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Big Orange Slide

Sunday, February 5th, 2012

Finger painting 2.0

September 14, 2009 by Patrick Robinson

newYorkerCover

The more things change, the more they stay the same. Just ask Jorge Colomobo. He’s the 45-year-old finger-painter that’s taking child’s play to a whole new level.

Taking photos with his iPod’s camera, Colomobo then uses the Brushes app to transform them into illustrations. While there’s nothing remarkable about using pedestrian-grade design tools to create images – think Etch-A-Sketch – in this case the results have made the cover of the New Yorker.

And so continues the fine art world’s long and difficult relationship with technological innovation.

Is it art? Is it design. Could I do that? Does it unravel the very fabric on the art-design split?

The minor controversy surrounding the illustration was addressed in the Toronto Star by David Moos. He’s the curator of contemporary art at the Art Gallery of Ontario:

“While there is an anxiety among purists that traditional ways of making art will be eclipsed, the rapport between technology and art dates back to Leonardo da Vinci . . .”

“The brush itself is a kind of technology.”

I agree. Art and design should be judged by their result, not by their method of production. In this case, I was attracted to the New Yorker cover even before I knew how it was made. Mission accomplished.

Art or imitation? Who cares. Is it good? That’s my question.

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