Blinky is wondering why no one has seen his monkeys.

“They are all over the place. There’s a huge one right outside, but no one has seen it.” He’s a little flustered and rightfully so; this is a big night for him. Here at this exclusive gallery opening, thousands of potential fans will view and, perhaps purchase, his art.

A look of serious concern crosses his face as he bobs and weaves his way through the intimately packed room. He stops in front of one of his pieces. “I did Super Mario, Q-bert, that snake that eats Q-bert all the time, Pac Man, and the Pac Man Ghosts. My name is from one of the Pac Man Ghosts—It’s the red one. I love video games.”

Blinky is just one of many likeminded, forward thinking artists influenced by video games who have come together tonight. For these artisans of the electronic age, there is only one Mecca, one gathering place: the now infamous and wildly popular, annual I Am 8 Bit art show in Los Angeles.

“I play video games all the time still,” he shouts. “I played them when I was five and I’m thirty now. I quit my job to do art full time because working kind of sucks.”

At I Am 8 Bit, patrons of fine art trade-in expensive chardonnay for sugary red and blue video game inspired concoctions. They disregard philosophic debates about “authenticity” and “influence” for conversations about whether Donkey Kong would best represent Christ in the video game version of The Last Supper.

“I would think that would be Mario,” a passerby remarks. “But who would that make Luigi? Judas?”

Despite only being in its 2nd official year, the I Am 8 Bit show has started a revolution in its infancy. Since its premiere last year at Gallery 1988, curator/creator Jon Gibson, a writer and video game lover, has launched an artistic empire.

“Last year, we had over 1400 people come. There were lines outside all night. Lines are always good,” Gibson smirks. “This year, we’re bigger featuring over 120 artists, a surprise DJ and a modded version of Guitar Hero with the Mega Man theme.”

Along with the gallery exhibit, Gibson has authored a shiny, high impact coffee table book by the same name, featuring much of the art seen at the show. The book begins with a forward by pop culture commentary poster boy Chuck Klosterman—video game art has officially arrived. 

But this development is hardly shocking. For centuries, young artists have been spurred on by the nuances of their surroundings. It seems only logical that now a generation of artists would emerge with oeuvres of Nintendo and Atari.

“I based my piece on girlfriends being ignored by video games, because my girlfriend and I used to get in fights about video games all the time. So, I hung her by an Atari Joystick,” says Steven Daily one of the artists featured at this year’s show.

His painting, featuring a topless woman in a Darth Vader helmet being strung up by various video game controllers, was one of the most stunning and intense pieces in the show, and caused attendees to stop dead in their tracks and ponder its meaning.

“I don’t want to push my idea. I like them to get what they see from it, what touches them,” Daily muses. “I don’t know about the other guys, but me, since I’m 33, growing up, video games where a huge influence on my life—the art and style of them. I’m a huge Star Wars nut and I paint things from when I was a kid. I basically just paint what I know.”

While all the pieces at I Am 8 Bit are serious works of art, many come into being simply from the vast array of complex emotions video game victory and defeat can bring. Artist James Hakola found himself in a state of elation after a record breaking game of Dig Dug; however, an untimely demise caused him to stop and reflect.

“I got further than I almost ever go, like seventh or eighth level and I was like ‘Yea! Yea! Yea!’ then I made a really stupid mistake—I dropped a rock on my own head that’s like the most embarrassing way you can die in Dig Dug,” he recalles.

“I started thinking, ‘You know, if this was a person, he’d be a hero. He should get a funeral.’ You see these guys die a million times over in video games and they never get a funeral. So all the different game franchise characters came out and just wanted to wish him off.”

Hakola pauses and adds with a chuckle, “There are three more right behind him, so they can only be so upset about him I suppose.” 

But for all the video game inspired artists and the thousands of people who flock to see their work, the annual 8 Bit show offers a chance to strut their stuff to a growing niche crowd who understands their work in an intimate way. An entire generation of videogame players is coming into adulthood with expendable income, starved for culture that speaks directly to them and their experiences. I Am 8 Bit satisfies the appetite with an abundance of nerd cool and they are just getting started.

When asked about his future aspirations, Daily is a man of few words. “My plans?” He cracks a wide smile and quips “World Domination.”

But there’s something in his eyes that says he isn’t lying.

For more pictures of the artists, artwork and, of course, HOT CHICKS check out our exclusive I Am 8 Bit Photo Gallery here.