Klara Markula

My practice employs post-Internet and impressionist methodologies to explore the visual language of early 3D-animated video game graphics. Through large-scale airbrush paintings venerating so-called ‘6th generation’ console graphics, I argue for the idea that these unpolished, awkward images from the 1990s and early 2000’s are more relatable than the hyperreal imagery found in today’s games. The images I paint have become the subject of much ridicule as digital graphics have improved, and with today’s technology, we can recreate every pore and eyelash on a digital model.  But much like many famous post-impressionists, I believe that pared-back, flat planes of colour and loose representations of form can often convey more emotion and humanity than a ‘perfect’ image with endless detail. In an age of hyperrealism, constant stimuli and absolutist ideals of beauty, my work seeks to look back at a time when we did not expect perfection from our digital images; when things did not need to be visually flawless in order to have value.