Local artists collaborate for Brooks Museum mural installation

Credit: Instagram user @schoolboy_hubes

*Blog post written by marketing intern Eric Jones from Rhodes College.*

Buggin' & Shruggin': A Glitched History of Gaming Culture brings three local artists together under one roof to birth one consuming piece of two-dimesional genius.

For this collaboration, Memphis Brooks Museum of Art commissioned Michael Roy (Birdcap Shruggin’), Brandon Marshall (Nosey), and Lance Turner (Crackers) for what is described as, “the brain child of artist Michael Roy, [an] exhibition [that] features a series of murals which riff upon popular video games, major characters,and the gamers themselves." The title’s inclusion of “buggin” (crazy) and “glitched” (flawed), suggests an irreverent approach to the subject matter. Bold forms, vivid colors, and mindbending combinations of people, machine parts, gears, animals, and architectural elements offer a delightfully twisted vision of gaming culture.

Outside of this installation, Michael Roy has worked closely with both Nosey and Lance on recent public projects around Memphis. Michael and Lance just finished a collaborative mural at Chelsea Avenue and Evergreen Street in Memphis for Paint Memphis.

Credit: Michael Roy, Lance Turner's Facebook pages

Michael and Nosey recently cameoed in a Marc Gasol tribute video for the Grizzlies that featured them with their Gasol mural outside the Airways Flea Market in Orange Mound.

These three artists and the others that contributed to Buggin’ and Shruggin’ similarly make noticeable community-minded work around town to make Memphians more aware of the local art scene and its presence in the city.

Their museum piece speaks not only to the space but to those who walk through it. The gallery sized mural creates a beautiful contrast with the rest of The Art of Video Games exhibition by using the lofted nostalgia of digital imagery and storytelling and turning it into a physical space that literally surrounds you.

“I love the explosive, overlapping, dreamllike qaulity! It’s pop, it’s psychodelic, it’s digital and analog, warm and cool. Thank you, thank you!,” one patron commented.

Many other comments acknowledged how well the exhibition made visitors feel young again or how impressive it was that the history of gaming could be repurposed as the history of an art form. Buggin’ and Shruggin’ certainly brings out the artistic passion that Birdcap, Nosey, and Crackers have for the subject matter. In addition, it conveys an interest that some of the museum’s recent visitors didn’t realize they had for the creativity of video games.

The collaboration of these local artists culminates in an installation that feels personal to the exhibit, the Brooks Museum, and any true video game lover.

To see more photos of the Buggin’ and Shruggin’ exhibition, click here.