www.flickr.com

Saturday, October 20, 2012

Art Musings: City Wide Open Studios

This is my first year doing City Wide Open Studios. I was at The New Haven Register which has been dubbed the alternate space this year. iPad art is how I produce all of my art currently and I absolutely love it. Presenting it has proven to be challenging. Most people do not make the connection of my work being digital art. That can be both a boon and a hindrance. Some of my viewers mistook the paintings as photographs (Especially my "Fleeting Moment" painting.) or oil paintings. Creating a sign for "iPad paintings" made things a lot clearer and viewers started connecting the dots. I learned a lot about to show the work. Bigger prints make a stronger impression. Also painting on an iPad while manning my station was one of the best ways to get people to look over my shoulder and spark a dialogue. People were able to connect to Through The Elm to The Big Apple especially. Before I knew it I was hearing stories about Brooklyn, Harlem and Manhattan.

iPad painting is still in it's infancy and I think people need a lot of exposure to it before it's widely accepted as a legitimate medium. Generally feedback for my work is overwhelmingly positive but some will just be from the school were it's not "real" art. To them I would have to argue that it is. The iPad makes some things easier (layers, materials, undo, blending) but it is not easy to master. I literally had to relearn how to draw to use it effectively. It takes talent to do it well. If my iPad was a crutch or if it somehow did the work for me I would be cheating myself as an artist.

 

0 comments: