Digital Media (Summer '11)

Blaz Erzetic is a digital artist from Slovenia who works with graphics, illustration and photography. He currently works at the University of Science and Technology in Ljubljana on the basics of 3D technology. Hs passion though, lies in combining photography with digital equipment. Most of his works centers around a reflection on the relationship between scientific innovation and modern man’s obsession with the development of new high-tech devices that have no inherent usefulness or value. His works are comments on the role of humans in the increasingly technological world of the modern age. One of his past exhibitions, (F)utile Machines, presented an artistic reflection on the world’s obsession with gadgets, asking the question – are they really useful? He did this through digitally created machines which are described as, “Heavy and clumsy mechanical/chemical machines of unknown, but yet indicated functionality.” Sticking to this theme of man’s relationship with modern technology, Erzetic did a series of prints commenting on man’s relationship with time and how this relates to man’s relationship with modern objects. In his series entitled Time Heals, Erzetic presented six computer diptychs (photographs that uses two different or identical images side by side to form one single artistic statement) that, although made in advanced computer graphics, present as a real photograph. In this medium, Erzetic took six digitally created objects and, using computer graphic, altered them to look decayed. He then presented the bright and new objects next to the decayed objects, juxtaposing the new with the used. Basing his art off real photographs he took, he digitally created the prints in order to present a rapid aging process.

Erzetic created these prints as a comment on man’s understanding of time and how this relates to man’s concept of the material world. Going off of the old saying, “Time heals all wounds, “ Erzetic presents a distorted view of this old proverb; instead of presenting the common understanding of time as the world’s healer, he shows it at a catalyst for decay and decomposition. By doing this, he attempts to comment on man’s concept of himself as a ruler of time. He does this by taking cheap material objects, made of plastics and metals of an indeterminate lifespan, and showing how even these objects have a limited “life.” Erzetic even chooses these specific objects, made for storage, in order to demonstrate that things man stores within himself, such as memories or spiritual richness or hope, must all surrender to the power of time.

Erzetic's digital prints present a powerful commentary on the nature of time and the finiteness of life. Using simple, ordinary objects, he makes us question how we view life and how we understand our relationship with technology and its relationship to man’s mortality. I found the way in which he presented this message easily understandable. His use of material objects to demonstrate the limited time of a man’s lifetime conveyed his deeper meaning well – that it is not in objects that we find eternal life but through living a rich, creative life in every moment, not storing things away for an undetermined future. The critique I had was that he failed to say which computer programs he used to render the images. I also question his choice of a radio as one of the rotting objects in his collection. I thought his attempt to make this look decayed was weaker than his others and it also did not fit as well with the other objects, almost all of which conveyed a sense of storage which went along with his overall message. Other than thee minor details I found Erzetic’s art compelling. It definitely allows the viewer to question his or her understanding of time; this provides for a deeper look at what is truly important in life. Erzetic, in these works, continues his commentary on man and his relationship with the material world and how this relates to how man understands his brief time on earth.