in addition...

I just wanted to follow up on that last posting with some more examples of art coming from the video game world.

Yoshitaka Amano - a phenomenal artist who owes much of his fame to the illustrations and designs he has done for video games, notably the Final Fantasy series. His work draws a lot from Art Nouveau and Viennese painters like Klimt and Schiele, as well as traditional Japanese ukiyo-e painting.

Masaya Matsuura - probably the most innovative game designer working today. He had an experimental pop band during the early 90s, then he turned to the video game industry and started making games that combine interactive music with whimsical, avant-garde visuals. His games include Parappa the Rapper (1996) and Vib Ribbon (1999), the latter in which you maneuver a wire-frame rabbit over a landscape that rhythmically changes according to what music CD you put in the machine. The link provided takes you to the (Japanese) site of his newest game, Mojib Ribbon, which combines music, Japanese calligraphy and electronic folk music.

The Super Madrigal Bros. - Oliver Cobol creates 8-bit, Nintendo-esque versions of classical madrigals and baroque music compositions. His partner Fashion Flesh then re-produces the songs into bizarre electronic sound experiments. Their albums feature both versions of each song for your listening pleasure. Check out their site and give a listen.


Vib Ribbon