Art is everywhere and has been around since the dawn of time; well at least since people used colour to adorn walls and things and possibly themselves, oh and make things, which is a very long time indeed.

But art isn’t just drawing!!! No it is  not….Its about expression and joy and wanting to share. Art is in music, painting, writing, sculpture, dance and filming. It plays a part in cooking, selling, shopping and work even the way we look and communicate.

So you could say that art is in everything and in all that we see and do…You may be right but as I am not a professor in this subject I only have my judgement to go on so please accept my humble apologies if I happen to  be wrong.

“Oiy!! I thought these here blogs were about technology and gadgets?” My reader in the single asks.

“I know it sounds daft but the thread does indeed carry on in this arena of expression through the arts. So please be patient.”

Lets try and look at it from a technology angle then.

Until recently things, like most areas in life, didn’t change much. Styles may have and fashions definitely did but on the whole the mediums employed and displayed remained quite steady and quietly (sometimes loud processes of prodution made it noisy) traditional.

Then came along dramatic inventions such as the camera, the printing press, electricity and sound recording. All had a huge influence on what was produced, how we could interact and where it could be enjoyed.

But this was still just an infant beginning to find its way.

Along came technology in a big way in the latter part of the twentieth century and now artists have  all manner of ways to express themselves and share their work.

Digital photography, a swear word or phrase to some, allows manipulation of a subject to create  images that would have been impossible before and to some that is so exciting they will loose their trousers. Others though will still want the purity and honesty of the pre-digital age as that is where the skill is in their eyes and certainly want to keep their trousers firmly on. You make the choice on which camp you stand in.

Then there is the quite modern tablet computer and these can now be used to draw and artificially paint as one would on a traditional canvas. The differences are that things can easily be changed and altered and one doesn’t have to have an entire room full of easels, paints, dirty pots and brushes and all the other paraphernalia that goes with actually painting something. Again not for all but a worthy contender in todays busy society. But its your choice yet again as to where your loyalty lays.

Modern printing and up to date materials also allow the budding imaginations to produce textilies and ornaments that twenty years ago would have been laughed at. Its not just that humourous lettering or image that adorns so many t-shirts around the streets but one can actually print three dimentional objects; yes objects that can be displayed as art or used as building or usable things. Take measurements from all around yourself and feed that data into a computer and you could find yourself staring at a life-sized printed model of you. Now that would be nice wouldn’t it?

Lets not forget advertising. Is that actually art? I certainly think so as its an artist or designer who has to think and produce the work. Billboards used to see a bloke come along with a bucket of goo, a ladder, a brush and a rolled up piece of paper whilst sucking on a jauntily place roll-up ciggy.

Well you can still see this but more than likely today one will have the pleasure of watching vast screens displaying a plethora of designs and products. Not on that;  the features seen in Harry Potter films where photos were brought to life and people could actually move about is now a reality and advertisers can tap into this technology to produce lovable animations of real scenes.

Music and video, which I have written about in previous blogs,  have also had their upgrade into the digital and modern age of gadgetry and reading is also included as a  part of this onward march.

So you see technology and the gadgets we use and see today have repeatedly come to the aid of the geeks and lovers of the NEW and art is no exception.

I for one love art in many forms and have great admiration for  those lucky enough to be able to express themselves through whatever avenue that pleases them. There are the crafters (one for Lucy there to reward her for her support in reading all my crap), musicians, photographers, painters, potters, writers, makers of strange things, sculpters, welders and bakers to name but a few artist out there and most have seen technlogy and gadgets help and change their fields whether they like it or not. The question is do they accept the modern and use it to their advantage or do the stay with the traditional? Or maybe some just mix it up to produce something else more funky?

No matter what then art is art and technology has touched it.