Post Modern Art Exhibit Analysis - Mental Health through Video Games
As we move into the post-modern era, we see an expansion in how art is portrayed, perceived, and felt. From movies to comics to bananas taped to walls, modern art is as beautifully innovative and hilariously nonsensical as art has ever been.
For today's topic, a particular form of art I don't think is recognized enough is video games, and today we'll be diving into the wonders of artistic storytelling through video games and how it delves into topics like mental health.
THE EXHIBIT
GRIS
Gris is the story of a young woman dealing with the loss of a loved one. With her world full of brightness and color, it all fades to black and white as she deals with the trauma and grief as she seeks to not only find her voice, but herself.
With Conrad Roset responsible for the visuals, a Spanish artist, his work focuses on flow, vivid painterly splotches of colors, and the female figure. Some of my favorite collections of his include: Muses, The Children's Book of American Birds, and Bubel.
Gris is a gorgeous game and one of my personal favorites. There is an integral use of color theory in each piece as it represents her journey through healing, as well as the 5 stages of grief.
Throughout Roset's work for the game, he focuses on bold shape-language to not only communicate the feeling of the environment, but also the color each level represents. Throughout the game, as Gris goes through different stages, she gains a "color", representing the shift in feelings and emotions. The artwork, combined with the stellar soundtrack, works together to convey this.
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| Gris (2018) - Conrad Roset |
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His shapes are often fluid, using thin, organic lines to convey movement and nature, while using solid shapes to convey objects like buildings, rocks, and various other structures. Almost everything in the background uses color over line, and it's the various usage of tone and shape language that gives the environment its shape. He makes everything feel alive through its simplistic and organic shapes, but also through the use of a watercolor style of gradient throughout nearly the whole game. It adds to the "artistic" feeling, making the world feel more alive and in motion.
Composition-wise, it changes as you move through the world, but my favorites are the panned-out shots he does of the world, giving a sense of scale. The world Gris is navigating is large and beyond herself, but breathing with so much life as well.
Gris's grief is conveyed in a multitude of different ways, but I find the black and white sections to be striking, as when all colors fade, it's what we return to.
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In the background are a multitude of broken statues of feminine figures, as per Conrad's style. The world is black, grey, and dull. Completely devoid of life and taken over by the character's immense grief. For the first section of the game, this represents the first stage and encapsulates the heaviness of the character's feelings.
Something I love about this level, and particularly this style, is how his typical use of blacked-out shapes is traded for detailed statues and vases. It's use of tone mixed with the stark white contrasts beautifully, and you can feel the weight of it. Down below are birds that follow Gris throughout her journey, again relying on the usage of simple, abstract shapes.
Conrad's work is gorgeous, and I adore how his art presents the beautiful message of the game. That despite the grief, you can find healing, reflection, and most importantly, yourself.
NIGHT IN THE WOODS
Night in the Woods is the story of Mae Borrowski, a 20-year-old college dropout who returns to her quiet hometown of "Possum Springs" and tries her best to adjust to the changes.
If you hadn't caught on to the theme yet, you'll notice a lot of these are my favorite games. Night in the Woods has a special place in my heart, with its story only heightened by its direction of art. Mae Borrowski is not only relatable as someone struggling in school, but also as someone with seemingly undiagnosed mental health problems. Mae, throughout the game, is hinted to have anxiety, depression, and derealization disorder, often describing people as seeing them as just "shapes". The game has you focus on navigating the environment, talking to people, and hanging out with your friends day by day.
The main artist and writer of the game is Scott Benson. Known as "bombfall" on most of his social media, he's known for being a video game writer, but he works in animation, photography, and his many different cat pictures. Some works of his I adore include: cat, flag, tree, one simply titled as knife emoji, and an animation titled Potential (unfinished film).
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| Night in the Woods (2017) - Scott Benson |
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| Night in the Woods (2017) - Scott Bens |
Similar to Gris, this is another style that uses shape language and organic shapes to convey its backgrounds and character design. Unlike the more artistic, watercolor approach of Gris, though it chooses to focus on a much warmer, "autumn" color palette. With its yellows, oranges, reds, and its dark blues, it emulates this feeling of "home" that the protagonist is familiar with, and the viewer can feel. The environment sucks you in, asking you to be apart of it.
