Thirteenth International Conference on The Arts in Society

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to argue the case for the quantitative appraisal of artwork through online museum collections. In a subject area cautious about the quantitative analysis of art, this paper defends the methodology and outlines how digital quantitative appraisal can lead to the generation of new theories. Pixels, Paint and Perception outlines the new methods invented through PhD research in contemporary online painting, developed further into a postdoctoral study of contemporary Nordic painting within a digital museum collection. I argue that systematic statistical analysis of online artworks can open up new possibilities for those engaged with visual arts research. Because the use of statistics software with a large database can detect patterns that a human cannot, the discovery of such patterns of creativity can lead to the generation of new theories in visual arts research. Such theories would not emerge were it not for the easy access to the digital and the application of new technology as a means of appraisal.