Funny story time! When I was in high school, my school decided that it would be a really great idea to bring in a genuine movie director to give a little speech about art and do a bit of Q&A. Very good idea in theory… Except the director they ultimately went with was some complete unknown who had only done unsuccessful indie flicks, so a lot of the sentiment was lost. At the end of his speech, when he asked if anybody had any questions, the entire room filled with hundreds of people (attendance was mandatory) fell silent… Except, of course, for yours truly, who completely failed to read the atmosphere. I had only one question for him – “Do you think videogames can be considered a form of art?” The answer he gave me was basically “I believe that videogames can have value to a lot of people, but I don’t think they can ever be art”. Oh, yeah, Mr. Director? You wanna take that bet? Well, here’s five games I’ve played which are more beautiful than most pieces of traditional art!
1. Child of Light
Let’s start off with a bang, shall we? “Child of Light” is a game designed from the grounds up to be an interactive picture book, like those many of us used to read (or, well, have read to us) as children, complete with a fantasy adventure in which a young princess taken to a strange land must find unlikely companions and discover her way home while defeating the evil queen who has imprisoned her there. The princess visits many peculiar places, like a city of mice dwelling within the belly of a giant, and best of all – every single line of dialogue is in rhyme. It’s fantastic! But best of all, the artstyle itself has been specifically made to resemble a living, breathing picture book. While the illustrations itself are simplistic, they’re colorful, fluid and vivid, and when seen in motion, they are beautiful! If you grew up with picture books, “Child of Light” will most certainly be a treat!
2. Limbo
Time for something a little bit darker, and I do mean that literally! “Limbo” is one of those unique games which are completely devoid of color, and yet still manage to be hauntingly beautiful – hell, it practically set the standard for those games! I don’t think it’s fair to call it a black and white game, considering that it’s mostly black and some shades of grey, but it seems appropriate enough, so let’s go with that! While the darkness does make things a little bit hard to see, honestly, the game wouldn’t have worked nearly as well if it was in color, as it tells the story of a little boy’s passage through Limbo and ascension into Heaven. The subject matter of a child’s implied death is already hard enough, but when you combine that with the fact that Limbo itself is a horrible place filled with dangers and lost souls… Yeah, you can see why black and white was chosen as the color palette. Still, I’d say it works spectacularly well, and the sheer fact that “Limbo” has spawned so many imitators in the “black and white art games” genre should speak for itself!
3. Journey
You literally can NOT make a list with influential, beautiful games that are works of art without mentioning “Journey”. It is, by far, one of the greatest videogame experiences out there. When it was first released this tiny little game scored dozens of “Game of the Year” awards (including a videogame’s first ever Grammy nomination), beating franchises with hundreds of millions of dollars behind them! And honestly, it’s not hard to see why. I mean, look at THAT! This right here is pure art. There’s not really a storyline, at least not one that’s explicitly stated to you. There’s no plot, no dialogue, no text, no characters. Just an experience. Emotions. And the all too beautiful vistas you go through on your journey to the mountain. It’s truly fascinating just how effective pure visuals can be in conveying a narrative in a game when you strip away almost everything else. Even without the nameless, faceless, gowned protagonist never uttering as much as an “oooh” or an “aah” during the adventure, you always know exactly what they’re feeling – mostly because you feel it too. When you see something utterly beautiful, you’re left marveling at it; when you’re being chased by something, you’re scared. For a game to achieve all of that without a word… Well, it’s got to be art, right?
Let’s start off with something from the baroque era – “The Card Players”, painted by Flemish painter Théodore Rombouts. This oil painting is one of my favorites, as I believe it very accurately captures the atmosphere of a traditional card game. Of course, we shouldn’t overlook the fact that, much like many other baroque paintings, “The Card Players” is extremely lifelike and very realistic, but there’s more to its appeal than just the lifelike realism – otherwise, every photograph we took with our phones would be a masterpiece! No, art is all about capturing a moment in time, as well as portraying the emotions and feelings within that moment on the canvas, and I have to say that Rombouts did so spectacularly! With a mere glance, you can see what everyone is thinking, from the focused players to the chatting people to the side. It’s a thing of beauty. 
