What is digital art? I think digital art comes in various different mediums and contexts, and I think that digital art exists outside electronic mediums as well. If someone creates a poster digitally and prints it out, that is still digital art. That extends to paintings, collages, t-shirts, and many other forms of art. In this day in age, most of the art we consume on a regular basis is digital art. Whether we are seeing a marketing campaign or an Instagram ad, most of the artwork within is digital art. I think this is what the article was trying to communicate; art today has branched out from the traditional hundred year old painting and into the world of digital creation through programs such as Photoshop and Illustrator. GIF's have a much longer shelf life than a painting, and images of said paintings have the ability to outlive the paintings themselves. The GIF "Balloon Dog Deflation" may not outlive the 12 foot tall sculpture, but the GIF itself is much more accessible to the general public than Balloon Dog ever will be. The images I have included in this post are my favorite kind of digital art, which include adding elements to landscapes that don't occur naturally.
However, I do think the asking price of $5,800 is ridiculous for a GIF. For example, the website that published the article was able to access the GIF for free and post it on their page. Something like a GIF is so easily copied or replicated that it is unrealistic to ask someone to pay for it, let alone ask them to pay $5,800 for something they can't even hold in their hands.
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