As boundaries were broken video became a prominent media for art. Around the 1960s visual arts was favored over pictorialism because "artists were free to let their imaginations run rampant' said art critic Lucy Lippard (as quoted in Rush, 82). Video art became more and more dominated as the television predominated the mass culture. Also, it became the prefered medium for many when recording devices became accessible outside of corporate telecom. Andy Warhol was among one of the first artists to use portable cameras. It began an exciting career for him in this medium. But what made them art? Well, the fact that he was already an artist and this medium just extended his work and the most important reason, visual art was being used as an artistic expression in comparison to just a television reporter or other non-artist.
This brings us to today when cellphones dominate everyday life. Nowadays artists and non-artist have the capability of a camera at their hands. And... with social media being so popular you can add snapshots of your life for others to see. Snapchat, Facebook, and even messaging apps like WhatsApp have a "story" feature where users can add short videos and pictures that will delete at the end of 24 hours. Would you consider these pictures and 30-second videos as art? Even with the new "filters" and all the cool things you can add would this be visual art? It's an interesting question to pose because it seems like almost everyone today has the resources to make art, but is everything captured by a recording device art?
The underlying issue here is the intention of the artists. As video art started to be used commercially it wasn't as artistic as someone trying to convey a message about the war. This is the exact same thing with people posting pictures and videos online, without a clear message it can't truly be considered art. What do you think?
Citation:
Rush, Michael. New Media in Art. Thames & Hudson, 2011.
Hi everyone! My name is Monica G. I'm a psychology major student, a wife, and a mom. I have a little three-month-old baby girl that I absolutely love. I love nature, cooking, trying new recipes, reading and I enjoy going to church with my family. I'm a very happy person overall and once you get to know me you will most likely find me laughing.
For my self-portrait, I wanted to include all of these things and more. It was a little hard to self-examine myself and find what things define me. I also had a hard time finding myself online. Although I could find a few pictures of myself none were connected directly to me. I had to Google other things about myself and dig them up. For example, I was a Washington State delegate 2015 for the United States Senate Youth Program. I had to Google USSYP 2015 to find that year's photobook and find a few pictures of myself. But the worst problem was trying to use photoshop. I'm not computer savvy at all! I saw all the cool things my peers were doing and how easily they manipulated the program. While I was struggling to simply add a picture into the program. With the lack of skills in Photoshop, my creativity was down. Until finally I settle on doing a collage with all the things that I like and about who I am. I used my personal pictures from over the years to show who I am. I really hope everyone enjoys learning a little bit more about me.
