Message Board Topic: Impressionism Dilemmas

It has been said that one of the prime motivations for the Impressionists to develop a painterly style that rejected the practices of Classicism and Realism, is due to the invention of photography. What would be the point of painting if the photograph could represent the outside world more realistically and more accurately than a painter ever could?

Do you think the technology of the future will eventually cause similar shifts in modern art? Do you think technology will replace the artist?

Can you think of similar situations that photography or digital art might have gone through or will go through like painting did during the late nineteenth century?

Message Board Topic: Stolen Spirits

Some indigenous peoples believe that if you take their photograph you will “steal their spirit.” Their name and their image are so interconnected to their identity, that they are actually one in the same. This means if you say or know their name you have a certain amount power over them. And if you take their image you have even more power over them.

How much do you think your image is tied to who you are or how you define your identity?

Why do you think these people feel this way about their image?

Are there similarities to how we feel about our own personal image?

Message Board Topic: Ethics of Editing

With the uses of Photoshop and editing becoming more and more realistic, there is a moral dilemma concerning "what is too much editing?" Here are some examples of how editing has changed reality/history: 1) the Postal Service removed cigarettes from artist Jackson Pollock and Blues guitarist Robert Johnson portraits to align the stamps with the Federal Government's no-smoking policy, 2) airbrushing changes the figures of women in magazines (incresing bust size, decreasing waste line, altering shape etc.) and 3) changing the colors of galactic/stellar pictures to what "scientists believe are the correct colors."

What do you think? What are the ethical problems of editing photos? Is there a line we should not cross?

Message Board Topic: Art or Technology?

There are some who would argue that technology ruins the experience of the artist and prevents the artist from being connected to his/her craft. Some will even go as far to say, that an artist that uses technology is no longer an artist but practices in the technical fields (information tech, drafting etc.). How would you respond to someone who says this? Do you agree or disagree? Why?