Digital Graphic Artists @ The Slade Centre

Friday 21 March to Monday 24 March

Digital technology is transforming many areas of our lives - and art is no exception. Six Wessex artists, all harnessing digital technology but all creating dramatically different results, have recently been invited by Steve Payter of Image Art to form the DGA – Digital Graphic Artists – group.

Steve Payter wants the group to raise awareness of just how far digitally based art has evolved in recent times. He’s keen to banish forever the lessening, but still commonly-held misconception that ‘the computer does it all’, by demonstrating through a series of exhibitions that creativity is still at the heart of this art-form, and that digital technology – the computer, the software and the printer – are simply tools in the artistic armoury of its practitioners.

‘Improved technology and increased sophistication in software development, ink quality and printer specification have of course improved the physical creation and outputting processes’, he admits. ‘But these developments are only of use if the ground material – the base image, the creative energy, the imagination and the ability to visualise – in other words, the human input - form the lifeblood of the work.’

The group’s inaugural exhibition is being held at Gillingham’s Slade Centre over the Easter weekend and will feature work by Colin Bell, Liz Burt, Robin Clare, Ronnie Creswell, Sally Davis, Steve Payter and John Stevens.

To a lesser or greater extent, but by no means exclusively, photography plays a vital part in the work of all seven, although its subject matter and the extent to which it is ‘digitally re-mastered’ – a phrase whose origins lie in the world of audio, but which equally well describes the process used by the artist to coax an image to its final state of readiness – vary beyond comparison.

Colin Bell works with the camera to search for and hold ‘the extraordinary within the ordinary’ and produces work which echoes his earlier abstract paintings. Liz Burt’s love of horticultural photography dominates her work, while Robin Clare produces vibrant minimal work derived from natural forms.

Ronnie Creswell is interested in processes and uses a variety of source materials to build up digital mixed media images. A background in fashion and garden design has given Sally Davis an in-depth understanding of the form, colour and composition of nature. Calling strongly on his photographic background, Steve Payter explores how traditional photographic processes, such as infrared and toning mutate into the digital age, while John Stevens has moved from macro flower photography, landscapes, the sea, female figures and faces to his more recent experiments in abstract form and colour.

‘It’s not easy to find an umbrella under which to shelter such a diverse range of processes, source material and ideas, but the common denominator in all our work is the digital means of producing and outputting and the significant presence of photography as one of the key starting points,’ explains Steve Payter. ‘The term ‘Digital Graphics’, therefore, is a neat way of linking these two fundamentals and conveying an indication to the audience of what they can expect from the exhibition.’

The exhibition will run from Friday 21 March to Monday 24 March, with daily opening hours of 10 am to 4 pm.

To view individual artists’ websites:

Liz Burt - click here,
Colin Bell - click here,
Ronnie Creswell - click here,
Sally Davis - click here,
John Stevens - click here,

For details of The Slade Centre - click here,