Introduction
To ease into my research, I want to further provide insight into some key terms that will be commonly mentioned. ‘Like rate’ will be referring to the rate as of which each surrealist painting will be rated on a scale from 1-10 with 10 being the highest score given. ‘Letter/s’ when mention I will be referring to a literal letter such as those in the alphabet ranging from A-P. ‘Surrealist art’ surrealist art for someone who wouldn’t already know is a type of art “more than an artistic style—it’s an artistic movement. Unlike other creative movements, which can be characterized by themes of imagery, color choices, or techniques, defining Surrealist art is slightly harder to do” (ParkWestGallery). Digital surrealist art is the same its just in a different medium/ expression of surrealist art. ‘Medium’ a medium is a common term used within the art community which commonly refers to the different ways to create art for example, sculpting or painting, even using different materials to do such; as using watercolor paint instead of acrylic or in this case creating artworks digitally rather than by hand.
Gap in research
The research is understanding how different people view art as an individual and if there is any deep phycological understanding between art and the stimulants it provides the brain with. The validity of the gap in the research is the value of insight behind it using already formulated past research. “The last decade has witnessed a renaissance of empirical and psychological approaches to art study, especially regarding cognitive models of art processing experience. This new emphasis on modeling has often become the basis for our theoretical understanding of human interaction with art” (Matthew Pelowski et al). Which would give insight into the fact that past research has been done to further understand the psychological understanding behind the common question ‘what makes us like art; what is interesting to our brain about art’. I want to further prove my research question “How does the incorporation of modern digital techniques in surrealist art alter viewers’ emotional engagement compared to traditional methods, and what implications does this have for the future of surrealist art?” Surrealist art is a common medium within art communities that influences the “unconscious” state of mind following through dreamlike imaginary. Though the psychology behind surrealist art has been researched on behalf of Lucio Giluliodori, “almost a self-analysis: dreaming is a source of inspiration, but it is also a wide-open window to the inner world, to the hidden sides of the psyche. The main consequence is that in Surrealism, art and psychology, harmoniously blend generating chemistry between creation and self-creation” (Giluliodori et al). There’s been plenty of new and old research done to find the significance of technology and art such as (Asare, et al) who’s research has a focus on the comparison between modern art and digital art techniques mentions that their research focusses on both the strengths and weaknesses of modern art and digital art. I wanted to provide future artists with the answer to my research question which could possibly help with their creations of what to further implicate into the future of designing art or even possibly give them a whole new perspective on what types of art mediums are more liked by viewers. To connect to surrealist art and phycology there needs to be a need prevalence of a new founding question “How does the incorporation of modern digital techniques in surrealist art alter viewers’ emotional engagement compared to traditional methods” the first part of my research question, which to break down is going to be a comparison between digitally created surrealist art compared to modern created surrealist art which is using a traditional method such as for example canvas and acrylic paint. But to further understand what both topics as we need the historical background.
Technology’s expansion over the last two decades
One singular word, technology’, a rather new creation that has been introduced to us over the last 20 years. Technology has impacted everyone with the introduction of digitalized personal software such as phones or computers, not to mention they’re easily accessible and come with a quick understanding of how to navigate throughout the object. Technology is quite impossible to ignore, especially since it holds a place in our everyday lives from school to work to even businesses, everyone thrives off the single use of it. (Boomen, et al) quotes “Computers, e-mail, the Internet, mobile phones, digital photo albums, and computer games have become common artefacts in our daily lives”. Technology is a new and popular innovation that will never stop its growing audience. One of the more highlighted things technology has been experimenting on is art. With new technology comes new innovations on ways to make possibly art more visualist. (Marcos) quotes “In the 19th century’s first half, several experiments explored technology and mechanical devices to render artistic creations”. What was proven is that technology has been rather experimental within a certain subject known as ‘art’. “Digital art, as it is now known” (Marcos). Could digital art possibly be a new concept or even type of ‘medium’? “Throughout the 20th century, artists continuously redefined the concept of art, employing new materials and testing new applications via non-codified techniques” (Rosi, et al).