Now it’s time for something a bit more surrealistic! This painting goes by several names, including “Crippled War Veterans Playing Cards” and “War Veteran Invalids Playing Cards”, but the most common one I found is the one above, which is the one I ended up using. Otto Dix, born in 1891, lived through the horrors of both World Wars, but it was very clear that the first one, and the effects that it had on the people of Berlin, affected him the most. His 1920 painting depicts veterans of various stages of disfigurement enjoying themselves, or perhaps at least finding a little bit of solace, by playing cards. Their injuries are vastly exaggerated – all three share only one leg and one arm, they have an assortment of scars and prostheses… They have replaced parts of themselves with artificial constructs, perhaps indicating that war has taken away not only parts of their bodies, but parts of their souls as well – parts that, try as they might (be it through prostheses or card games) they’re never going to be able to take back. 
There’s… Really not much to say about this one. The most famous painting in Cassius Coolidge’s “Dogs Playing Poker” series, “A Friend in Need” is instantly the first thing that pops into most people’s head when they’re asked about card games in paintings. Hell, I’m sure you thought about it when you saw the very title of this article, didn’t you? For that very reason, I’m going to keep this entry short – you’ve seen this painting everywhere, you’ve heard everyone talking about, and I doubt I can really say anything new. It’s “Dogs Playing Poker”, and it’s a classic. 
While this painting may be very familiar to art students everywhere, you barely see it mentioned in popular culture, which is an absolute shame considering just how spectacular it is. The wreck of the ship “Medusa” is one of the biggest disasters to have ever happened at sea, second only to the Titanic – when an incompetent captain directed his ship into a storm on its very first night, only a handful of people managed to survive on a single raft. The survivors quickly had to turn to cannibalism in order to last, and when rescue arrived thirteen days later, only fifteen men were left. 
To say that Napoleon Bonaparte is one of the most controversial figures of history would be a massive understatement. He brought a lot of good things to the world (you know how the Western world runs mostly on democracy right now? You can thank Napoleon for that), but he also brought a lot of bad things to it. Some historians think the bad outweigh the good, others disagree, but whatever the case may be, there’s absolutely no dispute that the representation of his coronation, depicted by Jacques-Louis David, is truly among the greatest pieces of art in the world. First of all, the painting is absolutely HUGE – it’s 6 by 10 meters, putting even “Raft of the Medusa” to shame! It also features dozens upon dozens of characters attending the coronation, seventeen of which can be very clearly identified as historical figures which were truly present during the actual event. It’s honestly shocking that it took less than two years to complete this massive work of art, from the time it was commissioned to its finishing touches, which only further speaks of the artist’s talent. Regardless of how you feel about Napoleon, make sure you don’t ignore this masterpiece the next time you visit the Louvre!
Many things can be considered a work of art and usually true art requires a lot of work. Confused? Let me elaborate. Art can take many forms and it is usually in the eye of the beholder. Yes, I realize that the original saying is ‘Beauty is in the eye of the beholder’, but for me art is beauty and vice versa. What do you think about movies? Can they be regarded as art? Of course. And what about music? Now that’s my favourite form of art, that speaks louder and clearer than all the words in all the languages and dialects all over the world.
You’re probably thinking in the right direction already – I am talking about gambling yes – one of the few ways to earn the sort of funds you will need to visit one of the places I’m gonna list in a minute. Let’s take a virtual walk through the top 3 suites for high rollers out there. In case you’ve never heard the term – it’s a gambler who puts large sums at stake. As you can imagine, casinos want to attract those players and so they are often treated with all sort of perks – limos, private jets and yachts and those fancy suits I’m about to get into (not literally…shame). Flights from as far as China, (valued at $20,000 and more) are on the house, along with expenses on the entourage of the player (often of up to 40 people!), so no surprise those state-of-art suits are so outstanding. Oh, don’t despair, 
So there, hope that was fun, I had hard time picking my favourites! Well, I wish you all someday to experience one of those in person, but in the meantime here it is, as promised – 
I thought it’d be nice to start out this new year and my new blog with a little something that may make you want and love art even more. I chose to feature two great exhibitions that are on in town right now and that ask not a high entrance fee, but no fee at all. Let’s spend a minute or two reflecting on fees. On the one hand, galleries survive thanks to the revenue they generate from their business. That includes entrance fees, too. On the other hand, if that source becomes the main leg of sustenance, the gallery is done for. 
Hello, World! I know this is a corny way to start my thrilling journey in the world-wide web presenting myself and my art queries and findings, but come on – that’s the beauty of having a “personal” space: you can get as dull on it as you like and no one can tell you how to go about it. But, I may be getting slightly ahead of myself. Calm down, start over.