The digital revolution of the last decade has unleashed creativity and talent in an unprecedented way, with unlimited opportunities.

But does democratized culture mean better art or is true talent instead drowned out? This is the question addressed by PressPausePlay, a documentary film containing interviews with some of the world’s most influential creators of the digital era.

My friend Mark linked me up to this yesterday and I spent my Sunday morning watching it and offering up my thoughts about the Digital Revolution and this wonderful documentary around it. It’s a common discussion to have amongst creatives – to dissect what we think about how art is progressing, its accessibility and what defines it in the grand scheme of things. And while I can certainly complain about the endless amounts of garbage that circulates the web, the fact of the matter is (without this Digital Revolution) I would never be able to do the things I love doing. If you aspire to do something creative nowadays, you don’t necessarily have to know anybody, have deep pockets or get classically trained to at least attempt something artistic – this essentially embodies me. I didn’t grow up having an insane creative network, have remotely deep pockets and certainly didn’t go to school for anything media related, so I owe my humble beginnings to the encouraging, creative people I’ve met and the Digital Revolution. That being said I do have a problem with the fact that…

Everyone is a photographer…everyone is a musician. I find it annoying that people who own a dSLR will claim to be a photographer and slap watermarks on their over-saturated, auto contrasted FB photos like they are the next big thing. You’re not, but sadly you don’t know it yet. The same applies to the music industry. Now like I said, I’m not classically trained by any means so I don’t knock people for doing their own thing (nor am I claiming I’m the next big thing), but despite these technologies being much more accessible, sometimes you just have to know what you’re good at and what you’re not. It’s also led people to believe that the true worth of art is reflected in popularity – the number of hits, the fans, the retweets. By that logic, Rebecca Black is a good artist. I’d have to say that the one good thing that comes out of greater accessibility is…

More art than ever before. It’s becoming harder to filter through the dribble to find really good creative work, but in general there is just more art than ever before. Despite school art and music programs getting deeper and deeper cuts from the government, the art world continues to gain steam and flourish in all new ways. I think this is a truly amazing thing. And I believe we have the Digital Revolution to thank for this. If the government continued to cut artistic funding from schools without the Digital Revolution, what would enable young enthusiasts to dream as easily? Most children have (or at least have access) to a computer where they could at the very least watch inspiring media, teach themselves, or begin creating their own art right from home. And because the breadth of this information is on the web there is…

No cap on creativity. I think classical training always helps in the grand scheme of things. People often ask me if I would eventually go back to school for design, photography or cinematography. At this point in my life (in all honesty), I wouldn’t. But if given the opportunity to go back in time and pursue what I loved from the start, most definitely. As much as I believe that being self-taught leaves no boundaries to your creativity, exposing yourself to a slew of people who have similar ambitions (but also different perspectives and tastes) can only help. And despite being a total proponent of the Digital Revolution, I have an incredibly deep appreciation for people who can still manually cut film, record music, paint and develop photos.

I think what I love most about this new age is the blend of digital and analog art (in both actual practice and thought-process) and how improvisational and fluid digital media has inherently become. To say this the Digital Revolution has diluted art is short-sighted – it is art remixed. It’s the danger of this digital world that makes it seem cheap – the reliance of post-production rather than a refined talent. Again, the “everyone is a photographer…everyone is a musician” phenomenon. But as with everything in the digital age, it’s about filtering through it all to find work that can both show you something you’ve never seen before and bridge analog art with digital.

It’s amazing to realize the types of collaborations that can come out of this revolution and the stories that can be told locally, nationally or globally. Gone are the days of media regionalization – the world is open to artistic interpretation from whoever is willing to venture there and put their point of view on the web for everyone to see. This revolution will cause people to re-think the ways in which media is created, received, interpreted and sold. To realize that art has the potential to impact the world through technology in the way that industry did a century ago is incredible. It’s exciting times to be born in an analog age and create in a digital one.

A couple months ago I had the opportunity to visit a gallery show for McLean Bronze. After walking around the multi-floor gallery space and getting a chance to really appreciate the finer details of Jack and Alice’s metalworking, I knew that UMG had to get involved with their art. Coincidentally, their son and close friend were amidst making a documentary about McLean Bronze – both of them live on opposite coasts (New York and San Francisco respectively), so I took it as an opportunity to continue the McLean Bronze story and delve deeper into the inspiration behind their pieces on a regular basis.

In this case, I wanted to introduce you all to McLean Bronze while also highlighting his Little Deep Boats series. To my delight, Jack offered to actually start creating a piece right in front of my eyes. It was incredible to see how his process had refined over the two decades that he’s been producing these boats. You can actually see a photo of the finished product on the new UMG Facebook page. Shortly after, we settled into good conversation accompanied by some amazing vegetable stew that Alice had prepared, coffee and Christmas cookies. As I was starting to pack up, Jack brought down the ultimate surprise – a gift from his collection for UMG to take home…which just happened to be the piece that I was so drawn to from their gallery show in October. Here’s a quick iPhone snap of it:

Needless to say, after a great day of filming at McLean Bronze, I am extremely excited to see where this project leads. The more I am exposed to their art, the more I’m looking forward to intimately introducing you to the metalworkings from this Johnsburg-based studio. As an artist myself, it is extremely inspiring to know people like Jack and Alice who were able to sustain a comfortable life doing what they love. Here are a few stills I took while I was shooting video: