GAMESCENES

Game Art: Robert Overweg's "Flying and Floating" (2010)

Robert Overweg, Stairway To the Sky 2011 (Mafia 2)

Robert Overweg, Apartment One 2011 (Mafia 2)

Robert Overweg, Hotel 2011 (Mafia 2)

Glossy print on dibond with plexiglas in front of photo 72 x 41 cm. Limited edition of 5. 

"Continuing to photograph in the virtual world I am trying to find new ways to photograph in and through the virtual world. Trying to achieve the image where a photograph becomes more than the game. No editing or collage involved." (Robert Overweg)

link: Robert Overweg

related: interview, podcast, focus, installation, shot

Submitted by Matteo Bittanti

Game Art: Ashley Anderson's "Rainstorm Below Summit" (2010)

Ashley Anderson, Rainstorm Below Summit, 2010; Digital collage of found game imagery, 6 x 4 inches

"The minute I found this image online I fell in love. I immediately recognized this image from my love of ukiyo-e prints, specifically those of Katsushika Hokusai. This image is based on his famous print "Rainstorm Beneath the Summit" from his series "36 Views of Mt. Fuji". This pixellated version of the Hokusai print appears as the title screen of Sega's 1985 Japanese arcade game "I'm Sorry". Strangely enough, this game includes Michael Jackson among its characters." (Ashley Anderson)

Link: Ashley Anderson

Submitted by Matteo Bittanti

Game Art: Ashley Anderson's "Michael Jackson, Moonwalker" (2010)

Michael Jackson, Moonwalker, 2010 Digital collage of found game imagery, 6 x 4 inches

"I spent many a quarter at the Sandersville Walmart in the early 90's playing and eventually beating this game (this game being Michael Jackson's Moonwalker by Sega. Fun game, not ugly like most Sega games. I recently rediscovered this game via MAME; however, my copy has jacked-up colors and textures, so if you folks out there can point me to a reliable copy I'd greatly appreciate it!

Anyhow, I want to further explore the images of Michael Jackson, but this card was my way of having a decent first taste of messing with the imagery of the game, specifically of Jackson's death animation. If you look closely, it appears the game's designers made Michael assume the crotch-grab position whenever he dies; awesome.

I recolored Jackson's outfit and hair to mimic Jeff Koons' sculpture of Michael. I recently got to hear Jeff Koons speak at the High Museum (and shake his hand!!!), so I'm a bit fascinated at present.

The background of outer space is from Space Invaders '95: Attack of the Lunar Loonies and the earth and moon are from Capcom's quintessential beat'em up Aliens vs. Predator." (Ashley Anderson, 2010)

link: Ashley Anderson

Submitted by Matteo Bittanti

Game Art: Hollis Brown Thornton's "Closing Credits at the End of the Movie" (2010)

Hollis Brown Thornton, Closing Credits at the End of the Movie, permanent marker on paper, 22 1/2 x 30 inches, hbt10-p004, 2010

"The Closing Credits at the End of the Movie represents the beginning of the video-game age as well as our fascination with end-of-the-world scenarios.

These ideas weave into my overall theme of "The Earth on the Back of the Giant Turtle," a reference to a Native American creation myth. It relates to how the beliefs or values of one culture or time period are going to change or be completely obsolete in the future and how our relationship with reality changes, with that reality becoming more and more of a virtual or digital one today. The use of markers in the original drawings lightens up these themes, giving them a bit of youth and pizzazz." (Hollis Brown Thornton)

link: Hollis Brown Thornton

Submitted by Matteo Bittanti

Game Art: Miltos Manetas' "Spore" at HyperLucid

Miltos Manetas, Spore drawing, Vibracolour print on superglossy paper, 40 x60 inches, 2008. Courtesy the artist.

Miltos Manetas, the Godfather of Game Art, has been playing with Maxis' Spore. His latest game-drawings - inspired by Wright's evolutionary simulation - are currently on display in Prague at the Prague Biennale (May 14 - July 26 2009), as part of an exhibition called "HyperLucid" curated by Domenico Quaranta. The artists line-up features  Alterazioni Video; Gazira Babeli; Shane Hope; Miltos Manetas (APT London); Gerhard Mantz; Eva and Franco Mattes; UBERMORGEN.COM; Damon Zucconi. 

Here's the full description:

"Reality is not the one we were used to anymore. Media infiltrate it more and more, and fill up our dreams, which usually come when our eyes are open. Wide open. In the frame of “Expanded Painting”, H Y P E R L U C I D is an exhibition collecting works born on the invisible edge between two different levels of reality (apparent reality and media reality), and documenting the continuous trespassing from one level to the other. The walls in between are more and more porous, and sometimes even the more lucid gaze can’t help but wonder which level of reality it is looking at in a particular moment. All of us had this feeling, in front of 9/11 pictures. Media don’t produce simulacra anymore: they produce events, history, life. They overwhelm us with icons, brands, pixellated images of tortures, wars, outrages. The hardest fight happens there. They help us to construct new levels of reality, both abstract and hyperreal, and to get used to them. Finally, videogames are the places of our training: there, through more and more complex social and narrative dynamics, and through a photorealism which even overcomes our playing needs, we forget how to recognize simulation, and we exercise our brain for the next step: the one in which, between tangible reality, simulated reality and media reality there are no barriers anymore, but only the sheets, translucent and easy to pass through, of a chinese shadows theater. We took the last train to the world of Perky Pat, and there is no way to come back. H Y P E R L U C I D doesn’t collects paintings. Here, painting is not a medium, but a cultural frame, a context of reference for the new generation of the image makers. Alterazioni Video, Gazira Babeli, Shane Hope, Miltos Manetas, Gerhard Mantz, Eva and Franco Mattes, UBERMORGEN.COM and Damon Zucconi, no longer paint: they shoot, they manipulate, they code, they make scripts, sometimes they fight with other virtual characters. Yet, in the end, they produce images. For more information & downloadable images, click here" (Domenico Quaranta)