David Hockney and the iPad App "Brushes"

Call it drawing, digi-art, digital art, digital design, fingerpainting or painting… No one can decide on a definitive term for making art on the surface of the iPad.

Artist David Hockney is now creating art on the iPad. His works are featured on his website. Considered by some as the most well known British artist of his generation, the painter/printmaking/photographer/designer has been exploring the “Brushes” app using his iPhone and now with the iPad. He is pictured here with his iPhone and easel:

Photo courtesy Mail Online, http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1175521/iHockney-Artist-David-uses-Apple-phone-paint-mini-masterpieces.html

David Hockney’s works have been referred to as “high-tech stained glass” and they have been on display at the Royal Academy’s Summer Exhibition. Someone commented in one of his exhibitions, “Who would ever have thought that the telephone would bring back drawing?” What a wonderful thing to think about…

Another comment he made was in reference to the iPad as an artistic instrument: “BlackBerries are for secretaries and clerical workers while the iPhone is used by artistic people.” While I am not sure everyone would agree with his statement, the iPad is certainly an appropriate tool for those creative folks out there interested in making digital artworks.

“I have got an iPad, what a joy! Van Gogh would have loved it, and he could have written his letters on it as well.” – David Hockney

David Hockney’s quote has me thinking about what the art world would be like if Picasso or Georgia O’Keefe were mobile technology owners? Perhaps the question of, “If you could go back in time, who would you want to meet?” could be revised instead to include, “If you could go back in time, who would you want to share the iPad with?” I would choose Michaelangelo, Berthe Morisot or Francis Bacon.

“People from the village,” he says, craning back over that shoulder, “come up to me and tease me, ‘We hear you’ve started drawing on your telephone.’ And I tell them, ‘Well, no, actually, it’s just that occasionally I speak on my sketch pad.’” – David Hockney

Weschler, L. (2009). David Hockney’s iPhone passion. The New York Review of Books. Retrieved 7/13/10 from http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2009/oct/22/david-hockneys-iphone-passion/

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