Digital Art as a Logical Element of the Development of Creative Methods
Looking back on how contemporary art theory developed, some early terms and definitions may seem humorous these days. E.g., “candidate for appreciation” coined by George Dickie as a direct reference to Marcel Duchamp’s ready-made. Of course, those baby steps were essential to highlight differences between the new type of art and classical practices. Fortunately, later on, new theoretical approaches came by and helped the sphere to develop in order to explain not only professionals but also uneducated viewers, which is a contemporary art object in the late 20th – early 21st century. Furthermore, ephemera structures became related to art. And there are no abstract constructions like beauty or essence. These are particular artworks produced with the help of a computer.
In his groundbreaking work “Language of New Media,” Lev Manovich states, “Today we are witnessing the emergence of a new medium—the meta-medium of the digital computer.” Of course, his book was published in 2001 and became a scientific classic among those who produce, promote, and study digital art. However, Manovich’s words are still up to date if we look closer at the situation one can observe in the field. Digital art remains a black sheep in the sphere of classical visual art for many art critics and historians. Thanks to those progressive scholars and curators, that creative approach found its lovers, connoisseurs, and advocates. Today, every respected art fair makes it a must to demonstrate at least one gallery that specializes in digital art, and in addition to that, conferences dedicated to this topic are being held annually around the world. All of the mentioned factors highlight that digital art has become a part of the art system, where we can spot different strategies of artists.
One of the most apparent methods a digital artist can use in their practice is figurativity. It does not mean that the artists strive to make a counterpart of reality, but they are interested in working with the mimesis concept in the ephemera field. The simplest way to achieve this agenda is by depicting humans. In the case of Artemii Pogodin, we are talking about post-humans.
Being a border-generation artist who grew up in a situation where the internet and personal computers developed from a novelty into a must-have device at home. Looking at pieces like “Earthlings” and “Layers,” we see how the artist is working with the aesthetics of trompe-l’œil. All of his “models” seem to live on the edge of the digital and physical worlds. The artist manages to create post-portraits: mixing the ancient Greek method of depicting an ideal version of a human with new social and art theories allows the portrayal of beings that demonstrate the hyperrealist method as well. In fact, we see bodies that exist in immersive virtual realities, ready to take one step toward us. One can criticize the artist for not working traditionally, but being a representative of the digital art sphere gives Artemii Pogodin more opportunities. His works can conquer not only online but physical galleries as well; if the artist decides to work with the post-digital approach, he can establish a solid personal mythology based on his characters.
Artemii Pogodin Artemii Pogodin
Earthlings, 2021 Layers, 2021
Moscow-based artist Oleg Dokin chose to work with the same mimesis concept by depicting flowers. Some of his digital videos adopt watercolor-like images of flowers that are pretty vivid. It is obvious that Dokin was inspired by Filipp Malyavin’s “Whirlwind” painting. A closer look at Malyavin’s masterpiece shows that the artist did his best to imply the feeling of movement in this large-scale canvas but had no technology to make the real thing. Dokin, being an admirer of the early 20th-century artist’s oeuvre, managed to keep the feeling of the rebellion of colors in his videos. Bright, jazzy coloring combined with a dark background demonstrates a lopped floral swirl. Some of the videos have a more complicated palette, which shows the mastery of the artist.
Oleg Dokin Flowers Video LinkOf course, working with a digital medium means that only some artists will do their best to copy the physical world. Some, such as Aleksandr Tarelkin (Basovich), find inspiration in art movements like Surrealism.
From the first glimpse at Tarelkin’s works, one can see that Andre Breton’s words from the “Manifesto of Surrealism” became a starting point for his artistic method. Breton wrote: “… Imagination alone offers me some intimation of what can be…” A closer look at Tarelkin’s work gives a more precise impression of which artists became his “mentors.” The way Tarelkin depicts his imaginary world is similar to those we see in Yves Tanguy’s oeuvre. Floating objects in the foreground and isolated landscapes in the background remind us about it. The high-key pale palette is also a reminder of that fact. However, even though Tarelkin came to be Tanguy’s fan, he managed to achieve some goals in the field: more than ten years of work with multimedia studios, festivals, galleries, and museums allowed Tarelkin to become recognized in Russia and Germany as a digital art professional. The imaginary world that he creates in the aesthetics of beauty demonstrates the artist’s ability not only to adopt but also to develop his own method.
Aleksandr Tarelkin (Basovich)
Sons of a desert, 2021
The last strategy we will cover in this paper is faket-making. Konstantin Ochernyany describes faket as an item of digital experience – a wild blend of a fact and a fake in one term. Ochernyany’s opinion is accurate because fakets flourish in the digital environment, where viewers understand that artists do not want them to believe that such things occur in the real world; they create a make-believe image that exists only on the other side of the computer screen.
Digital artist Aleksei Avduevskii works with fakets a lot. Urban landscapes have been his favorite genre since childhood. The city environment is a place where conspiracy theories develop for Avduevskii. The artist takes this approach and puts in his system of visual meta-citation. The “Domination” project is an excellent illustration of the post-truth world where Avdievskii feeds his creativity.
The project’s name is a clever wordplay because we see gigantic domino pieces in every image of the series. Some refer to Stanley Kubrick’s “2001: A Space Odyssey” obelisk, whose nature is unknown. Some are juxtaposed to typical Moscow outskirts block buildings as a fancier visual neighbor.
Aleksei Avduevskii Domination, 2023
Aleksei Avduevskii Domination, 2023
Using a recurring visual element helps the artist make the viewer believe such structures may be possible in a cityscape. Of course, according to the faket reality, the other side fully understands that the image is not documentation but prefers not to focus on it. Furthermore, the artist knows how to cross-reference and produce imagery that speaks the same language as his audience.
So here we are, facing the consequences that digital art is offering us, and it is absolutely wrong to try to hide from it. This part of art evolution is a fantastic example of how visual artists will always find a way to develop creative methods of practice; without it, we could have been living in a dull world where art would be presented only in several preset forms and never be able to enrich its language.
Alexandra Orlova, PhD