Virtual Landscapes
We are a violent culture. Killing comes too easily in the virtual worlds of gaming. As I play a violent video game, I become distracted from the game’s purpose by the romantic beauty of the virtual world. My curiosity kicks in and I start to explore the terrain, documenting as I go. I reach mountaintops, beaches and forest, all in the same night. However, as I search for a sunset, a reflection of the moon on a lake, the purple color at dawn, or a view from a peak, violence finds me. Sword drawn or gun at my side, I kill the enemy as they attack me. Sometimes my character dies and my search starts over. Sometimes I have no choice, my character must kill to advance to the next beautiful landscape.
Without the violent nature of the games these idealistic landscapes would not exist. In these video games, violence drives beauty, as the most violent video games are often also the most visually pleasing.
In this series, I photograph, paint, and draw these serene landscapes from violent video games. However, violence is removed from these images leaving hazy beauty, nothing more.
