A Forum of Interest to SSCC Members

by Allen Hirsch

 I am a member of a group of technically creative artists, many of whom, including me, use photography as a significant component of their work. Techspressionism is a new art-historical term to describe fine artists using digital technology to convey subjective, emotional content. Techspressionism distinguishes expressive fine art results from such genres as “digital art,” which can include animated movies, and video games, as well as  from “new media” works that do not embody convincing artistic intent.

The subjective lens of the individual artist (rather than the product of a corporate studio) is what connects Techspressionism to its predecessor, Expressionism. Expressionists presented the world from a subjective perspective, distorting it radically in order to evoke moods or ideas, seeking to express their emotional experience rather than physical reality.

A core group of artists have begun working together to develop momentum for the adoption of the term Techspressionism.  We meet monthly at our Techspressionist Salon artist meetups on Zoom to discuss art and technology.

The Techspressionist Manifesto, a document that draws inspiration from artistic manifestos of the past (including Marinetti’s Futurist Manifesto and Breton’s Surrealist Manifesto) is a open-ended document subject to ongoing revisions.

We encourage artists who identify with the approach of using technology as a means to express emotional experience to self-identify as Techspressionists by including the hashtag #techspressionism on Instagram and other social media platforms.

Our Instagram curator Renata Jansiszewska is actively reviewing images using the hashtag and reposting a curated selection of these works to the official community instagram account.  Artists whose work is reposted are invited to be included in an online index of Techspressionist visual artists.