So heres the thing: despite starting off entirely in the idiom of the
deeply idiosyncratic, as it turns out 604-based artgroups that preceded it,
when it became apparent that several aspects of Mistigris standard operating
procedure were deeply at odds with standard artscene practice, we doubled down
and committed to our strange and sometimes lonely path through the computer
art underground. In short, we marched -- sometimes proudly, sometimes
spitefully, never with any idea where the Pied Piper was leading us -- to the
beat of own drum.
So why are we shamelessly apeing the Blocktronics B-sides release of a mere
three weeks ago, releasing another collection of primarily music-themed
computer artwork? Indeed, we had a whole different artpack planned for this
month, but a strange cosmic truth surfaced as we surveyed the terrain: there
seemed to be a wide and popular interest in this flavour of material, and we
coincidentally had accumulated stockpiles of it in massive quantities. Why
not, for once, tap into the zeitgeist and give the people the last thing theyd
ever expect from us: what they want? Thats the thing about being contrarian:
once people think they know what to expect, youre obliged to swerve into a
different lane on principle. Following trends and bandwagon jumping is just
about the last imaginable motive one could ever accuse Mistigris of... so just
for once, we had to give it a try.
In any case, Horsenburger got started early, nearly a dozen and a half of his
music-themed teletext designs appearing in MIST1117 two months ago... for all
we can tell, he inspired the 67 B-sides animus... which would mean that were
not biting them, but rather the reverse! Then by embracing this theme as it
bounces back to us, were guilty of nothing worse than the ol self-love circle
jerk. Which, well, I can neither confirm nor deny the allegations. But you
know what they say: Pop Will Eat Itself.
Of course, we couldnt present an apples to apples comparison to the 67
collection, since they have all of the ANSI art and we have none of it. But
our array of alternate textmode art styles on tap means we can still compete as
some variety of fruit at least, so between the months and years of backlogged
Kalcha jazz album ShiftJIS conversions and a couple dozen inspired
Horsenburger teletext afterthoughts he is vast, he can contain multitudes we
found ourselves provisioned with a substantial response ready to ship. Fortify
that lot with further musical teletext offerings by Illarterate and Uglifruit
and were just about ready to ship!
You will no doubt assuming that most of you will be perusing this collection
in alphabetical order also notice the substantial contributions of 8bitbaba,
appearing for the first time in a Mist artpack or indeed any artpack ...
sadly we were unable to find anything relevant in the catalogue of our December
breakout star Pixelartfortheheart, as he works exclusively in the landscape
idiom cmon, couldnt he have tried to draw a Bridge Over Troubled Water?,
but we are committed to continuing to introduce new outside talent to the
artscene... because cmon, dudes, the holdouts remaining after a couple of
decades of attrition has become more than a little insular. Wed also like to
draw your attention to a rare appearance by Magik Elvis, appearing in a Mist
pack for the first time since our inaugural production 24 years ago! Still,
sorry to disappoint, in a literary idiom.
We probably wont be serving up anything so thematically focused until, well,
April, so please enjoy the extraordinary thematic clarity in this collection
and the customary random selections from the regular coterie of Mistigris
art misfits will be returning next month. Until then...
Mistigris 2018: we can still compete as some variety of fruit.