The Pitch Black Printing Co. is hosting an art show with a theme you wouldn’t quite expect: video games. The Midtown Reno art exhibition is displaying paintings, sculptures and wood carvings done by Reno and California artists centered all around games.
For co-owners Megan O’Reilly and Maurice Harold, they felt games were a perfect fit for a gallery show.
“We were looking at national holidays in March and yesterday was Mario Day, so we thought video games were great because everyone can relate to it,” O’Reilly said.
The pieces range from classic arcade games like “Pac-Man” to popular independent titles like “Undertale.” The pieces are created by artists in the Reno-Sparks area, with some other work coming from Lake Tahoe and Los Angeles.
The art show even has artists of all ages, ranging from professional artists to kids making art from their favorite video games.
“I just saw this ghost Mario one for the first time today and I’m really pumped on it,” Harold said.
Each piece has it’s own unique style, with the artist either following the style of the video game or taking it with their own unique vision. A set of pieces that stood out was a Final Fantasy themed set, with a realistic style in contrast with some of the goofier elements of the series.
The best part about video game art is how it can persuade someone to try out a game series they would not have originally discovered.
“I’ve never played a Final Fantasy game before and those make me want to play them,” O’Reilly said.
The art also takes some creative liberties on what constitutes a video game. One of the pieces is actually from an episode of “Rick and Morty” where they play a video game in an alternate universe arcade.
“I like the Rick and Morty one because technically it is a video game so he curves it since they’re playing the video game Roy from the show,” Harold said.
Along with traditional paintings, a good variety of sculpture and wood carving is also on display. One of the most striking sculpture pieces is a realistic looking Earthworm Jim that can be wall mounted. (It is a little unpleasant to have a realistic looking worm man head sticking out of a wall).
Some of the pieces even have lighting effects, with neon backlighting on a larger than life Nintendo Entertainment System cartridge.
All the pieces are available to purchase, which can be the original piece or a print. With prices ranging from $10 to $250, it is possible for anyone to pick up a piece of video game art even on a budget.
The gallery will be open for one month and is definitely something a video game or art fanatic should check out.