ComputerPAINT!

Is finger-painting truly an art form? What about digital finger-painting? Microsoft’s ‘Paint’ application stands alone as one of the first artifacts for creating such digital canvas works. Artist Michael Manning first began implementing such a practice into an ongoing piece entitled “Microsoft Store Paintings”, which exist online only, for any computer user to view. The work utilizes the current version of the software on the newly released Windows 8, which introduced a more versatile and dynamic version of the software, with more creative abilities and room for artistic exploration/expression. These paintings represent a contemporary development in the public conception of ‘fine art’ as well as how art is ‘intended’ to be viewed. Manning does not physically own any such device, and instead uses the new ‘Fresh Paint’ application and a Microsoft touchscreen, all housed within the physical Microsoft retail store. These works are then uploaded via social media outlets and Manning’s website, enabling an instant and almost ‘art-world’ incompatible representation of works of ‘high art’. 

Instead of forcing viewers into a gallery space, Manning allows the Internet to exist as his vehicle for the dispersal of his works to the public. This suggests a new relationship emerging between the corporate defined digital parameters within software, implementation of such software into the public sphere by such corporations, and the in-between of users and developers, functioning and utilizing the software within such a ‘defined’ parameters. Acting as an involved consumer rather than a passive one, Manning’s use of Microsoft’s Paint application, technical hardware, and physical business space for creating digital artworks successfully breaks the mold of both how users interact with such remedial design programs, as well as how contemporary digital art outlets are challenging public conceptions of what the internet is used for, how users interact and function within a digital corporate-defined reality, and especially how society defines the correct way for exhibiting and viewing artworks.

Once a single user, digitally contained and ‘lo-fi’ software, such artworks would never be widely viewed or understood after completion on a user’s PC. This implementation of such a tool attempts to push our conceptions of both how artwork is created, what tools are kosher to use, as well as how it is distributed and consumed after completion. Manning creates digital representations of physical paintings utilizing only tools provided by a major corporation, suggesting a play between the defined ‘creative’ corporate control written in the program and Manning’s own artistic abilities and understanding of the digital medium provided to him. 

Originally conceived and implemented with the first versions of windows, MS Paint introduced many first time computer users to the idea of painting on a computer. Not to say there were not such applications before, but many were designed with professionals in mind rather than for a consumer market. As technology developed, so did the program and its functionality. Users could originally paint simple colors on a single page, with only a few options for brushstrokes and artistic effects. Later developments included many photoshop-esque features such as artistic brush strokes, alpha layers, 10 undo’s (rather than 3), and even a grayscale, pushing conceptions of professional/consumer design practices. Michael Manning was not the first MS Paint artist, but his implementation of such work via social media, as well as its conception and creation within the physical Microsoft stores suggest a contemporary development in a once private and widely under-represented creative practice. If more users learn Paint, will they eventually also learn Photoshop? 

http://rhizome.org/editorial/2013/jan/24/painting-numbers/