The Games We Play

SAN FRANCISCO, CA -February 22, 2011 - Present Creative, a leader in the casual and social game industry, along with Nieto Fine Art,  a contemporary San Francisco art gallery, join forces in reimagining the boundaries of "fine art" with the  first annual "Games We Play" art show.

"The Games We Play" will open to the public at the Nieto Fine Art gallery space on 565 Sutter Street on March 3rd, 2011 from 7:00 pm to

11:00 pm. All are welcome to attend. More information can be found at http://www.presentcreative.com/artshow/

The idea came from the simple notion that many creative individuals in the video game industry are also formally trained artists. The Game Developers Conference seemed like the perfect opportunity to launch the event and a way to offer something different to convention attendees other than the usual mixers and shmoozing sessions. 

"The Games We Play" art show is the brainchild of the executives of Present Creative who felt that artists of the gaming industry lacked a suitable outlet for their talents to be celebrated outside of their day jobs.  "Pixelated princesses and cutesy critters pay the bills", says Present Creative Cofounder and CEO Ben Sutherland, "but, there's a wealth of imagination and talent that lies virtually unseen due to the commercial nature of the gaming industry.  We're just providing an outlet for that creativity.

For NFA Director John Hass, "The Games We Play" serves a dual role: it honors the art origins within video game stylings and celebrates the rebellious nature of art in its many forms. "It's important to shine a light on another spectrum in the arena of art," Hass says. "This is a unique departure from fine art that adds another dimension to our program."

Present Creative and Nieto Fine Art have brought together an all-star line-up of both established and budding artists who have worked on titles including Mafia Wars, Farmville, Diablo II, Hellgate: London, Jewel Quest and Peggle Nights from some of the industry's top game companies including Electronic Arts, Zynga, Blizzard, Wizards of the Coast, and Games Workshop.

The 26 Bay Area computer graphics artists featured in the show were given one directive: give us your art, uninhibited by business constraints. From the wildly imaginative story-images of illustrator Michael Dashow to the robotic sculptures of Present Creative Cofounder Zachary Present; from Kelly Denato's dreamily surreal paintings to the whimsy and humor of Sirron Norris' prints-these artists have delivered.

The exhibit will have its gala opening on the evening of March 3, 2011 from 7pm-11pm and will run in conjunction with the Game Developers Conference, held annually at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. To RSVP for the Opening Event - thegamesweplay@flavorgroup.com

Nieto Fine Art is located at 565 Sutter St, San Francisco, CA.

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About Present Creative

Present Creative is a full service art and game development studio specializing in casual, social and mobile games. The team integrates illustrative expertise with a solid knowledge of how games are built.

Co-founded in 2001 by Zachary Present and Ben Sutherland, Present Creative has a long history of producing high quality art work for companies such as EA, PopCap, PlayFirst, Zynga, Microsoft and Playdom.

Located in San Francisco, Present Creative has recently added industry veterans from companies such as EA, Namco and Blizzard including Kenneth Williams who comes from the team that created the highly acclaimed Diablo series. The expansion of Present Creative has fueled its growth from a game art studio into a complete game development studio offering game services in art, programming, sound and game design..  For more information, please visit http://www.presentcreative.com/ .

About Nieto Fine Art

The gallery is years in the making, fulfilling the work of brothers Anaya Nieto and John A. Nieto to invigorate the San Francisco art community with the works of their father, John Nieto, along with a dynamic line-up of painters and sculptors. Under the Direction of John Haas, Nieto Fine Art commits to bringing a fresh, changeable charge of emotion to the community of contemporary artists.More information can be found at http://nietofineart.com/

For more information please contact:

Mika Kelly

Clever Communications

For Present Creative

408.693.0176

mika@clevercomm.com

-or-

John Haas

Nieto Fine Art

415.393.4511

info@nietofineart.com