The Internet is a wonderful place -- you can find anything on it, including the results of videogame × Fauvism mash-ups.
Well, let's back up a bit. Perhaps Arizona is a wonderful place, since it's where artist James Barnett lives. From the header image, you can probably tell that he's a painter; and if you're a fan of Bethesda's Fallout 3, maybe you recognize Megaton, one of the game's largest and most memorable venues.
He painted it in the Fauvist style that was spearheaded by early-20th century modernists like Henri Matisse. The name comes from the French word for "wild beast" (un fauve), and the movement rejected realism, opting instead for striking colors and abstraction. Barnett seems to be a displaced Fauve, although his videogame adaptations are uniquely modern in their own right. He explains on his blog:
These aren't from screenshots I found online; I navigated around inside of each of the games until I found a composition I liked, and then made a painting of it. I certainly spend more time in games than wandering the idyllic countryside. There's a whole spiel behind this, starting from frustration at 3D games slavishly imitating real life ...
Barnett has a number of paintings in his "Fauxvism Series" -- scenes from Grand Theft Auto IV, Fallout 3, Half-Life 2, City of Heroes, and World of Warcraft -- which can be seen here. Prices range from about $100 to over $1000, and Barnett is available for commissions. Some of his older work includes two fantastic pieces of Alyx Vance.
If you want to read more about James Barnett and his art, be sure to check out this fantastic Wired piece from 2007.
Contest:
8:30 PM on 06.23.2009
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Exactly! It's freaking Rokkaku Dai Heights!
Also, I'd totally come up with two or three bills for the Megaton, but $1050? Not really. Sometimes it's no surprise why artists are starving. Don't get me wrong, I love it all, I'd love to own it, I just don't see him getting what he asks for. Shit, that's a new TV and change, or a kickass new gaming rig.
@TheStripe: Original art is generally a pretty high-end luxury item. If a person is still sweating a decent television or gaming rig, then art collection is probably not for them.
That being said, I wish I could afford to put Megaton up on my wall. :)
Artists are not always starving out of necessity. There's a lot of interesting reading material out there about the Bohemians of the early twentieth century.
"Blown up to canvas size, the characters from Gradius or Contra or Ninja Gaiden stop looking like games and start looking like Jungian archetypes..."
Oh you stupid pretentious cunt. This is what puts people off reading or at the very least puts them in a bad mood.
Then, I read the comment at the bottom:
"uh, welcome to the world of digital culture, guy. digital gaming has been the subject of poetry, narrative, film, or video art for as long as it has existed. gaming generally has been the subject of the arts for as long as art has existed."
This reaffirmed my faith in humanity and reminded me why I don't kill serially.