New York based Artist Adam Lister explores pop culture and art history through these unusual watercolor paintings inspired by his love for 8-bit graphics found in old Nintendo and Atari video games.

Below are some of his more recent paintings, and you can see plenty more on his website where he has quite a few prints available. The New York-based artist created a series of “8-Bit Watercolors,” exploring the relationship between past and contemporary modes of representation. For the series Lister transforms familiar visuals, from Gustav Klimt’s “The Kiss” to Wonder Woman, into horizontal fields of pure color and line.

Lister’s works begin with a recognizable image, taken from the pages of a comic book or the walls of The Louvre, and turns the complex scene into a flurry of right angles. Lister’s works toy with the way we see and digest images; even without curves and contours the content matter remains almost instantly recognizable. And while the digital aesthetic is rapidly gaining popularity in the art world, we rarely see the style compared to the flatness of watercolor. And to be honest, it warms our hearts a little.

Adam Lister was born in 1978 and is a resident of New York City. He has presented his work in various exhibitions across the USA and in London. Limited-edition prints of his work are available through his website.