Digital

Andreas Gursky is famous for his large-scale photographs which he digitally alters. He takes his digital images from high points and splices them together to create vast scenes of landscapes, crowds and architecture in which everything is in perspective and every detail is visible. 

Photography has been made much more accessible with the invention of the camera phone. Whole films have been shot using iPhones and Selena Gomez and Lady Gaga have used them for their music videos.

Drawing and painting aren’t untouched by the digital revolution. David Hockney is one of the most famous artists working today. He originally started out as an artist in the 1960s when Pop Art was at its peak. Since then, he has embraced new technology and has even used an iPad as his canvas. He paints scenes from nature, everyday life and portraits on his screen. They have gone on display on iPads, iPhones and screens in galleries to capture a sense of how they were created.  Hockney isn’t the first artist to use technology to change the way he draws. In the 1970s, painter Harold Cohen invented a computer programme which enabled a computer to draw. He then coloured in the abstract drawings by hand!

The creative possibilities of digital technology feel endless. Van Gogh’s artworks have been mapped and projected at an enormous scale all over the world so huge numbers of people are immersed inside the paintings. A group called United Visual Artists create light shows in which pendulum lights are programmed to swing unpredictably, defying laws of gravity. Irish artists Aideen Barry and Aoife Dunne use the latest technology to create stunning artworks where their only limit is their imagination. Animation has been taken to new levels since the first computer-animated feature film - Pixar’s Toy Story. Minecraft enables users to build whole 3D worlds. What would you make with the digital world at your fingertips?

Words by Helena Hunt