is about meaning and language. Virtual reality is about vision. Virtual reality is about seeing in a new way. VR is synthetic information composed in a way that makes it easier to think in images. So, painter, you have the tool of virtual reality. What are you to do with it? What are we all to do with it? We are to create a vision. A vision of what? Of digital information, the force that is changing our reality. What I am saying: The painter of today must use VR (virtual reality) and DI (digital info) to create a vision of a new language, a new way of communicating. Where in the past the painter’s task was to create vision and a new way of seeing, now that task has changed – evolved. Vision has been digitized and is now about using vision to create a new language. This is what VR is all about. This is what the digitization of your visual information is all about. You are carving out a new way of communicating. You are carving out a vision of a new language, a language that will no doubt be global and immensely sophisticated, complex, and technologically savvy. Let’s hope you put some heart and soul into it.