![Pixels over Paint: Hockney's iPad Art Pixels over Paint: Hockney's iPad Art](https://m5.paperblog.com/i/0/7231/pixels-over-paint-hockneys-ipad-art-L-dq_s5u.jpeg)
The ending of Wright's article should have tipped me off that the artist's embrace of the Brushes App was more than just a hobby:
He picks up his iPad and slips it into his jacket pocket. All his suits have been made with a deep inside pocket so that he can put a sketchbook in it: now the iPad fits there just as snugly. Even his tux has the pocket, he tells me.At the time I took it as an eccentricity, which an artist of the caliber of Hockney was certainly allowed to indulge in. But now I see, it was a major artistic choice.
I ask him if he still draws on his iPhone and he snorts. “No! That’s just a phone now.”
![Pixels over Paint: Hockney's iPad Art Pixels over Paint: Hockney's iPad Art](https://m5.paperblog.com/i/0/7231/pixels-over-paint-hockneys-ipad-art-L-jdMLyt.png)
I draw flowers every day on my iPhone, and send them to my friends, so they get fresh flowers every morning. And my flowers last. Not only can I draw them as if in a little sketchbook, I can also then send them to 15 or 20 people who then get them that morning when they wake up.
![Pixels over Paint: Hockney's iPad Art Pixels over Paint: Hockney's iPad Art](https://m5.paperblog.com/i/0/7231/pixels-over-paint-hockneys-ipad-art-L-BtRgJQ.png)
Are they any good?
Well, they aren't special by any means, and if the name Hockney wasn't attached to them I probably wouldn't be writing about them. Which is why, maybe against my will, I would like to see these as what they are without trying to over-analyze the the implication the iPad as an artistic tool, or issues of authorship and quality. They are whimsy and bright, and quite frankly very charming. Plus the concept for the exhibit—a room full of iPads and iPhones projecting Hockney's drawings—seems like a true reflection of the times. Plus the possibility of being able to visit the exhibit on repeated occasions to find new works on display as Hockney e-mails them to the devices on display is exceptional.
![Pixels over Paint: Hockney's iPad Art Pixels over Paint: Hockney's iPad Art](https://m5.paperblog.com/i/0/7231/pixels-over-paint-hockneys-ipad-art-L-pRry_S.png)
Picasso would have gone mad with this. So would Van Gogh. I don’t know an artist who wouldn’t, actually.
![Pixels over Paint: Hockney's iPad Art Pixels over Paint: Hockney's iPad Art](https://m5.paperblog.com/i/0/7231/pixels-over-paint-hockneys-ipad-art-L-viYhF2.jpeg)
David Hockney's iPad Art [The Telegraph]
David Hockney, iPriest of Art [London Evening Standard]
Images via The Atlantic and the London Evening Standard
posted on 26 September at 19:39
I'm not sure when this was written, but digital art has been a very real thing for a very long time, and it is absolutely authentic. Are animators not artists? Digital illustrators? The iPad Pro has recently came out, and it's meant for artists. I have one for my art, and love it. I use the exact same methods that I use while painting traditionally (layering, texture, etc.) for my iPad paintings, and with hours of work, you can't tell the difference. It's an amazing tool that shouldn't be disregarded as not authentic. Because it is when you have training as an artist - it's just a different medium. Not everyone will be able to create amazing art digitally if they can't draw traditionally. Anyway, another thing is: these digital paintings can be printed on professional paper or even canvas, which is what I do, and hung in a gallery space. Would that make it more real? I haven't seen hockney's iPad art before, but I love it. I think it is very authentic! The tool used doesn't matter; it's more about who's holding the tool.