Game Art: Mathew Zefeldt and game aesthetics
Painter Martin Zefeldt's (b. 1987 in Clayton, California) combines ancient Greek imagery with video game aesthetics borrowed from first person shooters like Castle Wolfenstein, Doom and Duke Nukem. His style is both explosive and methodical, with the same motifs often repeated obsessively on the same canvas. His retro-nostalgic ludic influences are often juxtaposed to more traditional art themes appropriated from a variety of sources - from popular culture to classical styles, from art history to the vernacular. Some paintings, like Green Screen Shadow Rain (2016), seem to evoke the vibrant and syrupy palettes of Candy Crush. Others create dazzling and dizzying effects, trompe l'oeils 2.0. His 2D reproductions of barrels, doors (like this one from Duke Nukem), mirrors (do you recognize this one?) and pipes remind me of both Aram Bartholl and Damiano Colacito's obsessions. Zefeldt has not simply captured the zeitgeist: he's updating it.
Mathew Zefeldt received his MFA in Studio Art at University of California, Davis in 2011. He previously graduated in Art at the University of California, Santa Cruz. His work has been exhibited in several solo and group shows across the United States.
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