I spent the most wonderful weekend, along with eight other artists, attending a two day masterclass with former Head of Fine Art Print at NCAD, Dr Andrew Folan RHA, courtesy of the Royal Hibernian Academy (RHA).
Andrew went through the process of how he put together some of his most iconic digital creations, how he printed them and gave presentations on copyright and printing (there was also time for us all to experiment and play with Photoshop).
Playing with Photoshop on my iPad using a photograph I took on my phone that morning in St. Stephen’s Green and a stock image of a whale for fun! I was very impressed with Photoshop for iPad and it turns out Andrew was too!
The following is the most important thing I learned from Andrew over the weekend;
What I create are digital photo montages. I may photograph all the elements I use as part of my process but essentially all the creativity that gives rise to my artwork happens when I’m sitting at my computer, cranking up Photoshop to bring images together to convey my vision as an artist and saving it all to a digital file.
Print vs Reproduction
Digital compositions happen in the computer. The file lives on the computer until it’s printed, the creative process happens on the computer. Therefore, the digital file is a matrix that gives rise to the artwork.
In print-making the plate is a matrix that gives rise to the artwork.
So for the likes of print-making and digital photo montages, the print is the artwork. The value lies in the print.
Reproductions are different. Prints made from photographs of paintings, for example, lack the ‘Aura’ as described by Walter Benjamin in his influential 1936 essay, The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction.
“Aura is a quality integral to an artwork that cannot be communicated through mechanical reproduction techniques - such as photography”
Benjamin argued that 'even the most perfect reproduction of a work of art is lacking in one element: Its presence in time and space, its’ unique existence at the place where it happens to be.' He referred this unique cultural context i.e. 'its presence in time and space' as its ‘aura'.
For the likes of a painting; the finished piece is the artwork, photographs or scans of the painting are merely reproductions; so only worth the paper they’re printed on. The value resides with the original artwork; the painting.