Just over a year ago, I wrote about Venus by the Water, a Homestead region designed by Elizabeth (ElizabethNantes) and Cecilia Nansen. It featured a captivating setting, as I described in A Venus by the Water in Second Life, one which included the Gallery Björk.
Sadly, Venus by the Water has since closed, but Gallery Björk continues within a skybox location and featuring a new, light and expansive building sitting on a sandy island offering views on all sides out over open waters. Given the building appears to have been designed as a residential structure rather than a gallery / commercial structure, it’s an interesting choice for a venue – one that works well.
My visit was to see Essence of a Man, an exhibition organised by Cecilia and Elizabeth and featuring an ensemble gathering of pieces by male artist-photographers, which Cecilia describes thus:
We have asked a group of 11 men to create a black and white image depicting their personal interpretation of “the essence of a man”.
The 11 invited artists, who each submitted a single image, are: “Aegean”, “A. Salvatore”, Ayden Huntsman , Creep Wolff, Klint Kord, LordDylan Ansaldo , “Pedro”, “PK”, Shad Whybrow, “The Base Of Bad Ideas”, and Titus Palmira (quotes used against some names, as the gallery only appears to reference display names, making positive identification of the artists difficult).
Individual pieces are to be found throughout the rooms of the lower floor of the gallery and are placed such there no more than two in a given space – hallway or room –, allowing each piece to be appreciated without distraction as one meanders through the gallery.
While each is highly individual, almost without exception, the majority of the pieces focus on “alphaness” – buffness, muscle and bare chests – as representative of the male essence. Outside of Vulnerability and Strength by Pedro (note the way the guitar is being held as if shielding its owner), there is very little display of the softer, more vulnerable, aspects of the male nature.
I say this not as a critique of any of the pieces or the artists, rather – and allowing for the fact that such a direction might have been implied as a part of the invite to participate – that I find it interesting. Perhaps it is a reflection of the core difference between how men and women see as defining characteristics within their respective genders. Either way, each of the pieces is fully deserving of consideration in its own right, and all of which makes Essence of a Man any engaging and provocative / evocative exhibition; one well worth viewing.
SLurl Details
- Gallery Björk (Gravity, rated Adult)
Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld 