David Hockney© , Digital image, iPad 2011
David Hockney, the British artist known for his mid-century paintings of Southern California's swimming pools and sprinklers emerged last year with artwork created on his iphone and ipad. He began by drawing fresh flowers on an iphone, using mainly the edge of his thumb, and sending them to his friends. He now uses an iPad, more fingers or a stylus. Last year his exhibit, Fleurs Fraiches, in Paris at the Foundation Pierre Berge featured his iphone and iPad art with the work displayed on iphones, ipads, and as animations. Digital art has the advantage of being easy to transport and copy without loosing any quality in fact the duplicates will be exactly the same as the original. Possibilities of drawing with an iPad include duplicating the process with a finger tap and the Brushes app can generate animations of the actual drawing process. Plus, the medium when viewed on-screen has the luminosity of a Cathedral stained-glass window on a brilliant day. Hockney, whose early paintings explored qualities of water and light continues to pursue luminous subject matter like the sunny windows and cut flowers in glass pictured here.
At 73 Hockney resides at his family home in Bridlington on the English coast. He still paints large canvases in his enormous studio but keeps his iPad with him like a sketchbook. He says, "What fascinates me is not just technology but the technology of picture-making. I spend more time painting of course, but I treat the iPad as a serious tool. The iPad is influencing the paintings now with its boldness and speed."
David Hockney© , Digital image, iPad 2011