Digital Art in the mix
Digital art is well known now as just regular art but done on computer. “the rapid technology growth has affected the arts significantly” (Zahreddine). To further expand the knowledge on what exactly is digital art “The new technology, which by now has become standard for moving images of any kind” (Kartashov). By the quote “moving images” Kartashov is trying to relate on how digital art is in a form of moving pictures such as those animated on screen for films. Digital art is a fixated mix of both newfound technology methods and art. But the real question is why art is even so popular and how has it even had an influence on technology users today, what truly is the real definition or even the background of art?
Arts Significance Within Societies
Art is an original creation from billions of years ago. The true definition is literally ‘a conscious creation that can be made from one’s imagination using skills and meaning’. Art has been able to tell stories without words and can even paint a variety of pictures in one’s mind just from colors, shapes, lines you name it art can become an endless piece of creation whether it be 2d or 3d, art is an endless formation of imagination. In (Fosters) research ‘The “Primitive” Unconscious of Modern Art’ The art pieces shown in the article are of some type of tribal essence as they state, “In this way the show confirmed the colonial extraction of the tribal work (in the guise of its redemption as art) and rehearsed its artistic appropriation into tradition”. Art has been around for thousands, even billions of years, it’s passed down from generations to cultures to just the simplicities in society. Trends in art and new media give birth to new founding art mediums and styles, anything can be created using art. The creation of modern art vs. digital art, is it the same? And in what way can we divide the two if so similar?
Methodology
The method used for my study aligns with the following question, how does the incorporation of modern digital techniques in surrealist art alter viewers’ emotional engagement compared to traditional methods, and what implications does this have for the future of surrealist
art? I intend to provide an insight into the future of surrealist artists to help them incorporate more of what was found as a common outlook after my data collection. For my hypothesis, I can assume that digital surrealist art will come out as most popularly liked, but not because of the way it’s displayed but rather to tie out that no matter the medium of art, I can state that the view of it can vary from each person’s perspective. Psychology will be incorporated and varied by each person due to the way they view art with various factors such as textures, colors, and setting. I plan on taking a correlational route with two completely different surrealist art pieces; one done with modern techniques such as acrylic paint on a canvas, and one done digitally on a computer. Methods I will be using are both quantitative and qualitative along with correlational research which inquires conducting a survey to ensure accurate and more organized evidence to further aid in proving my hypothesis. Correlational is best the best fit for my research because I am comparing survey answers and comparing the “like rate” of both modern and digital surrealist art. The survey will include on the side of it a digital picture of surrealist art, and a physical printed piece of paper with the modern surrealist art; this will be given to the survey takers during their analysis of viewing the art and documentation of their findings.
To further develop and post my findings, I had to undergo a step-by-step process of my commitment to always report and make every survey anonymous. All survey takers will begin a survey with the question if they consent to it or not, if not the survey immediately ends and will not be used for my data. At the start of my survey there will be a question asking the participant if they have ever taken an art class or have ever been enrolled in one, this is to get an idea of how people who regularly saw or even created art are able to break down subjects within the art. Compared to those who have never taken art it might be more challenging to thoroughly grasp the subjects in the art. I want to do a comparison study of not just two different kinds of art mediums but also a comparison study over the course of time. The reason why is to see if there is any difference with how the survey taker answers, will they check different boxes or even possibly write something else that they noticed or maybe even come up with a completely different “like rate” against their previous answer. To make a comparison time lapse I need an organization system, which is to assign everyone a letter at the start of my survey. I will personally be keeping track of the letter I give each survey taker within a notes app. This letter will be very critical for me to give them, each person gets a different letter and they will continue to get the same letter for both times they have conducted the survey. The reason as to why is to make my comparison study to the first time they took my survey to the second time. I want to know if their observations or even opinions change on each painting after the course of a week. My main objective is to get no more than 15-25 people to take my survey, age group does not matter to me because I’m not looking at what age group has different views on the paintings but rather overtime do people’s views on surrealist art change.
