Jim Davies: Pac-Man Art
In the summer of 2001 I started working on a series of paintings based
on Pac-Man. Specifically, the ghosts from the game and the culture
they might have. Since I'm using imagery from popular culture, this
series qualifies as pop art.It was inspired by an encounter with a coin-op pac-man game in Seattle (If you would like to play Pac-Man, you can download one for windows.) It's in the ferry station to Bainbridge Island. I noticed that the ghosts had names (Shadow, Speedy, Bashful, and Pokey) as well as nicknames (Blinky, Pinky, Inky, Clyde.) How strange, I thought, that the ghosts are so well fleshed out. I mean, what's pac-man? He is a pac-man? Name is pac-man? What? Does he have a nickname? Well, he doesn't need one, since he's the only one. If no one talks to you, what on earth do you need a name for?
The only available conclusion I could come up with is that the ghosts use these names and nicknames. I made a picture showing this.
Then I did a little websurfing and found that the ghosts behave differently. Actually, I've heard that Pac-man was the first game to have villians who didn't all act the same. Turns out that Pokey doesn't really even follow pac-man, he just does a predetermined route depending on where pac-man is on the screen. So Pokey's the dumb one. That's why, in Ghost Culture, each ghost is thinking of another ghost, except Pokey.
Here is a propaganda poster made by ghosts. They want you to hate Pac-Man.
More ghost propoganda. They would really like it if you associated Pac-Man with biohazard. Those ghosts will stop at nothing, like Fox news.
In contract to the propoganda paintings made my most ghosts, this was painted by a Buddhist ghost. The statement "Even a ghost is made of non-ghost elements" mirrors statements made by Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh. The picture depicts a ghost made of little pac-men to make the point. You know that really makes the other ghost's blood boil. "What do you think you are ghost of?" implies that they are ghosts of dead pac-men; an interesting thought. The structure of this painting mirrors that of a Tangka, with ghosts in the four corners. The two ghosts up top are looking extradimensionally (see below).
These paintings depict distopias and utopias for the ghosts.
People kept telling me "you gotta do Ms. Pac Man!" I didn't like the idea because I wanted to keep it pure-- based on the original pac-man. If I was going to open the door to Ms. Pac Man, what was next, that dopey cartoon? Anyway, I thought: What is Ms. Pac Man to the ghosts of Pac-Man? Well, Ms. Pac-Man was not around as a game when Pac-Man came out. So Ms. Pac-Man would be, at best, an idea. And what do we call ideas regarding future technology? Science fiction. So Ms. Pac-Man is ghost science fiction, and like real science fiction, they get some things wrong: She's much too big (think attack of the 50 foot woman) and is missing her eye.
This represents a head-on collision between a ghost and Pac-Man, and is appropriate for the front of a car. Since there are no power pellets and Shadow is red, the ghost will win. So the image is of a confrontation that is bound to have a happy ending.
I put myself in the picture to show it's size. It's a big one. Shadow is the ghost hero. This image is glorifying him.
I found a piece of great bumpy paper and it inspired this piece. You need to see and feel it in person to get the effect. I also made this painting, Visionary Ghosts Looking Extradimentionally, commissioned and now owned by talented director Emily Pender.
This is a piece commissioned by Jason Brotherton. It's a work of tension. Who will reach the power dot first, Pac-Man or Blinky? It's the kind of thing ghosts would watch in action movies. It's about four feet long and about three inches high.
Ghost Plans by Jim Davies, acrylic on canvas, 2004.
Ghost Plans was commissioned by N. Matich. See the Ghost Plans webpage for intermediate photos and a description of what it means.
The series is complete. If you'd like to buy or commission one, email me.
Thanks for reading.
