‘Twas back to at Galerie L’autre Monde curated by Lady Anais (Anais Yuhara) and located at The Uzine, for me recently, to witness an ensemble exhibition entitled Hello Spring. Featuring the work of seven artists, the exhibition combines both real-world photography and digital artistry in a celebration of the coming burst of colour and light (for the northern hemisphere at least!) as spring brings forth new blooms and blossoms to brighten our world.
My visit marked the second time I’ve dropped into the gallery – the first having been at the start of February 2023. At that time, I pondered whether out not the design of the gallery space was specific to the exhibition being mounted at that time, or the gallery’s natural appearance. With my return to view Hello Spring I was pleased to note it appears to be the latter; there is something quite engaging about the use of partially demolished / destroyed buildings with the detritus of human habitation scattered around, all caught under a twilight / night sky (make sure you have your viewer set to World → Environment → Use Shared Environment) that makes this striking gallery space.
The artists presented within Hello Spring are TerraMerhyem, Rage Darkstone, Hermes Kondor, Tutsy Navarathna, Lalie Sorbet, Nils Urqhart, and Deyanira Yalin, Each presents at least two pieces of art representing the arrival of spring, each artist using a section of the gallery’s ruins.
For their pieces, Hermes and Nils present stunning macro-level views of flowers in bloom, Nils presenting his with a subtle vignette finish, his backdrops suggestive of a dark sky to bring the focus of his images to the fore in all there natural beauty. Hermes similarly uses a vignette effect to frame his subjects, but counters it with a more obvious use of depth of field. In both cases, the results are stunning life studies of nature’s beauty.
Artistic couple Rage Darkstone and TerraMerhyem present a vibrant mix of digital art and colour. Terra offers three pieces which suggest an unfolding story of sorts. To the right is a single sakura, carrying with it all the promise of spring mixed with a sense of mysticism – the latter enhanced by the soft illumination of sunlight through clouds to produce a pink sky tinged by a rainbow refraction as if from a lens to one side as the Sun edges its way around the clouds to the other. In the next two, the tree appears to have been transplanted into what might be otherworldly places, suggesting the universiality of rebirth and renewal. With his pieces, Rage uses light and geometry to present flowing, living forms rich in the colours of spring and a marvellous mix of fantasy and marine life.
With their pieces, Deyanira, Tutsy and Lalie also use digital techniques to offer us views on spring, with Deyanira presenting more macro-level views of flowers and springtime insects, with Spring – I believe – combining photography and digital rendering – offering a fabulous journey into a flower to reveal the anther and filament. Tutsy’s pieces bring together image and metaphor, and Lalie similarly using metaphor in the form of avatar-like people in a triptych of pieces visualising the richness and beauty of spring.
Warm and vibrant, Hello Spring is a richly engaging exhibition.
SLurl Details
- Galerie L’autre Monde (The Uzine, rated Adult)
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