Pop art, or Neo-Dada art, is a style that employs the use of populist, rather than high culture, elements. Depending on your view of these matters, it’s either an expansion of abstract expressionism, or a reaction to it.

Since early 2005, the 8-Bit Artist has been painting authentic renditions of Nintendo games from the 8-bit era - taking what is considered to be the lowest of all forms of artistic expression, and bringing the iconography of the medium to the canvas. In many ways, this goes beyond pop art even, and well into the realm of postmodernist art, at least in the definition of the form by Jean Baudrillard who wrote that art is not the search for originality or authenticity, but rather the desire for novelty - although, far from being a bad thing, Baudrillard explains that this is an integrated and organic phenomenon.

In this sense, and in the sense that postmodernist art is often a pastiche of what has come before, 8-Bit Artist’s work attempts to make sense of the confusion that exists in a generation who have grown up with this imagery, but have been told that this is not “true” art.

Film critic Roger Ebert recently commented that ” video games represent a loss of those precious hours we have available to make ourselves more cultured, civilized and empathetic”. The work of the 8-Bit Artist challenges this, though he may not see it that way himself:

“I just do this as a hobby and side gig,” he says. Little Mathletics spoke to 8-Bit Artist recently about games as art, and his work.

What’s your background in art? Have you studied painting?

I did study a little bit of art in college, but actually when I was in college at Pennsylvania State University, I was actually studying Kinesiology (the study of movement) as my major. I actually left school because I didn’t like my major. I got into art more through my friends who are artists like Gus Fink.

Do you know of anyone else working in the same way you do?

Actually yes, there is another guy doing what I do. His stuff is kind of sloppy looking and the colors seem kind of blotchy. I think my stuff is much better, but I believe he is in the same boat as I am when it comes to just doing it as a hobby, so more power to him. Maybe one day we can have an 8-bit painting showdown.

What about your gaming background?

My gaming background consists of starting with the beloved NES. Then moved up to SNES. I made the mistake of buying a Sega Saturn so I didn’t play it all that much since stores stopped carrying games for it a year after I bought it. I do own a PS2, but it is basically a DVD player for me. I haven’t played that in a long time, but I do still play my top loader NES, SNES and my Sega Genesis since I missed out on that as a kid. I never had an Atari but I did play it down at a friends house a few times.

What do you think the attraction to “retro” systems is?

I think its just childhood fondness. You will always remember the sweet toys you had. For me, the NES was the top king, but I also have a place in my heart for old 80’s toys like Battle Beasts, Madballs, M.U.S.C.L.E Men, G.I. JOE and He-Man. I was actually throwing around the idea of doing a pixilated He-Man piece, but that’s all hearsay for now.

How do you go about painting one of your pieces?

Well, I’ve only been painting for about a year now. I wanted a Mega Man piece painted like the sprite from the video game and I asked my good friend, who is a painter, to paint me it for my birthday since she asked what I wanted. She got really busy with other stuff and never got around to it, but I wanted the painting so bad, I thought to myself, “It’s just squares, I do can that myself”. So I tried it and it came out ok, nothing like the pieces I do now, but I got better and better with practice just like with anything.

Have you attempted any kind of pixel-art on the computer?

Well, I have MS Paint on my computer, that’s about it. I’m pretty dumb when it comes to the likes of Photoshop and Illustrator. I just like the idea of me sitting down with a blank canvas in front of me and getting to paint something that I think is cool looking and that I know other people will like.

Why have you chosen to focus on painting 8-bit scenes?

8-Bit is just so near and dear to my heart. I started this as a hobby. Never in my wildest dreams would I of thought people would buy pieces from me or ask me to paint them specific scenes. I love the 8-bit style. Just by using little colored squares, you can make something look so damn cool, I just love it. A lot of people around my age who owned a NES have fond memories of sitting in front of there TV like 2 feet away playing Super Mario Bros and there is that one long jump where you think “How the hell am I going to make this?!” but then as you jump,. you move your controller along with your character to magically make him jump longer so you don’t die. I love when people will look at a painting I did and it just takes them back to those times.

Or moving the controller to the side in racing games. It’s funny that the Revolution controller is going to actually work like that. You know, I still crane my neck to look around corners in 3D games.

Yes! I think that’s a product of playing the old school games when you were younger. I know when I moved my controller along with the jump, damnit, it made me jump farther! I am interested to see how the Revolution controller is going to work. I’m not all that familiar with it, but if that’s the case, I think it seems cool in theory but if I’ve got to swing that controller every time I want Link to swing his sword, it might get old, at least to me.

There’s no chance you’ll move on to 16-bit games in a year or so?

Haha, that question is my most asked question with people. They all want me to do 16-bit pieces. Maybe one day I will, this is still relatively new to me. Only problem is I have so many 8-bit games I want to pay tribute to, that I might not ever get to the 16-bit games.

How do you go about creating one of your pieces?

