Artful Expressions in Second Life: Blip and Nekonuko

Sorcha Tyles opened the next exhibit at Artful Expressions, her boutique gallery, on Saturday, February 4th, and it  not only includes two guest artists, but also presents a new design for the gallery itself.

Now occupying a two-storey structure, a teleport board linking the ground floor with the upper, the gallery has twice the floor space of the previous unit. The lower floor is devoted to Sorcha’s own photography  – which is more than worth a visit in and of itself; she has a marvellous eye for subject, mood and setting, and her studies are entrancing.

The upper floor is given over to Sorcha’s invited guest artists, and in this lies another of the attractions of Artful Expressions: Sorcha actively seeks out those who may not have exhibited widely in Second Life in the past, or have perhaps been overlooked by other galleries. Thus, her gallery is an ideal location for discovering the work of artists and photographers you may not have previously come across in-world.

“I am an improviser by nature…in life and in my art,” Blip Mumfuzz says of herself and her work. “My images are typically the result of an unplanned, spontaneous interaction with my environment.”  She goes on to state that she became interested in SL photography as a means of recording her travels across the grid. But then, “I noticed that I started seeing differently … I found that once I found saw something interesting I’d start moving the camera around.  Looking over and under, behind and between.  I began looking less at the things themselves…and more at visual and spatial relationships things.”

The result is a set of studies offering  a unique perspective on the virtual world in which we roam and which utilise a refined use of line, form and use of colour to create images which are deceptive in their elegant simplicity, inviting us to look into them and discover the story each contains.  You can see more of her work on Flickr.

Nekonuko Nakamori, the second artist Sorcha is exhibiting through February, is a physical world artist with a grounded in Japanese art and who specialises in conceptual / abstract art in oil.

Within Second Life, and as Blip started out, she uses photograph as a visual journal of her travels within the grid. Each piece, a precise 1:1 ratio image, presents a location she has visited, usually with nekonuko herself somewhere within it – sometimes prominently, other times distantly. Carefully post-processed they are offered not only as a record for her wanderings, but as a painting, almost of a waif at large in the world.

Both Nekonuko and Blip will remain on display at Artful Expressions through until the end of the month.

SLurl Details

• Artful Expressions (Adored, rated Moderate)