The main thesis of the article, Computer Graphics: Effects of Origins, is about how technology and art have co-evolved and how they have influenced one another since 1945. “ … Old cultural patterns do not die. They may fade or become more evident; that is, they may be deemphasized or emphasized. Only as part of the general ‘non expert’ culture can such patterns contribute significantly to maintenance and or change” (Jones p. 21). I do believe that technology and art have come a long way because art is closely connected with technology. With technology and art being connected it has created a new outlook on types of art. It was interesting to read about how Jones described the connection between art, technology and culture.
In the article Jones provides three examples to support her ideas. One idea that I found to be most interesting was the work done by Ben Lapofksy and Herbert Franke. They were among the pioneers creating images and displaying them on oscilloscopes. In the reading, Jones mentioned, “In the 1940’s analogue computers were used to generate the earliest computer graphics and display them on oscilloscopes. Ben F. Lapofsky and Herbert W. Franke were among the pioneers creating these images. Franke’s graphics were phase forms, presented as events rather than as static imagery.” (Jones 22). If thinking about this example in 2014 I would compare this to digital art. Art and technology have changed and merged together to be something that is connected. They were producing a different piece of art that was experimental computer controlled.
When I think about technology and art I think about programs such as InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator etc. Jones mentions in the article and talks about computer programs such as Photoshop and how it is has such an impact on the way we view art. Jones discusses how the new forms of computer graphics have been created due to the growing population and how technology boosts the graphics. I took a Commercial Design class for three years and I learned how to do some amazing things on the computer that were indeed art. It is pretty crazy that there is a tool that enhances any picture you take or edits any picture. I think that we lose sight of photography skills because we are able to use Photoshop.
I think article, “Digital artists are using game technologies to create bold new works,” by Christaine Paul it supports Jones’s article when it quotes, “Digital photographs, films, and videos have been common in the arts since the 1990s; even paintings and sculptures are now sometimes produced with the aid of digital tools. But projects that use digital technologies as a medium in themselves–and that, like their medium, are interactive, collaborative, customizable, and variable–still occupy the margins of art institutions and find their audience mostly at new-media art festivals or on the Internet.” The reading talked about how the digital word has changed the nature of representation when thinking about painting, photography, and cinema. Art and technology have taken a connection with video games because they are presented in a way that artists want to keep being creative in the art they use. Many people play video games so artists produce these games with different characters, levels, landscapes etc. It is amazing to think about the art that is used in technology and what technology would even look like without it.