Stone Spirit #122

For the last several years I have been quite interested in the digital transformation of traditional art. I have had the privilege of serving on the Board of Directors and as Board Chair of the Susquehanna Art Museum (SAM at the Marty). As part of our strategic planning we spent extensive time exploring how emerging digital formats for presenting and producing art would impact museum exhibits and practice.

This exploration of digital art preceded the current emergence of NFTs or Non-Fungible Tokens. NFTs may transform the art world by creating a vibrant market for digital expressions and multiple options for artists to monetize their creative work. See the Northstar Gallery Blog post on NFTs.

My Stone Spirits Series is formated for both classical fine art print and digital presentations. As part of this process, in our home, we have a Sony 60" high definition smart TV that is used for the sole purpose of presenting fine art photography.

The screen is wall mounted with all cables routed in the wall. The screen is also mounted in a classic gold leaf frame. The screen has high quality non- glare glass that creates an effect similar to museum glass in traditional print presentations. The screens acuity, brightness and visual intensity is more that sufficient to display the images in a very bright, sun lit room. The intent is to create a digital presentation that reflects traditional fine art, wall mounted, installations.

Below is a real life example of our home installation;

The high resolution photographic images are digitally stored on Google Drive and the GFolio app is installed on the Sony smart TV and directed to access the Google Drive. The Stone Spirit images are either presented one at a time with a single image being selected for several days or for a special occasion. The Stone Spirits Series can also be presented as a slow moving series of images with images duration being set for a specified number of hours or days. Other content galleries are also presented on Google Drive and are accessible on the Sony screen. Some Stone Spirit images will be processed in a manner where they will change incrementally over time with a pallet that reflects changes in light over an array of day and seasonal cycles. The ability to curate your personal art in real time is profound and opens the door to personalized art that would have been unthinkable only a few years ago.

The Sony is a top quality high resolution smart tv and the image presentation is visually stunning. A high quality digital screen presents an image that is far superior to any classical print presentation. The digital image has a color saturation and dynamic range that is, by multi factors, greater than what is possible with print.

The overall presentation is that of a traditional wall mounted fine art print and it is very common that viewers do not recognize it as a digital presentation.

High resolution smart TV screens are readily available up to 85" and the cost of a 65" model is in the $1,500 to $2,000 range.

Each Stone Spirit is photographed at high resolution through a microscope and is comprised of from 20 to 400 individual exposures that are combined through a rather complex stack focus process. This creates images that translate the exquisite beauty and depth of the stone's; micro structure form and color. It is anticipated that future expressions will be created to change over time will be comprised of several thousand exposures. 

This process is perfectly suited for Non-Fungible Token (NFT) minting which establishes a permanent record of the NFT digital code that comprises the digital art file, affirms its authenticity and creates a permanent record of ownership, and associated rights and restrictions.

This process creates NFT art expressions that can not only be owned but can be experienced, shared and viewed in a manner that is potentially superior to traditional art. Such presentations can be considered valid not only for home art but for gallery and museum presentations as well. This digital format offers a level of creativity and diversity of content that is not attainable in traditional presentation formats.