Several months ago, The New Yorker did a cover and article on an artist, Jorge Columbo, who creates finger paintings using his cellular phone.

While Columbo isn’t the first person to harness this medium in this way, the New Yorker cover marked an evolution in the media, where the use of touch screens and stylus has become comparable to that of pen and ink to convey an artists ideas and creativity. With an Apple IPhone and the Brushes Application, you can not only see the end result of your labor of love, but the whole creative process, which lends a whole new aspect to the age old concept of art making.

As you can see from video, the software has many qualities of natural media such as brushes and paint, but the small size and portability of the cell phone allow the artist to take the tools to the subject, so to speak.

Michael Jackson IPhone Drawing

The phone can be taken anywhere and is nearly anonymous on a crowded street full of people with lap tops, ear buds, and cellular phones of their own. A few years ago, an activity like this would have been difficult to pull off, requiring a laptop, or the more traditional pencil and paper, but in just a few short years, advances in technology and some creative software development have opened up a whole new world to the professional artist that wasn’t even available before.

It’s an interesting breakthrough to be sure, and something I’m looking forward to seeing more of in the future.