Authenticity in Digital Art: What Makes an Original?
“If it’s painted in Procreate, how can it be an original?”
It’s one of the most common questions digital artists hear. Beneath it lies a larger concern: in a world where images can be infinitely copied, how do we define authenticity?
In traditional media, originality seems obvious. A painter’s canvas, a sculptor’s stone, a printmaker’s plate, each carries the unrepeatable trace of the artist’s hand. From there, reproductions (posters, prints, photographs) are considered separate from the original object.
Art history has long reinforced this divide. Walter Benjamin’s 1936 essay The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction argued that an original work carried an “aura”, its unique presence in time and space. For Benjamin, this aura diminished when art could be reproduced mechanically. But what happens when the canvas itself exists only as code?
It’s one of the most common questions digital artists hear. Beneath it lies a larger concern: in a world where images can be infinitely copied, how do we define authenticity?
In traditional media, originality seems obvious. A painter’s canvas, a sculptor’s stone, a printmaker’s plate, each carries the unrepeatable trace of the artist’s hand. From there, reproductions (posters, prints, photographs) are considered separate from the original object.
Art history has long reinforced this divide. Walter Benjamin’s 1936 essay The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction argued that an original work carried an “aura”, its unique presence in time and space. For Benjamin, this aura diminished when art could be reproduced mechanically. But what happens when the canvas itself exists only as code?