Though a recent ‘artist’ in the pixel world, 8BB’s love of the medium began decades ago in the fabled era known to historians as the Age of Dial-Up.
Every child craves a window through which to peer and enrich their ever burgeoning imagination. With the internet being a strange bleeping and shrieking infant, that window was not yet even a rumor of the strange/wondrous/hideous font of inspiration and horror as we know it today.
Instead that role was filled by the Nintendo Entertainment System, both Original and Super. The imprint left by these cartridge eating proto-robots on such a malleable young mind was prodigious.
It was only recently however that 8BB began to stop being (less) afraid of taking creative plunges, and decided to finally try his hand at recreating some of the works that so inspired him as a youth.
8BB seeks inspiration from the pioneers of the golden age (Hironobu Sakaguchi, Chrono Trigger) as well as contemporaries of the revival age (Alex Preston, Hyper Light Drifter), alongside the perennial titans of imagination (Miyazaki, Studio Ghibli, Miyamoto, Nintendo).
In his work he seeks to use limited colour palettes and pixel counts, both as homage to the challenges presented to early designers by software limitations, and as a way to challenge himself as a fledging student of art.
He seeks to create scenes both of fantastical mythology and comforting normality.
The 8 Bit Bart Art show launch happens on Thursday the 9th of January from 6pm. The show will run until February 5th. Free to check it out!
@8.Bit.Bart
Netherworld: 186 Brunswick St, Fortitude Valley 4006
