This review might be coming a little late in the day – so my apologies to all, especially the artist. However, May 20th saw the opening of an exhibition at Diotima Art Gallery curated by Redi (Red Bikcin) featuring the remarkable work of artist ViktorSavior.
Viktor is a mixed-media artist whose work spans both the physical world and Second Life. I first encountered it at the start of the year (see here for more), witnessing his paintings and – particularly – his drawings, which immediately captivated me. Since then I’ve been to several exhibitions featuring his work, and have continued to admire it.
With Dancing Beauties, the title of his display at Diotima Gallery, Viktor once again presents a selection of his monochrome drawings in an exhibition that can be broadly split into two parts. In the front part of the gallery, and mounted on the walls, are fifteen studies of avatar couples enjoying moments of intimacy – which do involve female nudity, and thus might be considered NSFW.
In the rear hall of the gallery, these gently give way to 11 studies of individual avatars in motion.
What makes Viktor’s art so attractive is the fact that his drawings are not merely snapshots that have been captured in the viewer and then post-processed to resemble line drawings – they are all executed by hand, and quite wonderfully so.This gives them a depth of life far greater than would otherwise be the case, a fact amply demonstrated in the selection of images here.
Those to the front of the gallery that feature couples – with no small degree of nudity that might make them NSFW – are wonderfully drawn. In them we see genuinely intimate moments that are in no way voyeuristic; rather, they are moving in the way they visualise the tender dance of love and devotion between two people.
Similarly, the 11 images on individual avatars are extraordinary in the manner in which they capture the life within their avatar subjects, containing as they do a what can be the subconscious dance on life. Rich in motion and energy, these are also captivating in their richness and strength, their monochrome form bringing this to the fore perhaps far more than had they been rendered in colour.
This is a genuinely engaging exhibition which might not have too much longer to run, so I do recommend hopping over to Diotima Gallery sooner rather than later in order to catch it.
SLurl Details
- Diotima Art Gallery (Gigli Waves, rated: Moderate)
Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld 