Monday, June 29, 2009 10:48 AM
When art imitates (virtual) life
Just a quick post this morning to direct you to a video game artist’s web site.
No, I’m not talking about one of the talented folks that design the look and feel of your favourite games, but rather James Barnett, an American painter who carefully selects scenes from the games he plays, including Half-Life 2, Grand Theft Auto IV, and Fallout 3, and uses oil and brush to create vibrant—and surprisingly serene, given the subject matter—landscape paintings on wood panels.
James Barnett
"Magaton", a 48-by-32-inch oil painting rendered on a cradled wood panel. It's part of a series of paintings by American artist James Barnett, who is inspired by the virtual landscapes in the video games he plays.
Mr. Barnett writes on his site that “there's a whole spiel behind this, starting from frustration at 3-D games slavishly imitating real life (though this has been lessened thanks to Braid and others), but really, artists should shut up and make pictures.”
There are a dozen pieces in his video game landscape series, which he calls Fauxvism, and ten are still available for purchase. His site, which includes images of all of his Fauxvism paintings, is definitely worth a quick visit. Who knows, maybe one of his works will become your next living room conversation piece.
And stay tuned; my impressions of The Conduit for the Wii are coming later today...
