bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

sponsorType

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

Pavan Shamdasani

 Passpartout: The Starving Artist
Flamebait Games
3.5 stars
Modern art is, perhaps understandably, ridiculed by many. Contemporary works are often criticised as lazy and overly ambiguous – splodges or splashes sold for ridiculous prices and lacking the resonance of say, the Renaissance or even the Cubist movement.
Anyone can be an artist, they say, it’s just how you market yourself, and that’s the tongue-in-cheek idea behind Passpartout: The Starving Artist (available for PC).


In this quirky 3D “artist sim”, you start out in your garage with an easel, a set of basic paints and a couple of canvases. Your goal is to create a masterpiece using a setup akin to MS Paint.
You can paint anything you like – within the limitations of your mouse’s abilities – and more often than not, your works will come out pretty basic. But what you think about them doesn’t matter – this is for the world to decide. Some pieces sell, most don’t, but you need cash to sustain your starving-artist lifestyle of wine, baguettes and rent.
Game review: Angry Birds Evolution is boring and lacks staying power – just like the movie
The more you sell, the better your tools get, and soon you’re equipped with finer brushes, spray cans, better canvases and an extensive artist’s setup. People start taking notice, they start buying more and more of your rudimentary creations, and one day, a critic comes along. He loves your minimalistic masterpieces, puts you on the front page of the papers and sets you up – where else? – in a hipster outdoor gallery, made entirely of bricks.

Things are going great, this art thing is really looking up, the world is your oyster. And then all of a sudden, it isn’t. Your enthusiasts turn on you; they don’t like this new direction your work is taking. You try to go back to your classic style, the basic simplicity that served you well initially, but they can smell a sell-out a mile away. Your art career is over, your finances dwindling. In desperation, you paint and paint, but nothing catches on. The game is over.
Game review: Vanquish – a fast-paced reboot for sleek space marine adventure that became a cult favourite
That’s just one possible path in Passpartout, a cheeky little release that certainly isn’t made for fans of contemporary art. There’s not really much behind it, and the selling aspect is a bit random – but then again, one could say the same about the modern art world.


Japan’s ancient art of swordsmithing finds new generation of fans through pop culture

How Seoul became the world’s esports capital and is using it as a key tourism strategy

Next level: why China’s game makers are quietly bankrolling generative AI

Incarnations of the word avatar – from visiting deity to sci-fi hit and online personality

Video gaming

Game review – Passpartout: The Starving Artist’s take on modern art world is firmly tongue in cheek

Passpartout: The Starving Artist (available for PC) captures some of the seeming randomness of the contemporary art scene.

Art from the game Passpartout: The Starving Artist

Culture

Lifestyle

Arts

Tech

Flamebait Games’ new ‘artist sim’ gives you the chance to sell random splatters of paint akin to those of top contemporary painters – just make sure you offload enough to be able to afford your wine, baguettes and rent


An assessment or critique of a service, product or creative endeavour.  Film reviews, restaurant reviews, reviews of art exhibitions. (Eg. Crazy Rich Asians: an important film, yes, but a good one?)


Review