AMP: Artists' Meeting Place and Resource Collective

Last week, I took a break from programming & composing in my studio, and caught up with friends about artistic opportunities, and recent successes and works in progress. A multi media artist friend told me very enthusiastically, about an opportunity to submit photographs for an inclusion into an artistic concept . After my initial enthral, I made a few calls, talked turkey, and started to plough through my own archives of digital pictures, some of which I considered artistic and individualistic enough to enter. I cropped, altered and re-jigged about a dozen or so, to make them entry ready, and uploaded them to the requistie private server space. Later that day, I ended up in a pro photgraphic studio, to catch up with another friend who was snapping a five piece band. I noticed that his entire process for workflow, was now digital. That’s when I asked myself “what is art in a digital age?”

Now more than ever, the once sacred tools of creative alchemy and fusion are available in immeasurable abundance. As a musician with a keen visual asthetic, I’ve never hesitated to take pictures when I feel inspired. Holidays are an obvious source of enlightenment, simply because you’re coming across a slew of new surroundings and hence an abundance of fantastically virgin imagery, which you want to remember as much of AFTER you’ve come back home. However, we can now take thousands of pictures and not have to worry about rolls of film, or even light conditions, aperture etc, because technology has made it much easier to literally point and click. This, to a degree, perhaps extends to a lot of technology based art platforms, such as music, video and film, too. You can, “fix it in the mix”, so to speak.

So if the tools available now allow us to create hundreds and even thousands of takes of something, then what has this meant for works of art? Perhaps now that we are closer to reaching an apex in terms of quantised or corrective auto procedures when using technology, there is an ironic hankering for a little bit of imperfection here and there. NOT malfunction, but the slight flavour of reality, which also hints at analog inconsistency.

For example, airbrushed and photo shopped pictures DO have their place, but how many pixel perfect pictures are cherished from a personal and more creative perspective? In terms of music, I can vouch for being more aurally pleased when I can hear some humanity or warmth and movement here and there in a song of piece of music, which can be anything from the slight but unavoidable drift of tuning in an electronic or organic instrument, to a voice that hasn’t had the life and passion inherent in it, auto tuned into an anodyne and almost sterile facsimile. I’m not alone in this, and I’ve yet to see someone look mortified at a live concert where these little flecks of humanity are part and parcel of the warmth and enjoyment of the whole experience.

In effect, art can be seen as human expression, with an emphasis on HUMAN. By nature, there has to be something not quite perfect with it, which we as human beings can perhaps relate to on a subconscious level. Not a deliberate flaw, which is forced, and can be felt, heard or observed. It’s more of a FEELING; that’s the connection to the work, which allows the artist to reach out because he or she has allowed a part of themselves to be expressed that way, WITHOUT eradication in the polishing and post production processes that are so readily available.

To answer the question, in today’s age, more than ever, art is about FEELING and HUMANITY. Or to put it another way, it’s about “leaving some of the goof ups, in the mix”. Technology has made it far easier to create, yet the individuals who shine, are those who perhaps allow themselves to let their personality come through somewhere without excessive or indeed ANY restraint; that, if looked deep enough, will mean flaws and all. It’s part of the charm. Leaving something of ourselves in, is part of the art.

(c) 2010, S R D

http://srdmusic.bandcamp.com/ - Current album release - Stars Of Oryeon VOLUME 1

www.juicyaudio.com – CEO of Juicy Audio Productions

http://www.yookamusic.com/ymn/juicyaudioproductions - A selection of audio/ musical works available for licensing.

Shekhar is a freelance multimedia artist – writer, musician, producer, collaborator, shaper & think tank. He lives in the UK. For artistic commissions and collaborations, contact him via :-

+44 07946 599482

enquiries@juicyaudio.com