| From Madden NFL 2007 to Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, videogames are firmly enmeshed in modern culture. Acknowledging the increasing cultural impact of this rapidly changing industry, Videogames and Art is one of the first books devoted to the study of videogame art, featuring in-depth essays that offer an unparalleled overview of the field.
The distinguished contributors range broadly over this vast intellectual terrain, positioning videogame art as a crucial interdisciplinary mix of digital technologies and the traditions of pictorial art. They examine machinima and game console artwork, politically oriented videogame art, and the production of digital art; they also interview prominent videogame artists about their work. Rounding out Videogames and Art is a critique of the commercial videogame industry comprising several critical essays on the current quality and originality of videogames.
An essential volume for our digital age, Videogames and Art will be a fascinating read for players, fans, skeptics, and scholars alike.
This book, Videogames and Art, is one of the first books to provide a complete overview of the field of videogame art – that is to say, art produced with or influenced by videogames. In selecting the essays and interviews to be included in this book, we have sought not only to give an indication of the current state of videogame art – and its major practitioners and genres – but also to place this work in a broader critical context. Its intention is to show that even though this area of digital art is comparatively young and exhibits a wide variety of different styles and techniques, it none the less forms a distinct and coherent artistic movement – united by shared aesthetic concerns – and is therefore worthy of being taken seriously as an art form. |