Chapter 1, Digital Art by Christiane Paul

The author begins the chapter by stating the belief that digital art will eventually absorb all other artistic media. I agree that this will happen but it saddens me in a way. I suppose that, as long as some people continue to make art the "old-fashioned" hands-on way, that it isn't sad. But to think that all art will have a digital element to it is sad. I am a believer that art work that has been hand-crafted-be it photographs processed by hand in the darkroom, paintings created with actual brushes and paint, drawings with charcoal that has been smudged by real fingers, sculptures that have been molded with the palms of someone's hands, or pots that have been spun on the wheel with the kick of a foot and show indentations made by one's unique fingerprints-they all possess a certain energy that is transmitted from the artist to the piece. With mass-production and the possibility of simple digital reproduction there is something lost...the "aura" as the author refers to it. 

This is not to say that digital art itself can't be artistic and cool and have a soul all its own. I am just speaking in terms of the digital medium "absorbing" other media. Some of the artist discussed in chapter one are very intriguing. I especially like Charles Cohen's white silhouettes. By taking the actual image of the person, or people, a mysterious piece is created. If I did not know form the reading that these images were from pornographic material I would not know what to think at first. The negative space becomes the subject and I like how that plays on the idea of traditional images.