2016年CRI Experts Discuss Ties between Art and Technology

Miao Xiaochun, a renowned 1 new media artist, is a professor at the China Central Academy of Fine Arts. 

He has recently given a lecture in the Beijing Minsheng Art Museum titled "New Painting: Everyone Is A Big Painter". Along the sideline, he explains how he thinks computers could guide the painting process.

"Paintings in the new era mean that the human hand is fused with the mouse and the human brain is fused with the computer chip. Computers would help analyze 2 how an object should be presented in a whole piece of painting. And even in some cases, an object in a painting was created by computer software. In early years, ruler and compasses were used to assist in the drawing activity, but today computers appear to be an easy-to-use tool, which makes modern paintings largely different from previous drawing experiences."

In fact, computer is not the only device that has been intimately linked to paintings, and photography came to influence the world of painting even earlier.

Photorealist painting cannot exist without the photograph.

Photorealism evolved from Pop Art, as a counter to Abstract Expressionism and Minimalist art movements in the late 1960s and early 1970s in the United States.

Miao Xiaochun thinks the new technologies, like the emergence 3 of photorealism, have all driven painting art towards its path of development.

"I admit photography has affected 4 paintings too. Later photorealism arose, leading to a new photorealism style of true-life painting, which I think enriches the variety of paintings. Hence I think an introduction of new technologies would pose challenges and give assistance at the same time."

The professor has also shared his experiences of making breakthroughs in his career thanks to new technologies.

"The emergence of new technologies would replace some traditional art forms, but would not make them all cease. Over the last century, paintings have undergone an accelerated development than even before the invention of photography. In the past, it's difficult for painters to find a new breakthrough at a time when many schools of art co-exist. But as I became dedicated 5 to photography and motion pictures, I found I've gained a new breakthrough in painting during this process."

The high-technology means have not only generated a new language of painting, but also produced artistic 6 creations that are highly innovative 7.

Gao Peng, curator of the Today Art Museum in Beijing, used an APP launched recently by his museum as an example to show how the art world is embracing the rapid advances in technology. The APP is called "Future of Today App". 

"We wouldn't categorize artists according to their nationality any longer. The Today Art Museum has launched an APP, a platform on which any artist from any country may freely upload the pictures of their artwork. We categorize them according to the type of their artworks. Without sci-tech, this new form of art wouldn't become a reality." 

For Studio Plus, I'm Wang Lei.