The questions asked in the survey will require the survey taker to check every box that applies to the question, such as (at a first glance what you notice in both art pieces). My objective is to pick out pieces of art, not just random art pieces, but ones that have a similar vibe to each other. The modern painting by Rafal Olbinski who specializes in surrealist art paintings specifically. The painting depicts a mermaid sitting on a rock someplace in an expansive body of water. As for the digital art piece, there is a lady sleeping on an island in some form of pjs in which appears to be a lake. With my finding of a digitally created surrealist art piece, it was quite challenging. The process of trying to search for digitally created surrealist art led me to believe that there was very little to even none posted, this led me to resort in using a social media app. This social media app is known as “TikTok” where it had led me to find Maisie Kane (maisiekane) who’s video I saw of her creating a digital surrealist art collage where she was taking different parts of other digital media and incorporating them into her own new piece of art. I took a snapshot of the painting and then posted it into some slides of my survey. The reason why I didn’t do the same with the modern art piece is because I want the survey taker to get a specific feel while visualizing the art. Digital as seen on digital and modern seen Infront of people in a physical form.
While there will be a significant amount of research I need to cover on my own along with building and formatting a comparison technique towards my research question I will be experiencing some limitations that come with my research. Specific limitations I might happen to encounter would be that there are not enough people to really prove my point. The reason as to why the number of people I am aiming for is so low is because the more people I have take the survey, will mean that I have to compare and organize it all. Which essentially is a very time-consuming process. I can only print out so many copies of the modern painting. The easier solution to getting enough people would have been to post a QR code around the school hoping for people to take, but for me to get accurate data I would need each person taking the survey to have a physical copy right in front of them. I chose not to do this because in a way I would feel as if my data would be inaccurate due to the “rushed” state the survey taker is in. My main proposal is to gather all my data collection and compare the like rate of both art pieces that will prove my proposal; is modern surrealist art better than digital surrealist art?
Data analysis
I have conducted, analyzed, and organized all informational data necessary to develop a complete understanding of the research question “How does the incorporation of modern digital techniques in surrealist art alter viewers’ emotional engagement compared to traditional methods, and what implications does this have for the future of surrealist art?”. The population of surveys taken was 32 with 16 of them being a comparison to the first survey taken. There was no specific age group nor gender specificity that entitled the summarization of data. A random selection of peers was selected to complete this survey at least twice over the course of 3 weeks. One survey response was recorded for letters A-P during the first week, the second week was a break period where no information was collected, the third week would then be a final submission for responses of all previous survey takers.
Emotions
To draw an inference if any of the data I had gathered was accurate I started sorting my data chart alphabetically along with the first submission of each letter’s survey to their second submission. I then further analyzed whether any of the survey submissions had a change in course with their answers. The conclusions drawn from first analyzations was that at least half of the responses were able to get more expressive and elaborate further upon second submissions. To be more descriptive here is letter E’s response to “Emotionally how would you say this surrealist art piece makes you feel? (keep in mind this is a digitally created surrealist art piece)” the response of their first submission was “confused because what is going on” that later was brought to their second submission “confused because what is she laying on? A salad? A taco?? Why is she so much bigger than the boats? Why is she on a lake?”. Then most frequent responses to how the survey taker felt emotionally upon viewing the digital surrealist art piece was (confusion, warmness, nostalgic, happy, calm, intrigued, tired, cold, fear, curious, sad) these were all within the range of positivity and calmness, although there was only one response that reported it making them feel “sad, tired, and cold”. The same question was then asked for the modern surrealist art piece, “Emotionally how would you say the surrealist art piece placed in front of you makes you (keep in mind that the art placed in front of you is modern surrealist art)”. For letter B’s analyzations on the modern surrealist art piece, they reported “It kinda scares me and confuses me. Not that it is particularly bad but it kinda doesn’t give me happy vibes” for their first response, that they then added “I don’t like it and it makes me think not good” to their second response. The modern surrealist painting had the complete emotional effects on survey takers compared to the digital surrealism. Common attributes that contributed to the opposite sides of an emotional spectrum was (wistful, sad, spooked, entranced, uneasy, imaginary, nostalgia, calm, tired, anxious, relaxed, lost, inspired, intrigued, cold) these all seemed to be very close fitting for the picture given.
