Digital art: Talking to Haris Ejaz

Haris Ejaz feels that despite digital art picking up, traditional art will always have its place.

ISLAMABAD: Digital art as a definition encompasses a great deal today. I was interested in the perspective of a person who has created beautiful pictures on paper and screen. I set out to ask

Illustrator Haris Ejaz about artistry and his thoughts on the digitisation of life.

You have been drawing and doing graphic illustrations for some time now. Can you tell us about your performance at Kuch Khas and what inspired you to do it?

Artists often create in a vacum, which can sometimes lead to stagnation. Periodically we need to challenge ourselves and place time limits in order to grow although there’s a risk that people may wonder off or get bored.

I feed off the energy in the room with the music being improvised. It’s me, the musicians and the audience and there is a circuit there between us all. Nothing was prepared before hand and that’s the way it should be. What I was painting was in reaction to the music and whatever is created at the end of the night is something the audience feels connected to.

What is unique about drawing digitally and how did the image take form?

Photoshop combines different disciplines; the techniques I used were print making techniques, traditional painting techniques and photography techniques. You can play with exposure in a controlled way and if you use all the tools it opens up a new world because you can take from here and there.

When I started the picture it was by drawing a shape and then I gave it properties that made it behave randomly. When I applied it to the canvas it created the suggestion of shapes. I kept applying it until I saw something I could carve into it.

What does the picture you made mean to you?

When people start to mean something to you and are special they stop just being another person and start representing ideas to you. They become more than human, they stop solely occupying the space outside your body and have an impact on you. The sleeping creatures were the subconscious: as you are, as you were and as I want you to be

How would you compare drawing digital art to traditional forms of art?

Nothing beats a pencil and a piece of paper. On a visceral level as humans we respond to things that are closer to us, that are primal and oil and pencil are the most primal. The more layers between yourself and what you’re creating, the more life you lose. Up until the last century acrylics were treated the way computers are treated now. They were seen as a short cut or not considered real art because it was seen as too easy to work with.

So what is the value of drawing digitally then?

An emotional reaction can still be attained but primal art can turn you into a child. It strips away the layers.

Can we even compare a digital piece to traditional art?

There should be comparisons but not from a conceptual point of view. A concept is a concept; it is in of itself and should be viewed as such.

Does digital drawing pose a threat to traditional art forms?

When television was introduced the film industry was worried that no one would go to the cinema anymore and that didn’t happen. Traditional art will always have its place. Human history is on an exponential curve and it’s on an exponential curve of complexity. We cannot predict what the trends in art are going to be or if even the term ‘art’ will have any meaning ten years from now. I don’t know what to say about that. But for the moment with the increase in tools and efficiency, commercial digital art will continue to flourish and traditional art will have its place.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 17^th, 2011.