Museum-grade video game art - poll

[Maarten Brands]

Hi all,

I'm in the general introduction thread as well, but just a quick heads up: I'm an art dealer at Cook & Becker (http://www.CandB.com). While not focused on game art per se we work with several known studios and artists to create pieces that are interesting to contemporary art collectors and afficionado's.

Anyway, I thought I'd poll you guys to see what the interest is for:

Unique Mirror's Edge Art

Yay or nay? :)

Also, I want to do something special with the work of Sawaki Takeyasu (Okami, El Shaddai). You think that could be interesting?

Oh, and video of our gallery with some of the work here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rJlx_dZsrQ

[Ryu Kazama]

Sounds interesting (video didn't work for me at the moment). Sawaki Takeyasu would be mighty interesting as would someone like Yoshitaka Amano.

[Maarten Brands]

Somehow the embedded video doesn't work for me, removed the [YT] tags.

Amano would indeed be great. Currently looking for a contact or other that can introduce us.

His paintings sell for US 20.000 to US 30.000 now so a series of more affordable prints would probably be a good idea :)

[gurpswoo1]

Yes very interested in work by Sawaki Takeyasu

And Mirror edge will certainly be a popular choice

Also work by the following:

Michel Ancel - Beyond good and evil
Fumito Ueda - Ico, Shadow of the Colossus, The Last Guardian
Eiji Aonuma/Shigeru Miyamoto/Takashi Tezuka - Legend of Zelda series
Derek Watts + team - Mass effect
Alessandro Taini - Enslaved/ Heavenly sword
Joe Madureira/ Paul Richards- Darksiders
Game Republic - Folklore

[Madigan]

Yes very interested in work by Sawaki Takeyasu

And Mirror edge will certainly be a popular choice

Also work by the following:

Michel Ancel - Beyond good and evil
Fumito Ueda - Ico, Shadow of the Colossus, The Last Guardian
Eiji Aonuma/Shigeru Miyamoto/Takashi Tezuka - Legend of Zelda series
Derek Watts + team - Mass effect
Alessandro Taini - Enslaved/ Heavenly sword
Joe Madureira/ Paul Richards- Darksiders
Game Republic - Folklore

http://i.imgur.com/y6ZMF.jpg

One of the best RPG this gen, the art is fantastic.

[gurpswoo1]

One of the best RPG this gen, the art is fantastic.

LOL - Yeah completely agreed, when it came out I was shocked at the art design. Still one of the best out there.

[twistedsymphony]

looking through what's available the stuff by Maciej Kuciara (http://www.candb.com/en/artistgallery/13/maciej-kuciara.html) is amazing. I particularly love Metropolis, although $1500 for a print that size is a hard pill to swallow, I'd consider it for an original or if it was maybe twice that size.

[Maarten Brands]

Thanks for the feedback guys! Good suggestions. Most problematic at this stage is getting the IP rights cleared from Japanese companies. The US and EUR studios are a bit more easy to work with.

One of my personal favorites is Zelfa artist Katsuya Terada. He did his first western exhibition recently here: (http://www.compoundgallery.com/Artist/index.php?main_page=artist&cid=42) All of his black marker drawings on plain paper(!) were bought by the president of Nike. Some at US 6.000 prices. I thought that was pretty cool and bodes well for the appreciation and price development of video game artists.

@Twisted

Technically, because the artwork is made digitally, the prints are regarded as the originals (as they are not reproductions of a painting or other). Just like contemporary art photography they are sold in 1 small edition. You also get a guarantee from us and Maciej (signed contract) that they will NEVER be reprinted outside of this edition unless one of the original 12 prints ever gets destroyed (in a fire or something). It that case we do a free replacement for the registered owner. All works comes with a lifelong guarantee that the quality will not diminish as well.

Maciej's work is brilliant and Metropolis is a great piece indeed. For the US 1.500 you get a ready-to-hang museum-grade Giclee print mounted on Dibond with a liquid gloss or Diasec coating. I'm always pretty open about stuff, so to give you an indication; just the production costs (materials, printing) for that piece alone are +/- US 600,-

In this clip (at 30 secs.) you can see the Metropolis piece with the liquid gloss finish on Dibond: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rJlx_dZsrQ&feature=g-upl&context=G2ce1f6eAUAAAAAAAAAA

The site doesn't really do it justice (so I really appreciate your feedback!). Anyway, all work comes with a 30 day money back guarantee and I have never had a return :).

[twistedsymphony]

Ahh, I didn't realize it was a digital original, it looked as if it might have been an oil or acrylic. Thanks for the detailed info.

Do you know if Metropolis is based on a particular game world or if the content is completely original?

One other question, how much does it typically cost to ship one of these pieces?

[Maarten Brands]

All of the artwork we're currently exhibiting and that is available for purchase is made completely digitally. I've worked with some of these guys and what they can do with a Wacom in Photoshop... Pfff, it's amazing :)

Metropolis by the way is an original piece of art from Kuciara himself and not from a game or film or other. The last commercial thing Maciej worked on in the video game space was The Last of Us from Naughty Dog Inc. as lead concept artist.

Shipping a piece like this to the US would probably be around US 150 dollars.