Thursday, June 9th saw the re-opening of Galerie 17 in Second Life after a three-year gap, featuring an ensemble exhibition with works by Angelika Corral, SheldonBR, Rage Darkstone, Christy Underwood and Flor Nachtigal, the gallery’s owner / curator.
Located in a modern 2-storey structure from the Fanatik range, the gallery offers for main display areas split two to a floor, with the lower level also providing a large, airy lobby space which is also used for displaying art, with the upper level also providing a lounge area.
Rage Darkstone’s vivid abstracts (top image) occupy the lobby area, together two of her very striking portraits. Naturally lit by windlight, these are superb pieces well suited to the display space, enticing the visitor to step forward and explore.
The two gallery spaces on the ground floor are given over to a shared exhibition by Angelika Corral and SheldonBR – two artists I greatly admire. One again, Sheldon’s penmanship and Angelika’s photography powerfully contrast and perfectly complement one another, presenting a series of monochrome studies of the female form, which have been beautifully set against the gallery’s lighting, and to a quote from Shakespeare’s Troilus and Cressida.
Upstairs, the two display spaces are split between Christy Underwood and Flor Nachtigal. Christy presents a set of her entirely computer-generated paintings, which she produces with pen tablet and painter software, much as an artist may use paints and canvas. The results, abstract in nature are striking to both the eye and wall.
Flor’s images comprise two sets of nude or semi-nude monochrome avatar studies. The firs comprises two images taken from a series entitled Adriana, which I assume refers to the model’s name. These stand on either side of the entrance to the display room, and are quite distinct from the remaining four images, drawn (or forming) a set called Odalisque.
This is a term generally taken to mean a chambermaid or a female attendant in a Turkish harem, particularly the court ladies in the household of the Ottoman sultan, but who were not themselves concubines. However, it can also mean, “an exotic, sexually attractive woman”, and it is perhaps into this latter category that the four images offered here would fall, offering a hint of submission within them, together with an echo of the days of Ottoman.
Taken individually, each of the displays at Galerie 17 offers excellent viewing; taken as a whole, and as indicated by the positioning of Rage’s images in the lobby area, they form a complementary theme of avatar studies and abstracts which carries the visitor through the gallery. My congratulations to Flor on the re-opening, and on such a superb exhibition to mark it!
SLurl Details
- Galerie 17 (Rated: Adult)
Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld 