Day: September 17, 2015

Kerupa Flow Unveiled in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
The Portraits of Kerupa Flow Unveiled
The Portraits of Kerupa Flow Unveiled

On display at Tabula Rasta’s Gallery 24 is some of work by Kerupa Flow. Entitled The Portraits of Kerupa Flow Unveiled, it presents a series of the artist’s real life portraiture brought into Second Life and offered as a cosy exhibition curated by Kayly Igali.

“I am a Japanese artist.  The art you see here was made on a computer, using a pen tablet,” Kerupa says of her work. “SL allows me to display my art in its purest form.  Digital data is revealed via graphic pixels.  SL helps make my art come alive, makes it real, more even than in 1st life, because to show it there I would have to transform it, by printout or posting on the web.  Here I can upload and it is a real life experience inside SL.  I find that so exciting!”

The Portraits of Kerupa Flow Unveiled
The Portraits of Kerupa Flow Unveiled

The result is a collection of largely black-and white drawings and images spread across the front floors of the gallery. Most of them stand-alone, but within which sits a fascinating examination of the artist’s creative process at work. It commences with a simple androgynous portrait, dated July 2007, which progresses through to a finished” image – only for Kerupa to later return to it and continue working with it. You can see the study in brief in the image at the top of this piece – but an up-close look is recommended.

What makes this set of images particularly interesting, is that the artist presents a series of comments alongside the pictures. These not only serve to illustrate how the image developed over the passage of time, but also offers insight into Kerupa’s evolving relationship with the individual within it, the latter’s expression and the emotions it conveys serving to influence Kerupa’s own responses with each iteration of the work.  The result is a lovely narrative  leading from initial sketch to a final painting.

The Portraits of Kerupa Flow Unveiled
The Portraits of Kerupa Flow Unveiled

As noted, this is a small, but fascinating display of an artist’s work – and one I thoroughly enjoyed visiting. My only regret is that I missed the opportunity to hear the artist talk about her work on September 14th.

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Lab Advises: update your Second Life payment info

Posted on by Inara Pey

secondlifeOn Wednesday, September 16th, 2015, Linden Lab issued a blog post advising people  who use a credit (or debit) card to make payments directly to Linden Lab, to update their Second Life payment information.

This is due to the company transitioning to a new payment system. The advice is particularly pertinent for any users who have not recently added or updated their payment method as the post notes:

Second Life is transitioning to a new payments processor for credit cards. If you use a credit card for Second Life payments and have not added or updated your billing information since July 7, 2015, we strongly encourage you to re-enter your information to avoid any potential disruption of services. If you use PayPal or Skrill for Second Life payments, no action is needed.

Updating your payment information is relatively simple:

  1. Login to your Second Life account at SecondLife.com.
  2. Click Account and then Billing Information.
  3. Under How You’re Paying, select the payment method of your choice.
  4. If you wish to re-use the same credit card already filed directly with the Lab, you will need to Remove it first, and then re-add the details.
  5. Make sure you also indicate to payments which are to be charged to the card by clicking on the Change option and checking the required check boxes.
To update / re-use card information filed with the Lab, you will need to Remove the existing card details first, add (or re-add, if using the same card) details of your card, and then make sure you select the payment options for which the card is to me used by clicking the Change link and checking the option(s) you wish to use
To re-use existing card information filed with the Lab, you will need to Remove the card details first, and then re-add them. When adding card payment information, make sure you also define the payments which are to be charged to the card through the Change option.

When you have updated your payment information, you should see a banner notice at the top of the Billing Information page telling you this is the case.

As noted in the Lab’s blog post, you may notice a small authorisation charge made against the card you register. This is a common means of authenticating billing information, and the charge will be reversed / cancelled by you bank of credit card issuer, so the money is refunded to you.

It is not clear exactly when the transition to the new payment system will take place / be completed (or indeed, if it has already been completed). However, if you do have a credit / debit card registered with the Lab which you have not recently updated, it would be best to do so sooner rather than later to avoid any possible hiccups with payments.

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