About The Question of "Tools"

More than a little ink has been spilled over the types or human endeavor that warrant the title of "art." Some primitive cultures actually lacked a concept to distinguish between an object's purpose and its aesthetic value; "art for art's sake" did not compute. In fact, "art for art's sake" is a concept that did not fully evolve until the advent of modern art in the mid nineteenth century.

Following the invention of photography, a great debate ensued over whether or not photographs could be considered fine art. If the names Alfred Steiglitz, Ansel Adams, Man Ray and Robert Mapplethorpe make you think of art . . . you know the battle was won. There was a similar battle in the world of craft during the latter half of the twentieth century and artists who worked in clay, paper, wood and a variety of other traditionally "folk" medias went to the mat during that skirmish.

Even today, "outsider art," which is art created by untrained individuals and sufferers of assorted illnesses, has been raised to the level of high art by inclusion in galleries and museums. Many of these kinds of work, as well as works from lauded artists like Anselm Kiefer, are crafted with materials and tools ranging from lead, straw, and discarded "junk," to pliers, soldering guns and welding equipment.

The question becomes, "Are computers and computer software artistic tools?" Many want to answer "No" without pondering the definition of artistic tool—and the importance or the source of those tools. Even those who answer "yes" tend to dismiss the work as either illustration or craft rather than fine art. Painters these days rarely make their own brushes or canvas and even more rarely their own paint. Haven't we all agreed to admit that it's the skill of the individual artist who, using those tools, creates an object with aesthetic value? We don't demand that an author use a typewriter... or for that matter a quill, rather than a computer, in order to consider the outcome a manuscript or literary work.

The computer has dramatically changed every aspect or our lives over the last thirty or so years . . . but it's really just a tool. In the hands or the right person . . . it's a powerful artistic tool.

We're perched on the crest of the newest debate and these works of ours are hereby placed in the ring for your consideration.

Cathie McCormick and Mitchell Bentley, 2004