Computers are useless. They can only give you answers, said Pablo Picasso. The famous 20th century Spanish painter may not have had much faith in the creative prowess of the machine, but digital art seeks to prove him wrong.

In the last couple of years, several Indian artists have started wielding a mouse instead of a brush and making the monitor their easel. Among them is noted Vadodara-based artist and writer Gulammohammed Sheikh. The 69-year-old veteran, known for his diverse works ranging from watercolours to murals, says he got hooked to the genre of digital art after a workshop held by Vadodara gallery, Art Underground back in 2001.

“I wanted to know the nature of a new medium of art. Other works like painting, etching, lithography, are done using one’s hand, and the end result is more tangible. In digital art, the work is not in hand, but it produces a tangible result. In a way, you work with an ephemeral image on screen, which, has a tangible result,’’ he says.

Talking of the difference between the conventional form of painting and its hi-tech avtaar using Adobe Photoshop, Sheikh says, “When painting, no matter how close you are in copying a particular image onto the canvas, you effect a change from the original source because you want to effect a change. No matter what colour you apply, it is different from the actual thing. But in digital art, when you scan the image, you are reproducing it exactly.’’

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