I try and find a scene that is action packed and fun to look at or is just a plain cool idea. If I don’t just create a scene using sprites, I will play with my NES emulator and try to capture a scene, after that, I will open it and start to draw out the scene on graph paper. Then I’ll get the canvas ready and start to it.

I know you’re not too impressed with masking, but do you tend to grid up the canvas after mapping the piece out?

When I first started, I gridded the canvas. I’m really trying to get away from that. I don’t do it with as much stuff as I once did. The only problem I have with masking is that it takes way to long to do and I think masking takes a little bit away from the piece. To mask off each individual color, it would take me weeks upon weeks to finish a complex piece. Gridding isn’t terrible, I know painters that draw their stuff out then paint the picture over the drawing, but in all actuality, as long as you have a steady hand and patience to actually paint a piece square by square, you can probably do what I do. There are much more talented and incredible artists out there that have done video game related pieces - you can check that out at http://www.iam8bit.net . Some notable names that have done video game related stuff are Mike Matei, Greg Simkins, Josh Holland, bLiNkY and Gabe Swarr.

Do you think your work is a kind of pop art?

It could be claimed as pop art, some people might say it’s just fan art. Painters have been doing similar stuff for a long time - maybe not video games specifically, but you know.

How many pieces have you done so far?

I have probably done around 30 or so pieces as of now. Some games that have been done are Super Mario Bros. 1, Super Mario Bros. 2, Super Mario Bros. 3, Kid Icarus, Super Dodgeball, Contra, Final Fantasy, Kid Niki, The Legend of Zelda, Dragon Warrior, Mega Man 1, Mega Man 2, Ninja Gaiden, River City Ransom, Metroid, Mike Tyson’s Punch Out, Dr. Mario, Duck Hunt, Castlevania 2, Kirby and Bionic Commando.

Games I would like to paint are Battletoads, Ghosts ‘N’ Ghouls, Double Dragon, Bubble Bobble, Wizards & Warriors, Snow Brothers, Gargoyles Quest II and RC Pro AM.

Bubble Bobble is my all time favourite. I’m looking forward to seeing that.

Bubble Bobble is one of my favorite games. I remember my dad and I playing that game all the way through. I was toying around the idea of doing the end boss battle with lightning bolts shooting everywhere.

Have you sold many of them?

As of right now, I’ve sold about 25 or so. I am in my first art show called Video Armageddon in State College, Pennsylvania on April 1st with some awesome bands (a couple cover old video games) so I plan on selling a lot more at this show.

Do you get many requests for specific pieces?

I get about 2 a week, unfortunately, most people are flaky and never follow through. Keep in mind, this is strictly from myspace, I haven’t put any up on eBay or anything. I am currently working on a website to display all my paintings besides using MySpace and Deviant Art. As I stated before, I only started this as a hobby to try and keep me sane in a very boring town. I started to post my art on myspace and people really took to it. Even if I never sell another piece again (which wasn’t the intention when I first started) I will still be posting new paintings all the time. My entire house is like a Nintendo art gallery. Very dorky yes, but it is something I love doing and have fun doing it, which is all that matters in life. Whether it be the real world or the Mushroom Kingdom.

Do you think games can be art, without being decontexualised in the way you do?

Most definitely. The character design and quirky yet fun backgrounds in say the Mario games are just great art designs. The game designers are just using a different medium than your traditional artist.

Do you think taking the visual experience away from the game makes it more valid artistically?

I’ve had people tell me that what I’m doing is copyright infringement and that they are going to email Nintendo and tell them about me. Haha, I’m sure a possibly multi billion dollar corporation doesn’t give a shit about little ole me painting some Nintendo dudes. Some people might think since I am just “copying”, and that my stuff isn’t original. I don’t think this is really true because if you had the choice between having say, my big Contra piece done as a painting or maybe just a blown up print of the actual screen shot, I think people would like the painting more. I like the word “recreating”. Knowing that someone hand painted the scene and seeing the brush strokes and colors they used. It’s more appealing to the eye I believe.

I think you’re pretty safe - it’s the same as videogame cover bands.

Pretty much. I read in your Xoc interview (who actually purchased some of my art) that The Minibosses and The Advantage said that Nintendo kind of looks the other way. Although if I’m not mistaken, I think The Advantage was featured in Nintendo Power, and another person, Shawn Phase - who does similar stuff - was also featured. So it seems that they actually embrace it in some sorts. If I was Nintendo’s president or CEO or whatever, I would actually be flattered. Free promotion, you know.

It is very different though - you’re using their designs, but you’re using a different medium.

Exactly, just as long as you take it for what it is; a big fan paying tribute to the games of yesteryear, you should enjoy them. I don’t go around saying I’ve made these characters or saying that are my creations. Obviously, everyone knows who created Link and Mario, the great and very creative Shigeru Miyamoto. I’ve actually had someone send me an angry email stating that I’m saying these are my own original character designs, which is just ludicrous.

You can visit the 8-Bit Artist’s MySpace page here in order to contact him for commissions, or visit his Deviant Art page here, where you can find the full resolution pictures of his work.