Cory Arcangel: Super-Mario Clouds, 2002

According to Cory Arcangel's website[1] , Super Mario Clouds, 2002 is an Nintendo's game (Super Mario Bros) which Cory removed all backgrounds and characters, expect the blue sky and the white clouds. The blue sky and the white clouds keep moving from right to left.

IS IT AN ART?

Federico Fellini said that:"All art is autobiographical; the pearl is the oyster’s autobiography." In my opinion, the blue sky and the white clouds are the Super Mario Bros' autobiographical. They are the marks of this Nitendo game. You can recognize this game from the gif at the first sight. The moving clouds seem like I am playing Super Mario Bros. I think an artwork should arouse viewers' sympathy. That's how this work does!

However, some people argue that this gif is just a kind of scrolling background without any obvious modification. It just for the game. Therefore, it is not really an artwork.

For me, I agree with Ernest W. Adams's thought that, "Art makes you feel things."[1] Art should not be in a fixed form and an idea. Sometimes, the feeling does not come from the artwork itself but the idea behind. I think Super Mario Clouds, 2002 makes me feel the video games in the other way. It do include Cory's creative representation ideas inside. Therefore, I think it is an art just like Andy Warhol's Campbell's Soup Cans (1962).




And even, there is a re-production of this artwork. HaHa! :DD

[1] Ernest W. Adams. “Will computer games ever be a legitimate art form?” P.258-259
[2] "Super Mario Clouds (2002-)," The Official Cory Arcangel Website, http://www.coryarcangel.com/things-i-made/supermarioclouds/ (accessed Oct. 3, 2012).