{"id":94594,"date":"2014-06-30T10:20:06","date_gmt":"2014-06-30T14:20:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=94594"},"modified":"2014-07-07T14:57:30","modified_gmt":"2014-07-07T18:57:30","slug":"creating-art-with-the-ipad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2014\/06\/creating-art-with-the-ipad\/","title":{"rendered":"Creating Art with the iPad"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"OGUIBE<\/a>
A collection of abstract prints by Professor Olu Oguibe, created using an iPad, is now on display at Real Art Ways in Hartford. (Photo courtesy of Olu Oguibe)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

When Olu Oguibe stood in line in Los Angeles in April 2010 to buy Apple\u2019s latest product, the iPad, he was curious about how he could use it to create art.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was drawn to the apps that had to do with sketching and doodling,\u201d says Oguibe, professor of art and art history in the School of Fine Arts. \u201cOriginally it didn\u2019t come with much. They had a rudimentary app, which I didn\u2019t find very amicable to the kind of thing I had in mind. Just playing around doing sketches and drawings, sharing them on Facebook, it developed from there.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Olu<\/a>
Olu Oguibe, professor of art and art history, with his iPad art. (Ken Best\/UConn Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

An artist who has worked in various media but primarily painting, Oguibe settled on the Sketchbook app used by many designers and artists to spend more time creating original art using the iPad. An exhibition of abstract prints from his iPad work created in 2010 is on display at Real Art Ways in Hartford through July 6.<\/p>\n

Oguibe, a writer and former associate director of UConn\u2019s Institute for Africana Studies, says that as he created more art, he began to think more about how to exhibit the work. A friend who is also a painter suggested printing the works on canvas.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing a painter, my interest went in that direction,\u201d he says. \u201cI hadn\u2019t thought about it. \u2026 The excitement was around the painterliness of it all. At the end of the day, once they manifest in this form, they are prints. It\u2019s very fascinating trying to look at all the different aspects. It\u2019s printmaking but there\u2019s an element of painting.\u201d<\/p>\n

Oguibe says that owing to the file size of the original iPad creations, it was only possible to print small versions of his art, approximately 5 by 7 inches, generally the type of photo print that might be obtained from any smart phone or mobile device. Working with a friend in New York, he located a commercial printer who could print out the images in a large format on canvas after transferring them to a computer and scaling them to size.<\/p>\n

\"Large<\/a>
Large prints by Olu Oguibe, featured at the exhibition of his iPad art at Real Art Ways in Hartford. (Photo courtesy of Olu Oguibe)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Real Art Ways exhibition contains five large canvases approximately 4 by 6 feet in size covering two walls in the gallery, and another 10 square works hung in two rows on a single wall. Oguibe \u2013 whose work has been exhibited in museums, galleries, and other major venues around the world \u2013 uses primarily bright colors of vertical strokes, with a few horizontal strokes. With some seemingly out-of-focus edges along some color strokes, the prints resemble images created in colorful charcoals.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s just me. It\u2019s very traditional in that sense,\u201d he says of the prints, which strongly resemble his painting style, even as he was using his index finger instead of a brush. \u201cMy goal was not to reinvent the wheel. What I want to do is use it to make pretty much what I would normally make or lead into another direction.\u201d<\/p>\n

Creating broad strokes on the iPad takes just a few seconds, he says demonstrating on the tablet he holds in his hand at the Hartford gallery. Pointing to one of the large prints highlighted by a large blue swath across the side, Oguibe says to fill the same space working on canvas with a brush \u201cwould take quite a while.\u201d<\/p>\n

Exhibitions of art created using iPads, iPhones, and other digital technology have not been widespread. Oguibe says most art created using such technology is primarily shared online or by email with friends, with only an occasional print being made.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo far I think that\u2019s been the limit of people\u2019s imagination,\u201d he says. \u201cIt was interesting to see where it could be taken.\u201d<\/p>\n

Oguibe notes that children were quickly attracted to the printed canvases at the Hartford exhibition: \u201cKids love them. I find it fascinating how they go right into the images \u2026 The works actually pull you in. There is an element of depth that one would not normally expect of digital work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Digital technology in other creative arts is not unusual \u2013 animation, film graphics, and music have been using computers for several years \u2013 but the use of this technology in art is most familiar in design, such as photo manipulation\/illustration, graphic arts, and other commercial applications.<\/p>\n

A former literary and theater critic, Oguibe continues to write scholarly articles on contemporary art theory and criticism and postcolonial and new information technology, in addition to his teaching and art. With such a busy schedule, he says the portability of the iPad allows him to still create new art when he cannot work in his studio, and he hopes this will help artists to expand the possibilities of digital art creation.<\/p>\n

\u201cMobile technology frees you up to take your studio practice with you wherever you are,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019m working with it and looking at how it informs my normal traditional painting. My sense is that mobile devices can do for painters, printmakers, or visual artists in general what the oil paint tube did for painters in the 19th century , freeing them up to work in plein aire \u2013 working on location outdoors \u2013 and giving rise to Impressionism. That\u2019s something I\u2019d like to pass on to my students as well.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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