Daniel Leighton Art + AR2.9.1 - App Store

Daniel Leighton is a contemporary fine artist who merged his painting, filmmaking, storytelling and technology backgrounds by incorporating augmented reality into his iPad paintings.

Daniel’s work has been featured by Timothy Potts, Director of the Getty Museum in Los Angeles, Bryan Barcena Museum of Contemporary Art (MoCA), Nicholas Barlow, Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), Victoria and Albert Museum in London, where he recently spoke, the LA Center for Digital Art (LACDA), Technarte, the San Luis Obispo Museum of Art (SLOMA) and more.

Having Crohn’s Disease since birth, Leighton faced his mortality from a very young age. Countless invasive procedures, hospitalizations and surgeries helped drive him to dive deep into a lifelong quest to understand the workings of his body and his emotions.

He creates emotional portraits with simple lines and brilliant colors to capture complex states of the human psyche, while exploring the possibilities of technology and human emotion being harnessed for the greater good.

When viewed through this app, Daniel Leighton Art+AR, his paintings come to life as a narrative accompanying the painting; using animation, film and particle systems to further capture a feeling and story.

One example is the painting "On Trial" where anger is evident in the faces and pointing fingers of the characters and the moon looking down at the scene has a single tear. When viewed through Leighton's augmented reality app, the painting catches fire and the only way to put out the fire is to tap on the moon which begins to cry therefore putting out the flames with the tears. This piece is about anger in the form of blame and judgment, and shows how when feelings are expressed, anger subsides.

Another example is a painting called "A Substance Called Understanding." Through the augmented reality and interactivity (tapping) the room fills up with hearts and the sound of many, layered voices saying "I love you". Leighton has a total of 11 paintings which incorporate augmented reality.

If you like this app, please leave us a review or rating as it will help us get more people to see it. Also, please share it with your friends. Thank you!

Version History Recent updates:

Brand New AR: In The Cave with Voice Reactive AR - Change the art with your voice!
Brand New AR: Funeral

New Version of AR in: Nauseous By The Toilet and Opening Up

In this update:
Bug fixes and improvements 2.9.1 03/30/2025 Bug fixes, improvements and surprises 2.9 03/22/2025 *Updates to Opening Up AR

*New AR: In The Cave: Bring your voice to life with interactive AR that responds to what you say, creating a dynamic and immersive experience!

*Refinements and bug fixes 2.8.10 03/21/2025 New AR: In The Cave: Bring your voice to life with interactive AR that responds to what you say, creating a dynamic and immersive experience! 2.8.9 03/21/2025 Bug fixes 2.8.8 02/15/2025 Bug fixes and new AR for “Nauseous By The Toilet” 2.8.7 02/14/2025 Fixes, updates and improvements. 2.8.6 03/07/2024 NEW: AR for "Bound/Unbound"

Plus other fixes, tweaks and updates for current and future versions 2.8.5 03/06/2024 New AR for "Opening Up"
Bug fixes 2.8.3 07/22/2023 "Human Debris", "Where Are We Now?", "Nauseous By The Toilet" are back! Still some more changes to come, but glad to have them working again!

Additional bug fixes 2.8.1 06/22/2022 Bug, compatibility fixes plus a few improvements.

Lots of under the hood work to modernize app and prepare for future features. 2.8 06/14/2021 Bug fixes and improvements 2.7 02/13/2020 Updated AR! "Tied Up At The Hospital" now with a poem written and read by Sarah Morris
Bug fixes and minor changes to "George" 2.6.5 07/13/2019 New AR: “George” - come see it at one of my upcoming shows (click “Events” tab on my web site: http://www.danielleighton.com
Numerous tweaks and bug fixes. 2.6 06/22/2019 NEW: "Human Debris" - brand new Augmented Reality
NEW: "Inside Man" - brand new Augmented Reality
UPDATED: Amazing new musical gestures for Just One Moment by composer Christian Laszlo (check out his work at http://christianlaszlo.com)

Plus updated touch engine and many other improvements

View all paintings at Daniel's current exhibit at the San Luis Obispo Museum of Art (SLOMA) through June 10, 2018. Check DanielLeighton.com for the latest list of shows. 2.5 05/03/2018 NEW: "Threshold"
NEW: "The Space Between Us"
UPDATED: "A Substance Called Understanding"
UPDATED: "Trust The Ground"
Plus other minor updates.

Explore and discover yourself or visit the "Augmented Reality" section of the Web site (DanielLeighton.com) for the tip sheet, which will help you find every interactive feature available.

If you're in Los Angeles, come see fine art prints in person at the MARS Festival, April 14th - 23rd and Angel City Brewery through May 17th. For updates on future showings, please check the Web site. 2.3 04/14/2017 Bug fixes and minor improvements. 2.2.1 06/24/2016 *Added ability to take photos within the app - now take pictures of the AR with you or your friends within the app!

*Bug fixes

*Other changes and improvements 2.2 04/04/2016 *The big change in version 2.1 is in "A Substance Called Understanding": audio of layers and layers of voices saying "I LOVE YOU". It's quite beautiful. To start, tap on either of the two figures protruding out of the main bodies to invoke "kissing" animation and the release of thousands of hearts. Next, tap on tap on either of the spirals in the head of the main figure on the left to hear the audio. Tap again to add more voices. You can then set your device down and just take in the audio. You'll feel good afterward, I promise! To stop the audio, aim your device at "A Substance Called Understanding" once again and tap on either of the protruding figures.

*Kickstarter supporters and music credits have also been added under the "Help" section.

*I also fixed a few bugs

*More tips available on my web site: DanielLeighton.com/AR

*If you like what I'm doing please leave a good review and share with your friends and networks. Thanks! 2.1 03/16/2016 VERSION 2.0!
7 NEW AR paintings! One from the Opening Up collection, 5 from the "Permission To Enter" collection, plus the "Permission To Enter" show image!

New types of animations and all new AR!

Responses to the new AR: "Amazing!", "Mind-Blowing!”, "Incredible!", "Revolutionary!"

See for yourself! Download the app and come to my current solo exhibition to experience it live and in person.

If you like what I'm doing please leave a review. It's really helpful to spread the word about this app!

Thank you for using my app! 2.0 10/24/2015 New: re-edited first video with new footage
Fix: ios 8 compatibility changes 1.1 03/12/2015 *Minor text changes
*Changed Moon button in "On Trial" so that you no longer need to hold it down. Tap once to turn on, tap once to turn off.

iOS 8 Users: if the AR Camera doesn't come on, go to the Settings app and scroll down until you find "Daniel Leighton Art + AR". Tap on the name and allow the app to access your camera. If you need additional help, please contact us through the support link. An update which will fix this and add a new video has already been submitted to Apple for review. 1.0.1 05/29/2014 1.0 02/27/2014