Art and Gaming Wisdom for the Ages

Art and Gaming Wisdom for the Ages is a 1 of 1 rare digital art animation by Joe Chiappetta available on MakersPlace.

A premise for creating so much of my artwork is that art will almost always be a type of game to play--and for the artists and appreciators of art--we rarely stop playing. Therefore, as long as art is accessible, the game never stops... so the art often lives long beyond the artist's life cycle: perhaps even until the end of the world.

Much of my art (including this piece) utilizes comics, as a medium. Yet I hold to the conviction (often missed by traditional comic industry reviewers) that comics have evolved far beyond the printed page. They are now part of culture through internet memes, gaming, the metaverse, advertising, video, fine art--and for me personally--nearly everything I create. In fact, much of my artworks together function as one massive graphic novel, woven together only in the future by a yet-to-be-named crop of art historians who can think outside of the box.

The things I must say about the piece "Art and Gaming Wisdom for the Ages," are multifaceted. It is a comic, a social commentary on crypto culture, a satire on the illusion or hype of rarity, a homage to gaming culture, a glitch experiment, and even a parent/child parable, serving even as a warning for this present age. Here the parent is the creator with a grand vision of wisdom to pass along to his little offspring. Yet the children, like undisciplined animals, just want to consume, devour, and capitalize on creation for themselves without regard for the larger picture... without regard for wisdom.

Another premise evident in this art is the glory of electronic imagery. Video static, 8-bit minimal creatures with minimal animation perform a forever ballet of sorts. Similar to the play of 1st-person-shooter games (signified by the gun at the bottom of the art), art creation, art marketing, art collecting, and art viewing are one grand game, always in play, always in need of protection from market corruption.

A little known fact about this piece is that the numbers in the lower left corner are a set of coordinates for my ArtVndngMchn Amusement Park, which is a metaverse gallery on a Minecraft server called The UpliftWorld. You can see just a portion of that lively gaming/art gallery experience in this video:

As seen upon a visit to ArtVndngMchn Amusement Park, as well as this artwork, the imaginary lines between gaming and fine art are two sides of the same coin. At its core, art is play; it is playing with your technical skills for the main purpose of expression and communication. In fact, the initial Greek word for art, as well as technology, is the same: "techni." The creative process typically is a playful art (techni) process.

This is why I make the case that art has almost always been an ever-evolving game, just as technology is an ever-evolving game--sometimes with very high stakes. Additionally, viewing art and seeking art is an interactive game of observation as we move about the world. Each viewer inherently decides, "I want to understand this," or "I don't." And "I appreciate this," or "I don't." Art, therefore, is a game of understanding and appreciation, only played wisely when we refuse to get excessive about the arts to the point that art becomes an idol in our lives.

This is why a recurring theme in my work is satire about the arts. It serves as a reminder for me not to go overboard in the arts--or anything else for that matter. It can be a career path, a passion, or a hobby, but it is not to be worshipped. Such attention must be reserved only for God.

On top of all these themes, when factoring in the art market, which is full of all sorts of sales strategies, promotional maneuvers--and the like--it adds an economic component to the game of art. Some players win more, some lose more; that's the nature of games. Then adding NFT functionality, the art can become a literal playable game piece on so many more levels. Or the art can be staked for more rewards, as I have been providing to many of my ArtVndngMchn collectors on WAXDAO. The possibilities are as boundless as the imagination, spanning across this crypto-crazed generation, and those to come.