The Value of Digital Art vs. Paint and Canvas. Will the Price Gap Ever Close?

An artist friend of mine creates beautiful landscapes on his computer. He paints them freehand and the result looks like an ultra-contemporary silkcreened print. A snooty Santa Barbara art collector saw one of these pieces in another collection and wanted to purchase one. He asked my friend what medium he used to create such a unique look. Dyes? Inks? Oils?

 

"Computer" my friend said and lost the sale.

I think the idea of digital anything suggests an effort more technological than artistic. I have to admit I've seen some "fractal" computer prints and assumed someone just pushed random keystroke commands to create them. Yet I know from my own experience creating my digital landscapes is that I average 20 or more hours on each one before they're finished. The benefit of working on the computer is that my mistakes are easily corrected and I don't throw anything away. And in the right hands, prints can match the original because the source file is the same for both.

 

I watch my 18-year old son get through life with an iphone, a laptop and the Internet. Bills get paid, games are played, music is bought, movies get watched, information is gathered, pictures get taken, short films get made and relationships are kept alive. His world is free from newspapers, subscription magazines, bank visits, public phones, CDs, DVDs and Polaroid film. So how will this next generation value art?

 

We don't know what DaVinci, Monet, Van Gogh, Gauguin, Picasso, Hopper or Warhol would have created had they lived in the 21st century but chances are they would have used the tools around them to change the world.

 

And when the next generation collector asks "What medium did you use?" and they hear "Computer," chances are they'll say "Cool."