It's written on the wall

A profile of a young and upcoming artist

These days, it's all about innovation when it comes to art, and no-one knows this better than up-and-coming British visual artist, Jordan Clarke. The 23-year-old graphic artist is one of the new wave of designers exploring new media to make a name for themselves in the artistic world.

But Jordan's canvas isn't your typical, able to be framed and hung sort of artwork - he designs images for wallpaper for computers and mobile phones. With his attention drawn to accessible art, he discovered that there was a whole market out there for his innovative and appealing designs.

"I got the idea just by chance", he admits whilst rolling a cigarette in between sips of coffee in his studio on the outskirts of London, "I'd been travelling through Europe a few years ago, and I met an artist in Berlin who explained to me the secret of his success. He wasn't getting his deserved recognition with his large-scale works, so he decided to think a little out of the square. After photographing some of his works and converting them to a postcard-sized form, he found that they sold really well for a few deutsche marks here and there, and occasionally a few dollars or pounds from tourists passing though. He'd got the idea when he'd observed the popularity of free postcards in cafes, like Avant Cards, and so he thought that there might be a way to get his message across, for less than the price of a cup of coffee!"

Jordan took this suggestion to heart and experimented with creating designs first for older Nokia phones and now even with the new Nokia N96 and handsets of many other makes and models.

It's a field of creation that's getting more and more recognition too. When he started designing, and people asked him what he did, Jordan admits that "the reply that I worked with wallpapers always made them think I was into interior design, but now there is a general recognition that wallpaper isn't just for walls!"