Computers, an Impression

Vadodara-based artist Gulammohammed Sheikh is one of the many who are hooked to digital art

Computers are useless. They can only give you answers, said Pablo Picasso. The famous 20th century Spanish painter may not have had much faith in the creative prowess of the machine, but digital art seeks to prove him wrong.

In the last couple of years, several Indian artists have started wielding a mouse instead of a brush and making the monitor their easel. Among them is noted Vadodara-based artist and writer Gulammohammed Sheikh. The 69-year-old veteran, known for his diverse works ranging from watercolours to murals, says he got hooked to the genre of digital art after a workshop held by Vadodara gallery, Art Underground back in 2001.

“I wanted to know the nature of a new medium of art. Other works like painting, etching, lithography, are done using one’s hand, and the end result is more tangible. In digital art, the work is not in hand, but it produces a tangible result. In a way, you work with an ephemeral image on screen, which, has a tangible result,’’ he says.

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Talking of the difference between the conventional form of painting and its hi-tech avtaar using Adobe Photoshop, Sheikh says, “When painting, no matter how close you are in copying a particular image onto the canvas, you effect a change from the original source because you want to effect a change. No matter what colour you apply, it is different from the actual thing. But in digital art, when you scan the image, you are reproducing it exactly.’’

Nevertheless, he adds, it is a misnomer that different prints of a digital work would be identical as there will be changes depending on the computer, printer, and even the paper used. He says the medium has allowed him to ‘break several boundaries’, and illustrates the point by pointing out that it enabled him to create his own Mappa mundi (world map), inspired by the 13th century European Ebstorf Mappa mundi. Sheikh’s map features Kabir and Majnu, and even images from Persia.

Another advantage of using a computer, he says, is that it can do certain things in a matter of hours instead of days. “But,’’ he adds, “in the process the artist loses out on the ‘contemplative time’, the period between the drawing and the painting. The process of thinking is physical and organic, and using a computer interferes with this. It is a short cut and all short cuts are a trap.’’

As a corollary to this, Sheikh says the challenge with this medium lies in knowing where to draw the line and not let the machine take over the mind. “Computer technology is very seductive. It can mislead you from your destination. Here, the medium affects the mind and may take over. I don’t want to leave the solutions to the machine. A computer is a means, not an end in itself.’’

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—Sheikh’s digital works will be on display along with other artists at the ABS Lanxess gallery in Vadodara from November 1 to November 12