Atari 'Industrial Design Artwork' Gallery

Check out an awesome series of old-school Atari hardware-inspired artwork. "I'm no art critic, but I know what I hate. And I don't hate this." So said Mr. Burns in an early episode of The Simpsons, and we heed his wise words now. We're not sure if these paintings inspired by Atari industrial design are great Art with a capital A, but we do know one thing: They're rad as hell either way.

The gallery comes by way of AtariGames.com, a fansite that hosted images of the artwork (of unknown origins) after acquiring them "late last year." The gallery hasn't actually been updated since 2002, though, so it's been around for quite some time -- but it's still worth checking out this explosion of 70's nostalgia all the same. Viewing these, we can't help but wonder two things: 1) How much better would the world be if all the crappy, generic paintings in doctor's and dentist's offices were replaced by Atari-inspired artwork instead? And 2) assuming these pieces were painted in Atari's heyday, why the hell didn't they ever hire the artist(s?) to design the actual cover art for Atari games instead?

What follows are a select few pieces, but be sure to check out the gallery to see them all.

Is this lady holding an avocado, while wearing a tube top that also says "Avocado"? Dude, that's weird.

Say... could some of these have been the secret inspiration for Mirror's Edge's color style?

And finally, we're pretty sure this piece is titled "Ode to a Double Entendre."

Origin post from 1UP