The shape language is integral to the simplicity of the world, but also in a way coincides with the character, often seeing people as just "shapes". Whether the design was intentional or just the style, they complement each other well.
One of the shots in the game is when Mae meets up with her old friends in their garage band.
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| Night in the Woods (2017) - Scott Benson |
The game uses a lot of subtle complementary, from red/green to yellow/blue. It's simple, but it makes every shot appealing and visually interesting. There's so much subtle detail that's faded into the background by the green gradient, as not to overwhelm the viewer, and the background takes on a slightly lighter tone so the darker characters can stand out amongst the background. Repeated shape language of shape edges, rectangles, and circles is consistent throughout the game from the characters' eyes, clothes, the speakers, as well as the little "mascots" in the background.
With his direction, Night in the Woods gives a feeling of warmth and atmosphere. It really makes you feel the "small town" environment, not only giving so much detail to the background but so much life, as well. The vibrancy is felt, and the warmth is further emphasized with red or range gradients. It's simple, but intuitive.
CELESTE
Celeste is the story of a young woman who embarks on a journey to climb the highest peak of a mountain.
Here we take a shift in styles, as the main style of the game is pixel art done by the lovely Noel Berry. However, I plan to focus more on the non-pixel art, which is the stylized art by Amora Bettany, a Brazilian game artist. Works of hers include: Peace, Kagome, and Stranded.
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| Celeste (2018) - Amora Bettany |
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| Celeste (2018) - Amora Bettany |
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| Celeste (2018) - Amora Bettany |
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| Celeste (2018) - Amora Bettany |
Celeste is an amazing platformer game, with its immense difficulty but rewarding journey, it follows Madeline, a young trans woman who struggles with anxiety, depression, and gender dysphoria. As she battles with the literal manifestation of her mental health problems, she tries to make sense of herself by climbing to the top of a mountain.
It's a beautiful game, the pixel style alone is simple but cute, but something I adore in games is when it chooses to blend both pixel art and regular art. It adds another dimension, and I believe Amora captures the characters well. The style feels cozy, relying on a more yellow/purple color palette with cell shading and harsh highlights.
Out of the various screens we get of Amora's art throughout the game, this one in particular is my favorite.
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| Celeste (2018) - Amora Bettany |
MENTAL HEALTH THROUGH VIDEO GAMES.
Art has come such a long way, and from everything we've explored, I think it's amazing how video games can be recognized and seen for what they are and truly can be, which is art. As we explore modern art and video games, we see a focus on mental health and the many different ways it can impact us and our lives. From grief, depression, anxiety, and even dysphoria, while art has always been able to convey so many things, it's amazing how, in a video game format, it can explore so much more.
It's an experience in itself, and to see these problems presented to us in a way that's visually appealing, comforting, and inviting is something needed. Being able to share the joys and tears of these works of art is something I'm happy I can do, especially to experience a journey so vivid, colorful, and expressive.
Art has always been something to be shared, felt, and expressed. And the format of video games only further connects us to the work, the characters, and the art of the creator. It's a special kind of connection we've been seeing more and more with Modern Art, and its value holds no bounds.
As we approach further into our lives, and wonder what the next art movement will be-- it's works of art like these that make me wonder what beauty we'll find next, and just how much we can explore.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Thorson, Maddy. “Is Madeline Canonically Trans?” Medium, 6 Nov. 2020, maddythorson.medium.com/is-madeline-canonically-trans-4277ece02e40
Nicolle. “[Game Theory] Beauty and Melancholy in Gris.” Nicolle Lamerichs, 22 Feb. 2021, nicollelamerichs.com/2021/02/22/game-theory-gris-and-grief-in-games/
Noize, Astral. “Night in the Woods: Finding Meaning in a Universe without Any.” ASTRAL NOIZE, 19 Aug. 2021, astralnoizeuk.com/2021/08/19/night-in-the-woods-finding-meaning-in-a-universe-without-any/
York, University of. “Storytelling Exploration Games for Wellbeing.” University of York, 2024, www.york.ac.uk/institute-of-mental-health-research/news/2024/storytellingexplorationgamesforwellbeing/
Thank you! I really enjoyed the topic, thanks for the support love <3
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