Fallout 3, GTA and Team Fortress 2 as seen through Fauvism
by Alexander Sliwinski 
{ Jun 24th 2009 at 7:01PM } 
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.
Gallery: Barnett's Fauvism series
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Negativecool @ Jun 24th 2009 7:06PM
Holy shit, I actually understand that.
Looks awesome!
MaliceMajorE15 @ Jun 24th 2009 7:17PM
wasnt this article posted today already?
Matt the Catt @ Jun 24th 2009 7:19PM
yeah it was
ArchiGamer @ Jun 24th 2009 7:22PM
I LOVE THIS STYLE!!
AND THESE PAINTINGS!!
Kodros @ Jun 24th 2009 7:28PM
AND ALL CAPS!!
Glenn @ Jun 24th 2009 8:40PM
I LOVE THIS PAINTING ALMOST AS MUCH AS I LOVE CAPS!!
I don't see a lot of GTA there, but I definitely see some Half Life 2
WiredKnight @ Jun 24th 2009 7:27PM
He has some from Half-Life 2 as well.
Derick @ Jun 24th 2009 11:14PM
Yeah, I see HL2 and no GTA.
Someone got confused?
cknblade @ Jun 25th 2009 12:06AM
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.
TheDemiurge @ Jun 24th 2009 8:23PM
Looks like the cover of a Radiohead album
Jrinswand @ Jun 24th 2009 8:32PM
Meh. I've always found Fauvist paintings to be garish. Impressionism is where it's at.
Levi (God Hand Defense Force) @ Jun 24th 2009 10:54PM
Feh, Impressionism is so boring and trite. Impressionism was Realism anyways in Monet's eyes.
ArchiGamer @ Jun 24th 2009 11:07PM
Impressionism means art by a select few who considered themselves in a way avant garde. You know that, right?
animeko @ Jun 24th 2009 11:10PM
Garish huh? Thanks for stating the obvious. Why do you think it's called fauvism? :p
LordToastington @ Jun 24th 2009 11:24PM
I've always been a fan of Dadaism, but that's just me.
Jrinswand @ Jun 25th 2009 7:59AM
@ArchiGamer - That isn't what Impressionism means.
@animeko - Touché.
@LordToastington - Some Dadaism was pretty cool. Take Duchamp for example. Fountain was stupid as hell but Nude Descending a Staircase was really cool.
Levi (God Hand Defense Force) @ Jun 24th 2009 10:49PM
Horay! I didn't need Fauvism explained to me to understand this article. My Art History degree finally pays off!
ArchiGamer @ Jun 24th 2009 11:12PM
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!
Guess_Who @ Jun 24th 2009 11:45PM
Wait, he's ranting about PC games that use super-gritty, realistic art styles... and includes TF2 in this? Wut?
cknblade @ Jun 25th 2009 12:13AM
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.
michas_pi @ Jun 25th 2009 12:12PM
This is art, pure and simple.
gst @ Jun 25th 2009 11:01PM
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.