Now that the age of multi-screen, fully interactive technocapabilities is really upon us, some artists are turning to new technologies to create their artwork. The ipad, the computer graphic and live video installations are becoming more and more common as a new means of expression and creativity.

But is it for everyone?

The exhibition currently taking the UK by storm is the latest David Hockney, open at the Royal Academy until the 9th April 2012. The exhibition includes some of Hockney’s very latest works using an iPad, as well as large scale, multiple-screen films. In an interview with the Guardian, Hockney said of the iPad that “It’s like an endless piece of paper that perfectly fitted the feeling I had that painting should be big”.

Alan Davey, CEO of the Arts Council England says, “How the cultural sectors engage with emerging and existing digital technologies in the next few years will have far reaching effects on our creative, social and economic lives, as artists and audience members.”

On his latest DVD, up and coming artist Fraser Scarfe uses an iPad to create a digital image whilst on location in Lincoln Cathedral. (You can find the DVD details here).

But can digital art create the same interaction between artist and medium? Is part of the joy of painting about physically putting brush to canvas and paper, and interacting with the paint itself? Can digital mediums ever hope to replicate that tactile element of the creative process?

History tells us that digital art will simply become another medium through which creativity expresses itself. When photography first appeared on the art scene, it was with much criticism and outcry, but now, photography, collage, image projection and even edited photography (or ‘faked’) has become absorbed into the myriad of established creative mediums.

Will we see digitally created artworks becoming part of normality at exhibitions and galleries? Only time will tell, but given the popularity of the (needless to say, sold-out) David Hockney exhibition, it seems the general consensus from the world of the art lover is that we will and already are.

Tell us what you think

Would you like to see more digitally created art at exhibitions? Or do you think these emerging technologies are simply a phase that will run its course? Are you a digital artist? We’d love to hear what you think… Share your ideas with us below.