Drawing with light – The finger and the iPhone!
Half of these works are produced with my finger on my iPhone. Then, enlarged significantly on canvas and sometimes partially over-painted to enhance texture. It has enormous freedom and feels exactly like brushwork…but some of my artist friends say “Are you serious?” …well yes I am.
Digital technology, represents a brilliant new freedom of expression for artists. But in many ways, such freedom and technological power can swamp the original idea and can supercharge the creative instinct like a soup with too many ingredients. The core flavour must somehow shine through and the supercharged ingredients must be subservient and managed.So how to keep the fresh line of drawing inspiration flowing freely without technological ambush? I deliberately limit my canvas size when preparing the drawing….so there is no space for redundant elements or overworking and fiddling of any kind. There just is no space.The original free brush stroke must be put down boldly and unimpeded and be allowed to exude a clear freshness and spontaneity with its companions.
A finger, on the small-scale “canvas” (of my iPhone) is large by comparison. The finger is a relatively blunt instrument! This is an important decision and is part of the bold delivery. It is a gesture that expresses itself almost in the same way as holding a brush at arm’s length. Like a rapier…one draws with full arm articulation. The compositions are mainly abstract but very colourful with saturated and luminous hues.
Seemingly back-lit. Some are flower-based. But all are trying to communicate a visceral joy and spontaneous pleasure. It’s my gift of opposites.
The use of mechanical aids in the production of artworks is not new. Toulouse-Lautrec sold few of his original paintings but many of his prints. In this way his work, which reflected the seamy side of Paris nightlife got a much wider audience and understanding. 80 years later Andy Warhol used mechanical means such as the camera and silkscreen process to make mass-produced art. He is credited with taking art off its “High-Art” pedestal and democratizing the process, the accessibility, the subject and the comprehension of what he was doing. No longer did one need a room full of psychologists to explain the work as was necessary with Abstract Expressionists like Pollock and de Kooning.
More recently we have seen major exhibitions of digital art from none other than David Hockney. Blown up to grand scale they dominate and impress. The artist’s hand is clearly visible irrespective of the medium employed.But even more surprising is the use that Picasso made of the early glass-plate camera. Over
nine months, in a small village in northern Spain called Horta de Sant Joan, he photographed locals and reconstructed the image into fragmented compositions that we now know as Cubism. This was 1909.
We have come a long way since those times but we should have no fear of the available technology as this very tool is a likely jumping-off point into a whole new realm as it was with Picasso.