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If you grew up in the NES days, you know that your imagination had to do a lot of work in the 8-bit era. Video game graphics were limited, with some of today’s most iconic characters consisting of just a few stacked pixels. But that doesn’t mean that old games weren’t as expressive as today’s highly detailed 3D ones; it just meant that players had more room to fill in the canvas in their minds.
That’s the idea behind this weekend’s iam8bit 20th Anniversary Art Show. Running from Nov. 8 to 9 at Studio 8 in Los Angeles, the gallery show features artwork from more than 70 artists who were tasked with bringing their interpretations of 8-bit games to life. Ahead of the show’s opening, Polygon spoke with iam8bit founders Jon Gibson and Amanda White about the event’s origins. We can exclusively share a sneak peek at a few of the works featured in this year’s show.
iam8bit has made a name for itself in the video game industry over the past two decades as a creative production house. It has published games, released vinyl versions of game soundtracks, and nearly acted as creative directors on E3 2020 before pulling out months before the show was formally canceled due to the Covid-19 pandemic. But the company first got its start by mounting an art show in 2005 where artists were asked to interpret their favorite 8-bit games.
“What were your memories when you were a kid playing these games? What did these characters look like in your imagination?” Jon Gibson told Polygon, explaining the thought behind the show at the time. “Put that to canvas. Make a painting, make a sculpture, whatever your medium is.”
After missing the event’s 15th anniversary in 2020 (and nearly doing an “iam16bit” make-up show in 2021), iam8bit has revived the show, with the same restrictions, for the first time since 2018. It features art that riffs on classic games including Metroid, Space Invaders, and more. Some of the artists on display have been featured in previous iam8bit shows or have worked with the company on projects before. That includes the show’s most surprising artist: Keita Takahashi.
The Katamari Damacy creator has multiple pieces in the show, and they’re about as eccentric as you’d imagine. His take on The Legend of Zelda shows Link chowing down on some fast food in Hyrule Field, while a work based on Tetris shows tetrimino pieces scrambling to fit onto a couch together. (You’re too late: Amanda White has already bought the latter.)
Both pieces give a sense of what iam8bit is going for with a show that turns individual players’ imaginations into physical art. And while artists had a lot of room to play with that prompt, they did have to adhere to some limitations.
“One difference between this show and the original show is that we had to make sure artists weren’t dipping into 3D expression, basing their art off something more futuristic than what was available at the time,” White said. “There were a couple artists where we had to pull them back and say you can’t do that, because that’s not true to the era.”
Gibson says that the rule leads to wild thinking, and that’s apparent in some of the other work we’ve seen. Artist Andre Sanchez offers a dark, gothic interpretation of Space Invaders, turning one of its iconic alien ships into a skull. Nuri Durr, who created the key art for the upcoming gamePetal Runner, created an ode toMetroid that calls back to mecha anime of its era.A charming piece from Jennifer Nguyen turns Dragon Quest’s enemies into a hand-drawn collage just in time for the RPG’s new HD-2D remake. Most striking of the bunch we’ve seen is a “soft sculpture” by artist Anna Chambers, who created a portrait of Princess Peach out of felts and fabrics that pop off the canvas. No two pieces are alike, fitting the ethos of the show.
Both Gibson and White are excited to return to iam8bit’s roots with the show. (“We’re just excited to see this stuff hanging on the wall again!” Gibson said.) Both see it as an opportunity to encourage people to come experience art in real life, or at least discuss it with others after seeing pieces from the show online. White hopes that can be a force for good in the world at a time where it’s needed most.
“Art is an incredibly powerful way to bring people together,” White said. “The genre of video games as a theme, irrespective of the time frame of that theme, is focused on something that is incredibly joyful for people. We’re bringing together people, allowing them to connect in community around a really positive thing. Which, I don’t even have to say this, is so important right now.”
iam8bit 20th Anniversary Art Show is open to the public from Nov. 8 to 9 at Studio 8 in Los Angeles, with a VIP preview on Nov. 7.
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