At the start of April 2017, I wrote about Melusina’s World of Details exhibition in Second Life. She’s now opened a second exhibition for the month, and it might be considered something of a companion to it, presenting something of a joint visit opportnuity. .
American Icons is a celebration of the great symbols of Americana in Second Life, all portrayed through Melusina’s signature close-up style of photography which is so distinctive and so creative.
In writing about the exhibition, she notes, “Since SL is a world made by residents, the choice of things they reproduced in this world looks like a catalogue of that can be called ‘icons’. That includes typical landscapes, historical symbols, daily life objects and places, roadside architecture, vintage objects and much more.”
So it is that we’re presented with 29 images of items and locations which are so emblematic of America and American culture. Sky scrapers, roof-top water towers, tower cranes, plains or wheat, roller coasters, motels, hotels, the diner and perhaps the greatest symbol of America of all – the motor car – are all gloriously celebrated.
But given this is Melusina, there are not simply postcard snaps of Americana in Scone Life; these are considered studies, where the beauty lies not in sweeping vistas or ranks of gleaming gas-guzzlers, but in the detail: and flash of sun reflected off of wheel rim and polished chrome; the gaudy brilliance of vinyl upholstery and steel-edged tables with their Formica tops; the blast of steam between an old rooftop water tank and the silhouette of a construction crane.
Each piece offered is evocative and eye-catching, and the exhibition itself is being held in one of the most iconic American-style regions in Second Life, the outstanding The Last Forever. Itself a work of art, the region encompasses so much about middle America, it has become a popular feature of SL photographers and blogs. As such, both the exhibition – which you can find at the Marfa Contemporary gallery, just across the road from the main landing point – and the region make for an excellent visit.
SLurl Details
American Icons (The Last Forever, rated: Moderate)
Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld 