Category: Art in Second Life

I’ve covered the art of Manoji Yachvili (formerly Onceagain, now Nomore) on numerous occasions in this blog, as I have with many of the exhibitions at her formerly public Onceagain gallery. So I was a little surprised to hear (through the grapevine, at least) that she had taken the decision to withdraw somewhat from the SL art world, disbanding her Onceagain art group and stating she would not be exhibiting her art in-world any more.

Of course, we all reach points in our lives when we feel either a need for a radical change in our lives or work (or both), or that what we’ve been doing for so long is less the centre of our personal or creative expression, and we need to take a step back. However, we’re also free to have changes of heart within those decisions to a greater or lesser degree. So it is that Manoji/Nomore has taken up the challenge to present one more exhibition of her work, hosted by Dido Haas in the main halls of her Nitroglobus Roof Gallery.

Entitled Inventory (with the sub-title of What is Hidden Inside an Inventory), this is both something of a personal exhibition of pieces that many otherwise never have seen the light of day beyond Manoji’s eyes, and an exploration of art and the identity of the artist. It might also, to so degree, be seen as asking questions that are not only relevant to an artist, but to all of us in the modern world.

Not only finished works, but images, studies, tests, attempts, detours, forgetings. An accumulation that precedes the final form and often remains invisible. The inventory is the place where thought exceeds production, and production exceeds what is shown.

An artist thinks more than they create, and creates more than they exhibit. Of what emerges into the light, only a selected portion remains, filtered by time, context, and the gaze of others. But does what is not shown truly cease to exist?
Is it necessary for everything to be visible in order to be legitimized? The very meaning of the word “artist” lies within this tension.

– From the artist’s notes accompanying of Inventory

Thus, framed around the walls of Nitroglobus we have images and pieces, some perhaps near completion, others only partially complete or abandoned experiments, all drawing on different themes yet drawn together through Manoji’s familiar use of colour. Recovered from deep within the artist’s inventory, they present insights into the range of Manoji’s art and her willingness to experiment with forms, colour and presentation.

As pieces long hidden inventory, these pieces are used to frame an initial set of questions of their existence and “legitimacy” – just because they have been buried within inventory and thus unseen, does this make them less art than those pieces which did escape inventory’s confines and openly displayed? If they remain hidden and archived, and never seen by others, does this mean they never really existed? How do questions like this reflect on the artist behind the art? That so much remained hidden somehow lessen their own status, or does the fact they are prepared to judge their own work and/or pushing it to one side enhance their artistic reputation/ability?

Beyond this, the exhibition also seems to offer a broader subtext for artists and the rest of us to consider. This can be particularly seen within the wall of Polaroid-like shots with their hashtag elements as they both encourage us to remember who we are and question things from the role of the artist through to the devil of the moment – the use of AI (which somewhat circles back to the questions of archiving raised in the artist’s notes accompanying the exhibition: yes, art might be preserved (or accidentally lost) through digital archiving, but it might also be put at risk of corruption by the devouring need of AI and its image harvesters).

Richly engaging visually, whether or not one delves into the artist’s own notes or attempts to identify potential subtexts and meanings, Inventory is a captivating exhibition – and I hope it is not forever Manoji’s last.

SLurl Details

• Nitroglobus Roof Gallery (Sunshine Homestead, rated Moderate)

As I continue to try to get back into regular blogging (and catch up with the backlog of invites and suggestions – please bear with me on this!), it was off back to Nitroglobus Roof Gallery, operated and curated by Dido Haas, to peek at a couple of exhibitions, one of which is by one of my favourite SL artists.

Within The Annex of the Gallery is a new exhibition by Nowhere B, who makes a return to the gallery, Dido having hosted Nowhere’s first solo exhibition back in 2023 (see:  Intimist journeys and Zorian women in Second Life).

That exhibition presented a highly personal journal (if you will) of Nowhere’s journeys through Second Life. With Homebody Surrealism, he presents another series of images which again carry with them something of a personal subtext, but which take the observer in an entirely different direction, as Nowhere explains:

Homebody Surrealism is a domestic surrealist exploration—an inward journey into the strange and the marvelous hidden within ordinary life. It proposes that the familiar spaces we inhabit daily are not dull or exhausted, but quietly enchanted. Within the home, the most mundane objects become portals to wonder. An egg, a drawer, a window, a curtain—each holds the potential for revelation…

Homebody Surrealism invites us to look again, more slowly and more attentively. When attention deepens, the ordinary begins to shimmer with ambiguity and quiet mystery. The domestic world—so often dismissed as trivial—reveals itself as fertile ground for imagination, introspection, and awakening.

Nowhere B.

The result is a collection of highly imaginative and engaging images and pieces which are captivating when first seen, then quietly beckon us in closer to decern more of what they wish to say – or at least, invite us to see beyond the “mundane”, as Nowhere puts it.

Given the nature of the pieces, their potential subjective resonance and that touch of subtext, I’m not going to colour your thinking by offering my own thoughts on the pieces within Homebody Surrealism. Rather, I invite you to visit the exhibition yourself and see them first hand.

The main hall at Nitroglobus sees the return of Bamboo Barnes with her fifth exhibition there, one which is deeply introspective in nature and form, carrying with it the title Infinity Wall.

Bamboo is, for me, one of the most vibrant, evocative, provocative, and emotive artists in Second Life. Her work is far removed from that of other artists who mix digital techniques with images from the physical world and those from SL. Her work is both vibrant and open in its use of colour and tone, yet also deeply introspective – that latter often brought forward by her use of those same assertive colours and tone. her themed exhibitions are thus a window into art  – and into the artist herself.

This is very true of Infinity Wall, which is one of the most personal of Bamboo’s exhibitions. This is very much noted by Bamboo herself:

It felt like a small universe—perhaps because both of our lives had somehow fallen out of sync with the world. Now I find myself asking questions I cannot answer alone, and at times I shrink from the pain they bring. It is like standing before an infinity wall, staring at a black dot as it slowly fades away. I no longer know where I stand—whether I am falling or floating. The only certainty is that there is nothing beneath my feet.

…Nothing is perfect, and once something begins, it moves inevitably toward its end. This is a quiet, unchangeable truth we must accept. Until that moment arrives, we drift, sometimes sink, and continue trying to create a universe we cannot hold onto forever.

Bamboo Barnes

The majority of the images in this collection are self-portraits; pieces which are deeply emotive and beautifully telling in their stories. From individual pieces through to a triptych, these pieces reveal Bamboo’s talent for setting mood and suggesting thoughts and feelings – and offering insight into her own thoughts and reflections.

As with Nowhere B’s exhibition, Infinity Wall must be seen directly rather than seen through the lens of my thinking in order to be properly heard in its messages. As such, I again thorough recommend a visit.

SLurl Details

Sunshine Homestead is rated Moderate.

• Nitroglobus Roof Gallery
• Nitroglobus Roof Gallery Annex