An artist is one who expands his creative horizons, and city-based artist N Srinivasan is no different. In the early 90s, when he stumbled upon ‘something called a computer’, Srinivasan got an inkling as to how art could change with it. He was comfortable using oil and acrylic but realised with time the scope of growth in new media. “Using computer applications and programs is no easy task. It takes nearly a decade to be adept at using them,” he says. Archival print paper used for digital art commonly is priced at `100 per metre (standard online rates) and software has to be bought and upgraded from time to time. This makes it a costly affair, he says. CorelDRAW, Autodesk Maya, Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator are some of the software relied upon to create digital art. Unlike art on canvas, one requires training to be digital art creator, he says. “Even for a person who is technologically sound and is able to use the software well, there is a big challenge waiting in conceptualising one’s art work. After overcoming technical hurdles, visualising the idea is what counts most.”When asked about why the new media is yet to set the art scene here on fire, he says, “Using computer programs is not very affordable. So it is for people to decide whether they can have the luxury of using them. Mainstream artists are also using the digital medium now. They don’t use it extensively but have acknowledged its power.”Saravanan ParasuramanArtist Saravanan Parasuraman believes creative ideas are more important than the medium. He says he has created nothing exceptional using the new media. He recently shot a video of an ant using a basic Cannon 550D. The ant had a defective limb and wasn’t able to crawl well, he says. The idea is to show how one should be willing to take up challenges despite facing difficulties. The video is over two minutes in length and was part of the Art Chennai festival. “I don’t want to argue about the much-debated issue of whether new media is a medium per se. From my experiences, I would say the new media helps me express myself better,” says Saravanan. Shailesh BOI experiment extensively using the audio and visual medium. Recently, I did video that uses clip art,” says city-based artist Shailesh BO. With no deadlines to meet, the artist experiments with the medium if he has the time and money for it. The time taken to complete a video art, says Shailesh, depends a lot on how fast one’s computer is. A video art piece may take anywhere between 10 and 20 days, he guesses. A video art work he has attempted, called ‘Mr.Yogi’, explores different yoga postures using Adobe Photoshop, apart from music editing tools. Shailesh BO has been working in this medium for over eight years and has eight video art products to his credit. One of these was bought by Hyatt Regency in the city. “Almost every household has access to the internet these days. I can upload my videos on YouTube or Facebook and interact with a wide audience. My art is no more longer restricted to galleries,” he says.Sunil KumarThis city-based artist works according to his creative needs. His latest work is an audio-video installation - ‘I know you need life’. “The video was shot in time lapse mode using a basic Sony digital camera. A few seeds were planted in a condom and allowed to grow. The process took nearly 10 days. The seeds grew into plants and eventually withered. The video represents human transformation and the condom has been used because it is a mark of human intelligence,” says Sunil. “I do not want to restrict myself to a medium. It is always good to experiment with different media. The audience is today ready to accept new things and the art scene is changing. Old methods are aesthetic but are fast vanishing, so it isn’t wise to stick to them,” he offers.
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