Category: Art in Second Life

Recently opened at Niccoli Sweetwater’s Basilique region is a joint exhibition of art organised by the Focus team, and featuring the work of Looker Lumet and Sophie Marie Sinclair (Perpetua1010), both of whom are artists new to my eyes. This is something of a “split level” exhibition of work,  the core being located at Basilique’s skyborne exhibition and event space, Palazzo di Basilique, with some of Looker’s work also appearing at the ground level Galleria rotunda.

Located on the Lago di Garda terrace at the rear of Palazzo di Basilique, Sophie Marie Sinclair presents Yellow Expressions, a portfolio of her physical world art with – as might be expected from the title – something of a yellow theme running through them.

Sophie’s background is perhaps as fascinating as her art. A graduate of the Academy of fine Arts Vienna, she is also by turn a cartoonist, having had a particular focus on political satire, an author and a ghost writer for certain well-known comedians. As a painter, she is an experimentalist in terms of materials she uses, but has a leaning towards plaster, glue, terracotta, stones, bones, ash, charcoal, and the use of natural pigments.

Sophie describes her artistic focus as being on the nude body and also abstract art, and the former is certainly demonstrated in Yellow Expressions, which features 10 studies of the male and female form, most of which appear to be pen or charcoal drawing finished in a water or ink wash to provide the natural yellow tone within them, with one piece (Mind N) offering the suggestion of a more oil-like and textured / layered finish that also involves richer hues.

All ten pieces are superbly rendered, their finish highly suggestive of being produced on porous plaster rather than canvas, something that gives them a highly tactile sense, whilst their neo-classical styling presents them as pieces that would fit any home environment admirably.

Straddling the upper terrace at the front of Palazzo di Basilique and the ground-level Galleria rotunda, Looker Lumet offers a selection of his Second Life landscape photography (although he also produces avatar studies and portraits as well), with 12 pieces on the terrace, eight of which are also offered within the Galleria. I’m not entirely sure of the reason for this, although I assume it is to allow visitors to Basilique itself to view an art display without them necessarily being aware of the exhibitions up at Palazzo di Basilique.

Either way, Looker’s landscape work is rich in atmosphere, with the pieces offered in this selection perhaps leaning more towards darker tones and hues, some of which are fitting, given the theme (such as with The Graveyard in the Forest), whilst with others it offers a genuine and fitting depth of broodiness that emphasises Nature’s changing moods or the overall tone of the piece in question (see Abandoned and Seasight).

Which is not to say this is a “heavy” exhibition in terms of colour and tone: there are several brighter pieces that stand as memories of happy times on the beach or the splendour of a day’s sailing, all of which stands as an engaging exhibition.

I gather both Sophie’s and looker’s work will remain at Basilique through until mid-October.

SLurl Details

Basilique is rated Adult

• Palazzo di Basilique
• Galleria di Basilique

Recently renewed and reformed, the All4Art Project, managed by Carelyna Resident, opened its latest ensemble exhibition at IMAGOLand, on September 17th, 2020. It features the work of Sandi Benelli, Leonorah Beverly, Carey Chenault, Carisa Franizzi, Rose Hanry, Black Rose and Carelyna, together with Mareea Farrasco, who is also providing the setting for the exhibition on her IMAGO Land.

Described as being attached Mareea’s IMAGO Galleries, IMAGO Land is described as “an open area for visitors who love to explore or simply relax and for landscape photographers. Conceived as small islands, the different spots have different destinations: a park, a fishers village, a vacation resort, a beach, a country home with its yard, a bar and a dance floor, etc. As such, the location is perfect for the art on display, given the emphasis throughout on natural and natural – particularly coastal – settings.

The landing point for the exhibition sits within what might be called the social / events area of this half-region design, located on one of the larger islands in the the group that includes the dance floor and an old barn converted into a simple bar area. From here, three wooden board walks offer a choice of routes around the rest of the setting – which you take is entirely up to you, as the art is spread out around the various islands awaiting discovery as one explores.

Most of the artists participating in the exhibition are well known in these pages, and seeing them all together offers a delightfully complementary and also contrasting selection of images. Each artist has provided 5 images for the exhibition with some presenting their work on both sides of each canvas, simply because the layout of the island means their work can be seen / approached from either side.

With the exception of Black Rose, who provides a set of stunning original paintings, all of the images presented have been captured in Second Life. With a similar exception of Carisa Franizzi, who offers five black and white images that can quite capture the eye, all are presented in colour, from the soft tones of images post-processed to give a watercolour look and feel, to the vibrant hues and tones of Autumn and and bright hues of summer cast through an oil painting like finish.

Together, all of the images presented through this exhibition help remind us that beyond the walls of self-isolation and the constraints of social distancing and limited travel opportunities, there is still a rich and vibrant world around us. A world, one might be tempted to say, that is doing rather well because of our enforced absence – but will nevertheless be waiting to greet our return when times are such that we can once again roam freely and appreciate all of nature’s delights.  Further, many of the places presented in these images remind us, however subliminally, that humans and nature can get along side-by-side.

SLurl Details

• All4Art Project, IMAGOLand (Broken Mountain, rated Moderate)

Now open at L’autre Oeil (“The Other Eye) Gallery, owned and curated by Blaize Nightfire, is the gallery’s September 2020 exhibition entitled Landscapes. This is an ensemble exhibition featuring the work of Sandi Benelli, Charly Keating, Anouk Lefavre, Michael Lysios, Loegan Magic and Charlie Namiboo, who between them are some of Second life’s foremost landscape photographers / artists.

The gallery opened in June 2020, and was founded with a specific focus of promoting the work of artists to others in the Second Life arts community – although that doesn’t prevent admirers of the arts from visiting and appreciating the art on offer.

L’autre Oeil is a gallery for artists who love other artists. To be seen with the other eye, observers who appreciate a different perspective on the world around us.

– Blaize Nightfire, describing L’autre Oeil’s mission

For this exhibition –  my first visit to the gallery (and certainly not my last) – each artist is displaying three pieces of their work, some of which might easily be seen as story-telling triptych of images. Take Charlie Namiboo’s set, for example, the two outer images of plainslands neatly framing the black and white images of a river in what might be a tale of three parts, the two colour images supporting the centre image.

Although the title of the exhibition is Landscapes, some of the artists have cast their net a little wider. Loegan Magic, for example, offers a richly evocative rooftop scene that is exquisitely composed, predominantly in black a white, but with a wall painting of John Lennon offered in colour, staring from the the lower part of the image in a haunting capture that carries echoes of Imagine in  Lennon’s eyes, and also a hint of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Dr. T.J Ekleburg from the Great Gatsby. Similarly, Michael Lysios presents an oriental street scene, whilst Sandi Beneli uses SL landscapes and coastal scenes as a means to frame broader narratives on life and living – from flying a kite to the promise of a car trip. All of these images present additional depth to what is a captivating exhibition.

Tucked away in the exhibition are three images by Blaize himself, who demonstrates he is no slouch with the camera, offering three images of his own that are as evocative as any of the others in these exhibition.

An attractive ensemble exhibition, well worth dropping by to see.

SLurl Details

• L’autre Oeil  (Zinnia Island, rated  Adult)