Dropping in to Michiel Bechir’s Gallery in Second Life

One of the best ways to see art in Second Life is to visit the many boutique galleries that can be found across the grid. I say this because they generally have limited space, and so offer a small number of artists on exhibition, allowing a visitor to better appreciate the art on offer without feeling overwhelmed by the sheer volume of work or the number of artists.

Take Michiel Bechir’s gallery, for example. The latest exhibition there features the work of four artists: two offering individual exhibits, and two forming a joint exhibition.

With Sunrises, RoseHanry presents a collection of eight images on that subject, with her introduction:

The theme for this exhibit was born when I visited the amazing private SIM “Vintage Lace” owned by the talented Skip Staheli and Delinda Dench. I took a photo that I posted on Flickr by the name a new sunrise which is included in the collection of photos in the exhibition.

I grew up near beaches where I had the privilege to watch sunrises and sunsets building the skies in fascinating lights and colours, and I have tried to re-create that magic on my works in a different way that I am use to doing.

– RoseHanry

The result is a selection of eight tonal pieces ranging from monochrome through sepia to full colour that offer personal. In particular this use of tones helps to bring out the rich differences a sunrise can bring, from the seemingly black-and white of the very early dawn, when the Sun is so low on the horizon when facing it, the light seems to wash colour from your surroundings, through the the orange brightness that comes as the Sun climbs high enough for its light to be refracted by the early morning haze.

Across the foyer is an exhibition by Ethan Hawkins, offering a mix of landscape and avatar studies, with a lean towards the latter. These avatar images are of a personal nature for the artist, reflecting as they do his relationship with his SL partner, Tresore. However, they each represent scenes anyone who has been in a relationship will both recognise and empathise with the emotions they represent.

Ethan’s landscape images are similarly evocative, offering romantic views of locations in Second Life which have a sense of having been painted without the appearance of being overly post-processed. This exhibition is rounded-out a a series of four images of waterfowl and an owl that truly bring the subject matter to life.

The upper floor of the gallery features a joint exhibition by Ladmilla and Eli Medier, who between them run The Edge Gallery. They are perhaps best known for sharing Ladmilla’s images with Eli’s words, and have oft been featured in these pages. Here they share their images and styles. Both are accomplished in capturing pictures that offer a story, with their images here forming nicely contrasting, yet complimentary sets.

Rounding out the gallery’s art is a selection of Michiel’s own landscape images, featuring some of the many locations across Second Life, with this selection carrying an emphasis on green.

SLurl Details

• Michiel Bechir Gallery (Embrace, rated Adult)