Being There

 

Jorge Colombo is, in my eyes, a very interesting, exciting artist with a habit for using a unique and distinctive form of media that I have never seen performed so fluently or so, just so well. The blurred blending of colours creating toneful shadows and intricate details look so effortless even when the image is expanded and blown up from the 3" x 2" inch iPhone screen. Yes; These images were drawn on an iPhone application called 'brushes', which uses only one working layer, which is like a musician making a recording in one take - "Theres no going back" and that's the way he likes it. His fascination with iPhone art started when he was browsing the web and spotted the work of Stephane Kardos, A french artist living in Los Angeles, Who also uses the application 'brushes'.

"I like to think that New yorkers who live and move around the city every day look at my drawings and think -Yes! He's got it!"

 His images have been published numerous times on the cover of the New Yorker magazine and his sketches are actually less to do with the famous Manhattan landmarks, and more about everyday glimpses of the city.

"The play of light, the proportions of buildings, the vegetation, and small details are enough for me. I don't feel I have to hit people in the head with an image to give them the feel of the place"

Most of his drawings are different areas of New York, and the main reason for this is it is his home, and using a sketchbook comes naturally to Colombo. A native to Portugal, he has also depicted Vienna and Paris on the tiny screen.
Line and then watercolour was, until his recent fascination in the iPhone art, his chosen method of sketchbook work."Now it's the other way round," he says. As the Brushes application is on such a petite screen, it forces the artist to think in consideration of the design and composition first. Line comes last in the process. Jorge works from background to foreground using only his finger on the screen to draw. This simplistic approach to drawing is very ergonomic, the technology almost disappears and leaves you with only your finger and the phone screen. A ironic use for an iPhone. Not for its intended purpose of keeping in touch with modern society, but to escape from this and draw.


More of his pictures can be found on his website:
http://jorgecolombo.com/index.htm

15th November 2010
Jamarch