Listen, we don't know what Fauvism is, but we know cool art when we see it. Artist James Barnett's oil paintings of scenes from Fallout 3, Grand Theft Auto 4 and Team Fortress 2, are done in the early 20th Century style known for strong lines and color.
We asked Barnett, who has spent more hours in those games than he cares to admit, what inspired him to create images from those games in the style of Les Fauves. He told us, "I really liked the idea of turning on its head the idea of PC 3D video games that had been trying so hard to get everything as close to reality as possible. You have teams of super-talented artists and designers, and you just try and imitate normal old reality? Come on, people! Do something weird! There are enough overmuscled, gritty space marines in brown-grey hallways. I'm less annoyed about this than I used to be thanks to games like Braid and Super Mario Galaxy, and cel shading, etc."
Barnett, who has also done woodcut pieces depicting the Space Invaders, added that the idea of using an age-old process to depict something that couldn't exist at the time was a nice experience. If you've got the cash, you can always purchase Barnett's work from his site. If you've got more cash, you can commission a piece.
Reader Comments (22)
Posted: Jun 24th 2009 7:06PM Negativecool said
Holy shit, I actually understand that.
Looks awesome!
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Looks awesome!
Posted: Jun 24th 2009 11:14PM DerickDBrown said
Yeah, I see HL2 and no GTA.
Someone got confused?
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Someone got confused?
Posted: Jun 25th 2009 12:06AM (Unverified) said
There's one GTA piece, Michelle's place. Overall, fantastic pieces. If I were not a lowly student, I would gladly snatch one of these up.
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Posted: Jun 24th 2009 10:54PM Levi Partridge said
Feh, Impressionism is so boring and trite. Impressionism was Realism anyways in Monet's eyes.
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Posted: Jun 24th 2009 11:07PM (Unverified) said
Impressionism means art by a select few who considered themselves in a way avant garde. You know that, right?
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Posted: Jun 24th 2009 11:10PM (Unverified) said
Garish huh? Thanks for stating the obvious. Why do you think it's called fauvism? :p
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Posted: Jun 24th 2009 11:24PM (Unverified) said
I've always been a fan of Dadaism, but that's just me.
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Posted: Jun 24th 2009 10:49PM Levi Partridge said
Horay! I didn't need Fauvism explained to me to understand this article. My Art History degree finally pays off!
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Posted: Jun 24th 2009 11:12PM (Unverified) said
I'm just glad for my Survey classes I have to take in order to get my Masters in Architecture. Yeah for knowledge in the fields of art!
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Posted: Jun 25th 2009 12:13AM (Unverified) said
Yeah, that threw me off a bit. If you look at the paintings, the ones based of TF2 don't look all that different from their actual counterparts; the only difference is the painted filter and a few color accents here and there. The others look wonderfully different though, especially the Megaton painting. Absolutely fantastic.
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Posted: Jun 25th 2009 11:01PM Seven Weasels Running on a Keybo said
I like the style - they look a messy up close, but when you pull back, the shades meld together into a picture that looks more crisp, detailed, and recognizable than the imperfect shapes that make up the whole.
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