THE COMPUTER AS RESEARCH TOOL FOR THE PLASTIC ARTS

Artists with a recognized background in traditional visual media have found the computer to be a tool to expand their explorations of the plastic arts. In their works, the digital image has been successfully inserted into a path marked by formal questioning aimed at conceptual searches. The series Original Perdido by Anahí Cáceres fits in this category. The different representations of her series represent transpositions of the original pattern in different media (drawing, digital image, video, object). The transposition causes the original idea to lose its meaning, and the use of a reproducible medium reinforces this idea.

In the work of Emilio Torti, the transition from painting to digital imaging was accomplished more naturally, as his pictorial work already showed a tendency toward synthetic figures, flat colors, and the use of ready-made images. But Torti is also a tireless experimenter with materials and resources that he has been able to blend into his work, reflecting the wide range of technical and iconic possibilities available to the contemporary artist.

The computer has pushed the work of Alicia Maffei from painting towards manipulated photography. In her series of Brides, Maffei manipulates her wedding photos to generate an ironic look at the institution of matrimony in a convergence of social representations and cultural mythologies through emphasizing the kitsch aspect of clichés.

Translated from Spanish by A. McEwen.

[Please join us for PART 3 that explores the future of digital art in Argentina.]

Rodrigo Alonso received his degree in art from the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina. He is currently professor of Art History (contemporary art) in the department of Philosophy and Letters, and teaches in the workshop of Audiovisual Expression in the department of Social Sciences, both at the University of Buenos Aires. He has taught courses in his specialization for national and international educational institutions. In 1998 he designed the degree program of Multimedia for the Institute Universitario Nacional del Arts (IUNA).

Based in Buenos Aires, Alonso has worked as an art critic since 1992, specializing in new media (photography, creative video, and digitial art). He has published regularly in magazines on contemporary art, cinematography and video, and sporadically in other publications and catalogs. He has also been a curator, judge, and organizer of numerous exhibitions and theoretical events for many institutions - www.ccec.org/ar/jornadas200.