Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction response.

 In the reading " Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction" by Walter Benjamin, he talks about the positives and the negatives of technology and a new age making of artwork.

I believe that the world of art definitely has changed quite a lot when it comes to technology. It changed the way we create, view and access different mediums and can allow us to create things "easier". I use the quotations around easier because even though the way we create has changed, there is a whole new formula or "set of rules" that comes with creating art through technology. These new aged technology tools being photoshop, illustrator, imovie, lightroom, apps in your phone and or tablet and so on, so forth. 

Original work in digital art to me at least is just like .. creating paintings, drawings or.. any piece of art. You need a foundation, something to build off, an idea. In my own personal artwork, I do a lot of digital work, digital painting and when I come up with an idea, I jot it down, make a thumbnail and continuously refer to it as I am working. It's no different, to me at least than how you would draw traditionally. I think there is a different technique that goes about it, as in digital art it is easier to blend, sort your colors and sometimes even move things around after you finished something as in traditional art.. you can't really do that. But to summarize my thoughts I think that as long as it's your idea, your original idea that isn't stealing or copying someone else's work directly.. it's an original piece of digital art, it's authentic. 

The use of technology has allowed artists to share their art, their opinions and their voice throughout the world using social media and can be a direct impact on our personal, social and even political lives. It has allowed us to be able to create new ways to develop games and movies. It has allowed us to make commissions, gain clients or fans of our artwork. Even politically speaking artwork can be used to transform real world events in political cartoons or even inspired designs, pieces based on the events going on in the world to get the idea to catch on and get people talking.

I believe that digital art and technology has overall helped the world, made artists grow, get people to make or innovate their art in new ways but the negative effects of technology is allowing people to create "AI's" which strips the idea of authenticity and creativity, it allows a robot to just steal already used images and overall take away credibility and .. sadly jobs away from people who put their heart and soul into what they do.