Avalonian Gallery, November 2025 in Second Life

As I continue to try to catch up on what’s going on in Second Life, I took the opportunity to hop over to the Avalonian Gallery, operated and curated by Moon (Moon Dragonheart), a 20-year veteran of Second Life (and fellow “Brit”) and his SL partner Luanamae Heartsong. This is one (which might actually be relatively new to the SL art world) of the many smaller, boutique-style galleries which can often pass unnoticed in the scheme of things, especially by those of us who blog art, so a slap across my writs in this regard, but which nevertheless quietly hosts engaging exhibitions.

Located on its own sky platform above the Mainland continent of Heterocera, the gallery is housed within one of Cain Maven’s instantly recognisable and elegant buildings. A large terrace bordered by hedgerows sits before the gallery, offering both the Landing Point and (presumably) space for event openings.

At the time of my visit, the gallery was hosting an untitled exhibition of art by Dante Helios (Dantelios). Also hailing from the UK, Dante splits his SL work between landscape images and erotica, noting:

Both of these themes fascinate me and continue to bring me pleasure in SL. I enjoy exploring beautiful sims and trying to capture the feeling of being there. I also enjoy seeing how women are far freer to express their sexuality in SL through their avis than they are in RL.

For this exhibition, the focus is on Dante’s landscape work, which I find to be rich, evocative and finely balanced in the use of post- (and possibly pre-?) processing to create pieces that can open the door to the imagination, allowing it to paint stories of its own – or which can simply be appreciated for their beauty.

The gallery building is split into two rooms, large and smaller, and Dante’s exhibition might be seen as being loosely split between the two.

Within the larger L-shaped room, entered directly from the terrace, is a display of images largely (entirely? I admit, there were two I didn’t recognise) within a region I’ve always found to be richly engaging on many levels: Buddha Garden, the work of Gian (GianArt Clip). It’s a place I’ve visited numerous times since 2022 (the most recent having been in August 2025), and the images Dante presents here offer and entirely new outlook on the setting, presenting it with a sense of mystical beauty that is quite marvellous.

The smaller room presents a collection of eleven pieces captured from around Second Life. They again include personal favourites – the now departed (and missed) Elvion, the ever-captivating Chou-Chou (the cathedral of Memento Mori perfectly captured and instantly recognisable as I place I’ve spent a lot of time within and have filmed in the past).

Also to be found (although I admit I had to peek at the name of the pictures for these) are Luane’s World, Angel of Pain, and Storybook, all of which have been locations featured in these pages, and the spirit of all of them is perfectly captured in Dante’s images.

I’m not sure how frequently exhibitions are staged / changed at Avalonian Gallery or how long this exhibition has been running. The latter being the case, I would recommend hopping over and viewing sooner rather than later. In terms of the former, I fully intend to keep an eye on the gallery’s group notices and outlets such as the various SL Arts groups for future exhibitions.

SLurl Details

• Avalonian Gallery (Perizoma, rated Moderate)