Observations
Another main focus to my findings within data collection was that no matter if they took a art class or not they still were confused as to what was going on in the pictures. Following up on identifying the two art pieces were things that they had noticed. To relevant question that was asked was ‘Just by looking at BOTH pieces what do you notice at a first glance? (Check all that apply.)’ Setting came in first place with 25 identifications out of 32 times the survey was taken. The same people who had listed setting in their first survey were also prone to click setting again on subjects they noticed for the second time around. Listed from most noticed to least, setting covering 25/32 times taken with 23% coverage, Color with 23/32 and 21%, Strangeness 20/32 and 19%, Random Objects 16/32 and 15%, Vibrancy 12/32 and 11%, Shapes 5/32 and 5%, Other 4/32 and 4%, and finally Texture in last with 3/32 and 3%. The other 3 percent that had marked other was letter C that have said “they are both on a circle thing”, along with letters both J and N who noticed that each art piece had a lady in them; letter N had never taken an art class of any kind. For final summaries of the “like rates” of digital surrealist art was; 6.91 out of 10. As for the like rate of Modern surrealist art a score of 6.56 out of 10 was averaged. The next question to help follow up on why the survey taker might’ve given the scores they did for each painting would be listen in the question asked “Please write what you like about the Modern Surrealist Art piece”, with some examples of given responses were from letter A “I like the use of shading and color in the clouds, but they almost seem not to fit with the rest of the painting”. More common factors that played a role in the like factor was the colors and all the different ways every survey taker perceived the painting, from letter G “It is very creative and has a good color palette”. Most responses reported that they had also liked the overall view of the painting such as “I like the uniqueness. For example, the mermaid’s torso having a night sky within her, as well as the boat. I perceived that as the mermaid fulfilling the myths of sailor seduction” from letter E’s first response. Letter F also reported something similar such as “I like how it has different times of day represented at the same time. It looks like it took a lot of thought and effort. To the emotional connection of the painting letter K said it was “peaceful”. Letter P stated “I really like the way the artist combined the mermaid with the night sky. It gives the piece a magical and enchanting feel and the vibrant colors”. As for a few statements on what the survey takers liked about the Digital Surrealist Art, feelings of nostalgia were widely reported. The setting and perspective were more commonly talked about. One of the statements that stood out to me in an odd way was letter K’s response “Too confusing, the lady is as big as the island. Birds are going poop all over you sleeping. And the boats are in no comparison to island or sleeping giant”. Letter K almost seems as if they were trying to imagine themselves inside the painting but never stated what they liked about it. Letter N said “The fact it’s ocean and has a sort of meaning, the colors, and the fact they loomed relaxed” which could possibly mean they feel draw to the ocean and its atmosphere as well as the vibrant colors within the painting. As for the very last question asked in the survey “If you have any more comments as to what was interesting please write your findings below. [state which painting you’re writing about]. There were only 4 responses from letter F “As interesting as the digital surrealist art piece is, the modern surrealist art piece is more calling to me. The modern art has a different kind of creativity to it that I like” within their first response. Letter G stated, “I like the grass”, letter H “Very unique”. And lastly letter J said they preferred the modern art piece “I prefer the modern piece because of the simplicity and dark colors isn’t as bright and that is my preference”.
The New Understanding
In conclusion, for a new understanding of my findings I have concluded that with my research upon surrealist art and its stimulants of pleasing factors influencing the way someone views a painting, it really doesn’t have any significance with past or present knowledge on art. With that statement being said I can say anyone viewing art can have their own implications for it. There is no correlation to having previous experience with art and rating someone’s art based on how interesting it seems to you. By just personal preference everyone had their own personal emotions being influenced upon viewing the two separate art pieces. Some people would have similar answers to each other but they each had different ways of rating the paintings. Digital surrealist art was rated a 6.91 as for the modern piece which was rated a 6.56, by assumption that with the ranking of Setting, Color, and Strangeness all had the biggest impact on the way people voted which in turn would give the conclusion upon the like rate of it. They were all factors when it came to voting. What I can confidently say to help provide future artists is making something that captivates the viewer. Give them something that will help question the painting which further influences attachment towards viewing it, that is what makes a surrealist art piece captivating. The future insight into what this might give to surrealist artists is possibly trying a new direction when it comes to mediums; digital surrealist art might be worth a try. One thing noticed upon asking participants to take the survey again was annoyance possibly due to the time consumption within the time taken to complete the survey. This would possibly imply that there needed to be a larger time frame given between the first time taking the survey and the second time.
