David Hockney poses with his 1967 painting 'A Bigger Splash' in 2009.David Hockney is no stranger to playing with artistic mediums. With a career spanning nearly 60 years, Hockney has used everything from paint, Polaroids, paper pulp and just about any other medium an artist could dream up.
His newest exhibit coming to Canada will show off art created using something the rest of us are a little more familiar with.
On October 8, Toronto will welcome a new exhibit of Hockney's work at the Royal Ontario Museum created entirely on Apple's iPhone and iPad devices.
The English-born artist has been using the iPhone as a tool since 2008, when he woke up and found it the most convenient outlet for sudden inspiration.
"I began to draw the sunrise seen from my bed on the east coast of England," Hockney said in a recent Toronto.com story. "The iPhone was by my bed; it contained everything you needed; no mess; so you didn't even have to clean up."
Shortly after Hockney got his first iPhone, he began telling friends and family that they needed one too so he could share his drawings with them. He uses the Brushes application (amongst others) to bring his artistic visions to life and keeps his iPhone with him at all times for spontaneous creation.
Hockney has come to love the device so much, he's had all of his Saville Row suits - including tuxedos - custom fit with inner pockets designed to keep his iPhone close at hand.
Having his iPhone and iPad nearby has paid off: Hockney has created over 1,000 digital images to date using the two devices.
The exhibit, titled "Fresh Flowers: Drawings on iPhone and iPad" will include over 100 iPhone drawings displayed on 20 iPod Touches, and another 100 iPad drawings on 20 iPads. It will also include another 169 images in a nine-minute triptych slideshow, eight large-scale animation projects of Hockney's recent iPad drawings, and two films showing Hockney's creative process behind the drawings.
This will be Hockney's first exhibit in Canada in nearly two decades, and the North American debut of the exhibit. "Fresh Flowers" will run until Jan. 1, 2012.
You can see a sample of Hockney's work on his website here. For a look at how he creates these digital drawings, check out this video:
(Getty Photo)
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