To celebrate Minecraft turning fifteen, gaze upon the glory of new paintings by old friend Kristoffer Zetterstrand – artist is behind classics such as “Skull on Fire” and “Pigscene”

I'm really glad they brought Kristoffer Zetterstrand back to make the new paintings. There's definitely a mood and feeling they bring to the game, similarly to how the original soundtrack pulled the game away from the stereotypical pixel art game style. I'd be interested to see what paintings didn't make the cut, since the article mentions some were discarded due to not working at the size/scale.

The main thing here is new painting sizes! Paintings with 3 blocks width mean that paintings can be more easily used in odd width builds. That's huge.

The genius behind 15 of the 20 new paintings that has been added to Minecraft

Statements like this crack me up, particularly when paired with the typical "intense artist gaze" photograph to accompany the piece. Maybe doubly so when you see the pixelated artwork. Not so say it isn't a valid medium, but I'd hope someone working in that space would have the wherewithal to have a little humility and fun with it. I found the pictures fun but it seems like a space that could do without the pretension of "high art". It reminds me of the walking tour of the Guggenheim where Frank Gehry narrates about his own genius, calling it that multiple times, at length.

Kristoffer Zetterstrand’s outstanding art is waiting for your subjective reactions, preferably an “Ah!” rather than the “What the heck am I looking at?!”

With that little ending though I feel like perhaps the whole thing is tongue in cheek. Either way a fun post!

I can't believe it's been 15 years already, I swear it used to be 4...