For people of a certain generation, the introduction to the wider world of art, technology and digital entertainment came via the elementary school computer lab. Edutainment games and suites of tools for children were the talk of the playgrounds, but the god emperor of software was Child Pix. To honor the influence of these introductory computers and a rare 17th century female Baroque painter and artist Cat Graffam reproduces the 1620 work of Artemisia Gentileschi Jael and Sisera via Craig Hickman Kid Pix Studio Deluxe from 1998.
“This version of Pix Studio for children is so nostalgic and important to me”, Graffam says in the video. “It was extremely educational in developing my love of technology.”
In their insightful and meditative series, Graffam undertakes the recreation of famous works through unlikely brushes. The grotesque horrors of Goya Saturn discovered via Mario Paint. Vermeer’s offer Milker on homebrew DSi. Exhausting THQ’s infamous uDraw peripheral to its absolute limits for the famous Edward Hopper film Nightjars.
Discussing Gentileschi’s history, the liberties taken by a 1978 restoration, and the ever-changing relationship between technology and fine art, Graffam explains why Jael and Sisera is a singularly important work. With considerations to the literal torture Gentileschi endured following his own sexual assaultthe depth it gives to the provocative violence rendered on canvas carries a timeless and just justification.
“She used this work as a powerful catharsis of the violence she suffered, reclaiming whatever power she could through art,” says Graffam. “It gives me chills.”
After five days and just 112 colors across an art suite best known for its wacky, broken sound effects, Graffam was able to render a rather stunning, yet anachronistic, piece of digital art. Graffam demonstrates greater discipline than mine. Not just for setting up decades-old equipment for modern capture, or for the painterly skills needed to achieve such loving tributes, but also for not immediately clicking. Child Pixto see the whole masterpiece rise in cartoon ripples.
