Fun Stuff > CLIKC

A misunderstood masterpiece of mainstream political art.

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Will:
It wasn't too long ago, it seems, that no one who did digital manipulations in, say, Photoshop, would have been considered an artist either, and yet now in some art galleries, you see entire displays dedicated to digital prints and the like.  It seems to me that there's an especially strong bias in the arts community against those things, however artisticallly valuable they may be, that come from what may seem like "nerdy" backgrounds; a sense of "if it was done on a computer, it's not real art."  Maybe this is rooted in the same line of thought that produces the analog vs. digital argument in sound?

I wonder if the backlash against computer games as art, or Photoshopping, or whatnot, stem from some people's desire to keep the title of "Artist" exclusive to a sacred few.  For how many years, art was something that only a select few people could create, but anymore, anyone with a few extra bucks to buy some (relatively) cheap equipment can do it.  Anyone that can figure out how to post on a blog can call themselves a writer, anyone with a digital camera and a Flickr account is a photographer, anyone who can play a few chords on a guitar is a musician.  I'm not saying this is inherently bad per se, but modern technology seems to have bridged a HUGE gap that once existed between the "artist" and the "common man."  Is it possible, then, that the arguments against certain forms of art, are nothing but sour grapes?

If I'm not mistaken, Joe Hocking is a game designer; I'd be interested to hear his opinion on the subject.

KharBevNor:
The bias against digital art exists still in the fine art/art for arts sake/what not world. In the field of graphics the use of computers is obligatory, and now there's a back-lash to more traditional methods. I mean, you go to study graphics at Brighton or Bournemouth, you're lucky to see a sheet of paper. That said, a lot of people on my course, despite being far, far more trendy than me (My ambition, at the end of the day, is to be a fantasy illustrator), even the graphics students, spend most of their time fucking around with mountains of newspaper clippings, a photocopier, cellulose thinner, letraset, a light box and goodness knows what else.

You know, I suppose the fact that I am studying to enter the world of commercial art, rather than arty art, probably informs the wide range of things I would call art.

Johnny C:
Your last sentence is why I disagree with you on GTA as an art gallery. It's not. If it's anything for those modellers, animators, etc., it's more of a trade fair or an industry showcase than an art gallery. There are a lot of games I would definitely consider to be art but GTA is at most remarkably intelligent camp. Which isn't to say it's bad, because there are a lot of campy movies, books and the like which are very good. But it's not art.

Mnementh:
Art is fairly subjective, but part of why I think this game fails as any sort of commentary on poverty, politics, and economics is because it isn't perceived as art.

That problem probably pales in comparison to the fact that its market isn't a crowd that will get it. For the most part people playing this are either too young, just there to blow off steam with some video games, or apathetic to the message.  They'll mow down a crowded street full of civilians and tool around stealing cars for the testosterone high the game gives them, and I doubt very many people stop to consider how it reflects on the socioeconomic realities of modern life.  Just the fact that they're playing the game generally means that they've never had to experience the desperation of poverty that can drive someone to crime and to kill.

By way of comparison, Springsteen's Johnny 99:

Well they closed down the auto plant in Mahwah late that month
Ralph went out lookin' for a job but he couldn't find none
He came home too drunk from mixin'Tanqueray and wine
He got a gun shot a night clerk now they call'm Johnny 99

Down in the part of town where when you hit a red light you don't stop
Johnny's wavin' his gun around and threatenin' to blow his top
When an off duty cop snuck up on him from behind
Out in front of the Club Tip Top they slapped the cuffs on Johnny 99

Well the city supplied a public defender but the judge was Mean John Brown
He came into the courtroom and stared young Johnny down
Well the evidence is clear gonna let the sentence son fit the crime
Prison for 98 and a year and we'll call it even Johnny 99

A fistfight broke out in the courtroom they had to drag Johnny's girl away
His mama stood up and shouted "Judge don't take my boy this way"
Well son you got a statement you'd like to make
Before the bailiff comes to forever take you away

Now judge judge I had debts no honest man could pay
The bank was holdin' my mortgage and they was takin' my house away
Now I ain't sayin' that makes me an innocent man
But it was more 'n all this that put that gun in my hand

Well your honor I do believe I'd be better off dead
And if you can take a man's life for the thoughts that's in his head
Then won't you sit back in that chair and think it over judge one more time
And let 'em shave off my hair and put me on that execution line

ackblom12:
Of course I see no reason as to why art made for profit should not be considered art. If it isn't then many of the old commissioned pieces by some of the greats would be nothing more than trade paintings, but definitely are not considered so by anyone that doesn't want to sound like an ass.

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