In case you’re wondering, yes those are all cell phones. They are the work of new media artist Rob Petit, who first began experimenting with mobile phones as an art medium a year to two ago. Since then he has gone on to make some visually stunning pictures by literally just piling up lots of cell phones on top of each other. Now I know that the term “Art” is a horribly loaded one, and these days you have all kinds of weirdos claiming to be artists, especially in art-starved Singapore where we practically welcome anyone as an artists. Still, just looking through his only gallery, it is difficult to not be moved by some of Rob’s works, a characteristic (dare I say) of somethign that is truly artistic.

Take the above picture for example. The cynic can just dryly point out that “hey guys, it’s just a pile of old phones for crying out loud!” But look closer, and you can just sort of draw away some emotions away from the picture. First in the center you have the illuminated, but no longer working sets of cell phones. They are almost in a sort of a halo of light, a kind of weird version of religious paintings of gods and angels. The phrase Deus Ex Machina (god from the machine) almost immediately comes to mind. Just like how the Renaissance celebrated the beauty of man, these days we celebrate the beauty of tech.

Then as the eye travels out wards, into the darkened areas of the boarder, there is almost a sense of dread. Doesn’t it remind you (somewhat eerily) of the sentinel robots from the Matrix? That idea of some kind of evil machine sentience? All the little screens gleaming every so slightly in the darkness. It is almost as if the whole picture were a statement on technology itself - the glory and beauty of it all, but every framed by hidden dangers that we would be well aware of.

The rest of Rob Petit’s work can be viewed at his site.