Future directions
The research provided can be further expanded on to get a new and more expanded implementation towards surrealist art. A bigger study group can be given a survey as well as a more expanded variety of arts meaning multiple to rate. More time between further refreshment upon the art would possibly deliver a new outcome of answers. A study group between present art majors and our students compared to non-art majors/students could provide a new understanding. Providing a new rating scale and a more in-depth vocabulary could imply more scholarly vocabulary-based answers rather than short and simple ones that aren’t as in depth and expanding insight.
Limitations
The limitations following on the research question “How does the incorporation of modern digital techniques in surrealist art alter viewers’ emotional engagement compared to traditional methods” was the time. Time was a major factor and relying on participants to complete their survey before the end of the deadline was crucial. A three-week time period was a short matter of time to collect all 32 surveys from 16 different participants due to the heinous and tedious number of questions within the survey as well as “scoping out” major details within the paintings. A larger group of participants would’ve been a better choice but due to the correlational research route comparing first answers to second answers; there just was not enough time to analyze and pick every little detail out.
Works Cited
Asare, Samuel, Priscilla Walden, Eric Aniagyei, and Mensah Emmanuel. “A Comparative Study of Traditional Art Techniques versus Digital Art Techniques in the Context of College Visual Art Education.” American Journal of Arts, Social and Humanity Studies 3, no. 1 (August 10, 2023): 21–34. https://doi.org/10.47672/ajashs.1556.
Christmaenglish. “Critical Analysis of Hal Foster’s ‘the “primitive” Unconscious of Modern Art.’” Critical Aesthetics, 2015, September 29, 2015. https://criticalaesthetics2015.wordpress.com/2015/09/29/critical-analysis-of-hal-fosters-the-primitive-unconscious-of-modern-art/.
Digital material: Tracing new media in Everyday Life and technology edited by Marianne van den Boomen, Sybille Lammes, Ann-Sophie Lehmann, Joost Raessens and Mirko Tobias Schäfer. Amsterdam University Press, Amsterdam, NL, 2009. 304 pp., paper. ISBN: 978-90-8964-068-0 | leonardo | MIT press. Accessed December 12, 2024. https://direct.mit.edu/leon/article-abstract/43/3/301/46828/Digital-Material-Tracing-New-Media-in-Everyday?redirectedFrom=fulltext.
Fernandes-Marcos, Adérito. “Digital Art: When Artistic and Cultural Muse Merges with Computer Technology.” IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications, February 14, 2023. https://www.academia.edu/5850803/Digital_Art_When_Artistic_and_Cultural_Muse_Merges_with_Computer_Technology.
GIULIODORI, Lucio, Aisana BOLDYREVA, Anna BOBUNOVA, and Vladislav BORANENKOV. “Surrealism between Psychological Investigation and Artistic Commitment.” WISDOM 14, no. 1 (March 24, 2020): 167–74. https://doi.org/10.24234/wisdom.v14i1.306.
Kane, Maisie. “Make Your Day.” TikTok. Accessed April 21, 2025. https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTj2Xc3Q3/.
Park West Gallery. “What Is Surrealism? How Art Illustrates the Unconscious.” Park West Gallery, January 7, 2021. https://www.parkwestgallery.com/what-is-surrealism-art/.
Pelowski, Matthew, Patrick S. Markey, Jon O. Lauring, and Helmut Leder. “Visualizing the Impact of Art: An Update and Comparison of Current Psychological Models of Art Experience.” Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 10 (April 26, 2016). https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2016.00160.
Rosi, F., C. Miliani, C. Clementi, K. Kahrim, F. Presciutti, M. Vagnini, V. Manuali, et al. “An Integrated Spectroscopic Approach for the Non-Invasive Study of Modern Art Materials and Techniques – Applied Physics a.” SpringerLink, May 29, 2010. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00339-010-5744-7.
Strategies of digital surrealism in contemporary western … Accessed November 22, 2024. https://kuscholarworks.ku.edu/bitstream/handle/1808/27923/Kartashov_ku_0099M_15871_DATA_1.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y.
Zahreddine, Nadine. “The Impact of Digital Art on Traditional Arts – The IAFOR Research Archive.” The IAFOR Research Archive -, November 28, 2023. https://papers.iafor.org/submission70949/.