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Computer-based virtual tools came into existence in the mid-80s of the last century, suddenly making it possible to draw, paint and spray with results similar to those using traditional tools like brush, pencil or spatula, etc.. Obviously, a digital painting – just as with a photograph - lacks the immediate haptic experience and can only be touched once it has been printed or developed.
The digital product has a broader range of image carriers at its disposal than only the traditional paper and canvas: foil and tarpaulin, expanded polystyrene slabs, aluminium and even netting are available to be printed on. The size of the finished picture is variable and can vary, the “art in the picture” permitting, all the way from postage stamp size up to XXL.
There are even 3D printers on the market that can “print” perfect copies of sculptures and models in variable formats.
Considered soberly, digital artistic products are just another category in the ancient world of art, neither more than a prehistoric cave drawing nor less than an oil painting.
The painting program displays the object on the screen in pixels. Extreme zooming in makes the single pixel visible. The picture is defined by the translucence and depth of colour of each pixel.
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Every single pixel can be manipulated on its multiple levels at any time: in itself, as part of a selection or as part of the whole picture. For example you can determine image details to be new centers, make layers of different elements and illuminate them, or merge digital pictures of any kind with the image "in progress"; given the general glut of images the possibilities are seemingly limitless.
Every human being is deeply and inseparably embedded in their own culture. They are part of and simultaneously penetrated by the collective experience which is the base for everything and everybody. Instinctively, I reach back to my older pieces, resulting in the old being mirrored in the new creation. But as soon as another artist's aesthetics, style or colour scheme creeps into my work, I stop the creative process, investigate the reason and start all over again. The computer facilitates this approach.
These five pictures (left) consist of three levels. The background is based on a photograph of a blooming spring meadow at Nelly Sachs Park in Berlin. The rectangular box above is constructed on the computer. Lying on top of those boxes are scans of sculptures which can also be found in the sculpture section as “Flotsam”.
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