Why?
Well for one, people now are very impatient and not willing to put a few months into a masterpiece painting, they'd rather take a few hours or days to complete something. This takes a lot of the handiwork out of a piece. People now would pay more for a painting than a poster wouldn't they? But companies would rather have things done fast, so that leaves the artwork less personalized.
Two, jobs are more available to people who can easily create a pamphlet that can be easily copied and distributed than make pot. Going back to the fact that we're impatient, people like things to be done and how they like now. No wasting time. When I was deciding which major I wanted to be Graphic Design or Studio Art. I didn't want to have to pick, but I ended up with Studio Art because of the process and the intimacy of creating a piece. Yes, when you finish a painting there is such a tie between pride and hatred for it. But that is only because you struggled with it and you babied it into what it finally became. I knew going into Studio Art that I wouldn't have as many job options, so, like many other students, I took digital classes as well like Digital Photography and Intro to Graphic Design. That way I am slightly ambidextrous in the art world. The basic art principles are there, it's just the process that differs.
Three, kids now aren't learned cursive so their basic hand mechanics aren't going to be able to create beautiful brushstrokes. I've heard this from many people that kids are now taking typing courses instead of cursive. I don't really understand the thought process behind it because both skills seem very important to me even if you never use cursive ever again after 4th grade. It seems obvious, but our handwriting plays a part in how we'd draw a line in a gesture drawing. Consider the fabulous movement in figures and lines in this Rubens:
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| Rubens, The Calydonian Boar Hunt, 1611, oil on panel |
How are kids going to be able to paint a perfect new age replica of a Rubens? They won't. But they might be able to recreate a digital copy of it, or print out a copy on a 3D printer. Which seems like such a shame and like cheating in the art world. But if you are a traditional artist, then the value of your work will skyrocket and the Rubens will be worth a ton more.
I'm not hating on the digital age. I love some of the innovation that we have been able to create. We just need to find a way to keep the more traditional arts as well, so that we don't become a lost artifact. What do you think? Keep moving forward and forget the past? Or keep trying to combine the two into beautiful
