OK full disclosure: I skipped Atari and started in on Nintendo in 1986. I actually bought my first Atari in 2003 from a thrift store and it came bundled with three additional Atari systems and about 100 games in a giant black trash bag for $80. Even after having gone through a Super Nintendo and PlayStation, discovering Atari games was fascinating; the pure essence of video gaming laid bare in pixels.
Atari represents outdated bits of technological development that are still around, like ideas or beliefs that no longer serve their original purpose, and the difficulty we sometimes have getting rid of them. The games represent the origins of digital and virtual realities, worlds where the people who play the games are the heroes and protagonists in the adventures. The collection of games is a tribute to these digital origins, as well as a tribute to the excellent artwork on these worn out cartridges. Some games show their long lives well, with torn labels and faded inks, while one even has the name of the past owner scrawled on the cover.
So get all nostalgic (and I’ll get faux-nostalgic) with this new Atari print from 20×200 by Hollis Brown Thornton.
