013The Big
STORIES EVERYONE’S TALKING ABOUT
04
When it
opened in Los
Angeles in
2004, Gallery
1988 made
waves for
branding
itself ‘the
first pop-culture focused art gallery
in the world’. Now a new exhibition
featuring work by artists Alexander
Wells and James Gilleard focuses on
our favourite medium. We’re chatting
with Gilleard, whose past clients
have included Disney, BMW, and the
BBC, about his featured work.
Gilleard says he and Wells were
approached by Gallery 1988 about
doing the collaborative exhibition a
year ago, adding, “We decided on the
theme very quickly as we are both
fans of videogames.”
He says he enjoyed the freedom
that the exhibition offered him as it
was an opportunity to create
whatever he wanted without having
to adhere to client feedback,
elaborating, “Some images were
quite straightforward, such as the
Trico images or Shadow Of TheClash of pop-
culture Titans
James Gilleard reveals how games inspire him
You can follow Gilleard’s work at his
website, jamesgilleard.com.Q His favourite part of creating is “when
you kind of forget about the outside world.”Q Gilleard says that games should be
considered art in the same way film is.
AMONG THE STARS
Gilleard plays No Man’s Sky,
and says “I actually think it’s
become less interesting the more
they have updated it [...] The
landscapes were so alien and the
art direction had a clear aim.”Colossus (free this issue), as they
are very iconic and simple, but No
Man’s Sky proved more difficult as it
is such a vast game.” Because of
that, he made four artworks inspired
by it instead of just one.OVER THE MOON
The joint exhibition ran throughout
the second half of January, though
Gilleard was not able to see the
prints in person owing to starting a
new job. The series of images is
inspired by an eclectic mix of things,
from impressionism to glitch art and
vaporwave, plus the work of science
fiction artists such as John Harris,
Roger Dean, and Chris Foss.
Gilleard adds, “I’ve noticed that I
seem to go through three-year
phases where I might try something
new and then work in that style for
three years, then get bored and
want to try something else, which is
fine. It’s great to think of my style as
just a WIP that is always developing
in some way.” Well, we like this work!