Digital art is perhaps the greatest development in art and aesthetics in recent times. This essay highlights how a specific microcosm of the sprawling growth of work that consitututes digital art can act as both cultural commentary and reflect one of the myriad copyright issues facing art in the digital age.
Fan art as a subset of digital art can demonstrate, by virtue of its ability to appropriate elements of a culture and remake them to serve the interests of the fans in question, the cultural milieu of society at large or the fan subculture in general, depending on the distinctions drawn between fans as part of or separate from the mainstream. Moreover, fan art can underline the ambiguities of copyright law in the digital era, particularly in regard to intellectual property rights and the selling of art that draws so heavily upon other work.
Thus, what this essay ultimately seeks to demonstrate is how art has a role ‘generating a critical space within contemporary culture’ (McQuire, 210), and how digital art, despite being an increasingly broad and indefinite form of art, can fulfil this role in even what seems on the surface to be the most banal of art. Therefore, by narrowing the scope of the essay to just fan art, this essay can initiate a more in-depth dialogue about the specific cultural commentary a genre can offer, rather than provide a haphazard glance across the various types and styles of digital art, and the socio-political and/or cultural discourse they offer.
Fan art as a subset of digital art can demonstrate, by virtue of its ability to appropriate elements of a culture and remake them to serve the interests of the fans in question, the cultural milieu of society at large or the fan subculture in general, depending on the distinctions drawn between fans as part of or separate from the mainstream. Moreover, fan art can underline the ambiguities of copyright law in the digital era, particularly in regard to intellectual property rights and the selling of art that draws so heavily upon other work.
Thus, what this essay ultimately seeks to demonstrate is how art has a role ‘generating a critical space within contemporary culture’ (McQuire, 210), and how digital art, despite being an increasingly broad and indefinite form of art, can fulfil this role in even what seems on the surface to be the most banal of art. Therefore, by narrowing the scope of the essay to just fan art, this essay can initiate a more in-depth dialogue about the specific cultural commentary a genre can offer, rather than provide a haphazard glance across the various types and styles of digital art, and the socio-political and/or cultural discourse they offer.
No comments:
Post a Comment