Digital technology has transformed traditional art mediums. Computers have become digital darkrooms, pixel canvases and precision tools to help sculptors cut their sculpting material of choice. Artists also have used the tools themselves in art installations, utilizing old computer parts to create large-scale sculptures.
Digital art tools include computers and digital imaging devices (such as scanners or digital cameras). Special software programs allow artists to digitally manipulate photos. Digital drawing tablets, which use a pressure-sensitive pen, allow artists to draw. Digital-collage artists utilize scanners to digitally copy ephemera and other objects to add to their artwork. Digital cameras have moved the darkroom and photo manipulation process to the computer.
The Austin Museum of Digital Art identifies digital art as a product, a process and a subject. As a product, digital art can be a digital file (such as animation or images) or be created with computer parts (such as a sculpture made from circuit boards). Digital art can use technology in the process of creating the artwork (such as digital photography or computer-aided illustration). Artwork that focuses on technology as a subject (such as a photograph of a computer mouse) would also be considered digital art.
The first experiments in digital or computer-aided art happened in the late 1950s in Germany and the United States. In the 1960s, galleries in Germany and the United States held the first digital art exhibits. The digital arts surged in popularity during the 1970s, when computers gained both power and abilities. The introduction of the personal computer in the 1980s allowed more artists to dabble in the digital arts, including Andy Warhol, who used an Amiga to create some of his most famous portraits. The digital arts gained a wider acceptance in the art world during the 1990s, with more galleries accepting digital works and the establishment of the Digital Art Museum. Today, digital art thrives on the Internet in online galleries.
Each year, computers become more powerful and robust, which will be a boon to digital artists. The digital arts have gained almost universal acceptance in the art world, but few galleries focus on digital art. To fill this void, online marketplaces for digital artists have sprouted up in the past few years. The future of digital art will focus on making sales and application (both commercial and personal) easier for digital art lovers and artists alike.