Karlando Butt, known as KXRLY, grew up in Mandeville, Jamaica. Like many kids, he fell in love with video games, but what held his attention most was how they told stories, especially games built in pixel art. Each tiny square on the screen was a choice, and together they made whole worlds.
That fascination became a craft. KXRLY taught himself pixel art and has practiced it for more than ten years, since he was young. Today he lives and works in New York.
His work mixes the familiar with the personal. He takes well-known video games and their characters, alongside characters he invents himself, and uses them to show what it means to be Jamaican, from his own experience and from other people’s. Through pixel art he shows everyday Jamaican life, humor and identity in a visual language that a whole generation grew up with.
His aim is simple: to make room for culture in pixel art, and especially for a culture that has rarely been represented there. Video games have shaped how millions of people imagine the world, and KXRLY makes sure Jamaica is part of that picture.
Saint Art 700 is proud to present KXRLY, a Caribbean digital artist working where gaming, nostalgia and identity meet.