Pwned Paintings # 2, 2008, Digital Video, 1:10 min. from Michiel van der Zanden on Vimeo.
"In my work I import the world of digital media into painting and vice versa, which often results in an assembly of ‘low’ and ‘high’ culture. I’m using images of digital entertainment, such as videogames and YouTube videos, or the 3D program Blender. These images are reproduced and reworked on the computer and used as a starting point (sketch) for my paintings.
For years I have been fascinated by the specific language of videogame graphics. For me the videogame is an ideal starting point, because I had already been working with traditional collages and the videogame in its essence, is a rather perspectivistic (photo-)collage.
Before, I used to extract images from existing games, nowadays I mostly use Blender 3D modeling software to build my own game worlds. Within these worlds of videogames, I’m looking for friction with the ‘real’ world: Behind my PC, I’m collecting screenshots (using the Print Screen button), much like a tourist or a reporter. On the other hand am I looking for game-elements in reality, so I make pictures or small notes with ideas derived from reality.
After that, I’ll often create a new setting or space, with one or more characters, events and/or objects. On top of that, I will try to break the videogame’s original intention: I will pause at a diner which is just used as scenery in a racing game…A machinegun from a game is exhibited in a military museum…A clown is closely guarded in a luxurious villa. But I also have a run with traditional painting techniques, such as portraits and landscapes. I will take elements out of a videogame and give them a new function and context. Murals from a videogame, become a 17th century “Trompe l'oeil” (a perspective optical illusion), or a soldier’s face, who’s face in the context of the videogame seems less important, is now portrayed attentively." (Michiel Van Der Zanden, 2009)
Link: Michiel Van Der Zanden (Thanks to Valentina Tanni)
Related: Tobias Bernstrup and Palle Torsson's "Museum Meltdown"
Related: Chris Reilly's "Everything I Do is Art, But Nothing I Do Makes Any Difference, Part II Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Gallery" (2006)
Thx for the post! ADDED!
PS: My last-name is 'van deR zanden' ;)
Posted by: Michiel van der Zanden | 02/01/2010 at 01:14