Category: Art in Second Life

Shattered Egos is the provocative title of an exhibition of art by Matt (MTH63), which opened on May 11th at the Lin C Art Gallery, curated by Lin Carlucci.

Also known as Matt Thomson in the physical world, Matt is a professional abstract artist and digital designer who, as well as producing some truly fabulous abstract pieces also has a quirky sense of humour, as witnessed by his bio liner notes:

Matt Thomson … approaches his art with innovation, fun and breakfast cereal. Matt believes that art should please the eye and make you feel like a man can paint in a straitjacket. He doesn’t take himself seriously, and his art shows a sense of fun and over dependency on sprouts and curry powder.

– Matt Thompson, describing himself

To use a truism, the beauty of abstract art is oft in the eye of the beholder; or to put it another way, it’s not everyone’s cup of hot brown milky beverage. However, it is among the art forms I particularly enjoy, and I seriously doubt those visiting Shattered Egos will not be captivated by the 20+ pieces Matt presents here.

Rich in colour and contrast, these are pieces that demand exploration and appreciation. Each has a story to tell  – and I urge those visiting to allow each picture to tell its story  as they see it, before using mouse hover / a right click to reveal the name of each piece. By doing this, the manner in which the narrative may suddenly morph – or perhaps be confirmed – is as remarkable as the shifting, swirling colours present within the art.

I’m not sure why the title Shattered Egos has been selected for this exhibition, but I suspect that it is in reflection of the fact that Matt’s work is ego-free. It’s clear from the irreverence he displays towards himself, together with the sheer expressiveness present in the images, it’s clear that each of these pieces has been created with a love of art and free expression, and not as a means of deep self-expression or personal reflection. Hence why, again in his bio liner notes, Matt quotes Oscar Wilde:

Art is the only serious thing in the world. And the artist is the only person who is never serious.

This further makes this selection of art richly engaging and well worth the time taken in visiting the gallery.

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• Lin C Art Gallery (Hana Aloha, rated: Moderate)

Currently open through until the 16th June, 2019, is a cosy exhibition of art by French artist and photographer, Ludi Taurus called simply Untitled.

Host by the boutique Galerie Alice, curated by Alice (angedem), Untitled serves as a superb introduction of a photographer I’d not previously encountered; one who excels in telling stories through her self-portraits. Featuring just ten images, the exhibition is captivating in the depth of narrative each picture holds, from fantasy to action to what can only be seen as personal moments seemingly captured by the camera when the subject was unaware.

From an alluring, single head and face portrait offered in monochrome, through to pure adrenaline-fuelled shots of a rain-soaked, motorbike-mounted gunfight, to a midnight period of introspection, these are images that powerfully convey emotions and engage the observer. Further depth is added to each on them in that, being untitled, other than what appears their date of creation, they leave us entirely free to interpret each image without any preconception, however incidental, a “proper” title might otherwise impart.

This is an alluring exhibition of photographic art, one – though I’ve said this before with exhibitions – that genuinely should not be missed.

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• Galerie Alice (Les Champs Elysees, rated: Moderate)

Currently open at the Itakos Project, curated by Akim Alonzo, is an exhibition entitled Soul Portraits. Featuring the work of ten individual photographers and one couple, it’s an exhibition that evokes – for me at least – mixed feelings.

To frame the exhibition, it is easiest to quote the introductory note card:

With this exhibition we celebrate 4 years of life of the Soul Portraits-Itakos Art Gallery group on the Flickr platform, with more than 5700 photos published by about 250 photographers registered in the group. A collective exposition that focuses on female portraits, and the selected artists all have a particular and personal eye on the emotions that a second life avatar can express. Feminine looks that touch, sometimes deep and inextricable, or tender, half-closed or hidden eyes, looks that wander beyond or that stare at you, questioning your soul.

The selected participating artists for the exhibition are: Mr. S, Sonic, Roberta Barineaux, Miuccia Klaar, Katia Lavecchia, Charlie Namiboo, Izabela Navarathna, Maloe Vansant, Lula Yue, and the pairing of CFaleny and Moki Yuitza, who between them have a total of 30 images on display, with the majority having three images apiece within the exhibition.

I will admit that in viewing the works, I tended to have something of a personal bias; three of the artists participating in Soul Portraits – Mr. S, Charlie Namiboo and Moloe Vansant – never cease to fascinate me with their work; they have the ability to frame entire stories within their photographs I find incredibly alluring. As so it is the case here, where I immediately gravitated towards Maloe’s four pieces as they formed pair bracketing the three from Mr. S at one end of the gallery’s  Grey Pavilion.

Which is not to say narrative isn’t present in any of the other pieces on offer; far from it; there are stories or threads of stories to be found within many of the pieces in the exhibit; and those that don’t perhaps carry a full narrative do convey emotions and provoke a subjective response – which as the liner notes indicate, is the goal of the exhibition.

However, I do confess to finding the similarity in approach to many of the images – a close focus on head shots sans broader background – coupled with their close proximity to one another, for me tended to lessen the overall impact of individual pieces.

But this aside, Soul Portraits is a further engaging exhibition at Itakos Project.

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• Itakos Project (ATL, rated: Moderate)

Currently open at The Edge gallery curated by Ladmilla, is an ensemble exhibition entitled Visual Poems. It features pairings of art and poetry, with some of the artists providing both the words and images, others working in pairs: one producing the images and the other the words.

Pieces are spread between two of the gallery’s exhibition spaces: the castle – notably the upper rooms and the parapet walks around the curtain walls – and in and alongside the cathedral. Those participating in the exhibition are: Mirabelle Sweetwater (images and words); Kapaan (images and words); PatrickofIreland (images and words); Thomascrown11 (images and words) VenicioArmin (images and words) Pearl Grey (images) and Klaus Bereznyak (words); TaraAers (images) and Oleanhorok (words); ViktorSavior (images) and AlenaPit (words); and Ladmilla (images) and Eli Medier (words).

This is a fascinating exhibition  – and one that, by virtue of the its scale, may require more than one visit to fully appreciate. The combining of words and images is always an interesting concept (something we have often explored with Seanchai Library with exhibitions at Holly Kai Park), perhaps doubly so when the creator of an image is entrusting their work to the imagination of another to produces the words around it.

Hence, within this exhibition there is an attractiveness to the pairing of artist and poet that can captivate, and without wishing to appear to select favourites, I admit to being particularly drawn to the pieces by Viktor and Alena (two of which form the banner image for this article). There is a minimalist beauty to Viktor’s images that is perfectly balanced by Alena’s 4-line verses. Together they paint a complete story that is deeply evocative.

Alena is a prolific writer, having produced more than 200 poems, and what fascinates me with this particular pairing is the question of which came first: the image or the poem? Or perhaps they have independent origins, with the artists matching words and pictures after the fact.

All my feelings from the heart and soul are reflected in poetry, which makes up most of my life in SL and RL. I write about different things: about romantic relationships, about feelings, about family, about nature, about hope and love. Many people say that my poems are positive and easy. I hope you leave me your opinion about them too. I write poems in Russian, but now I begin to prepare translations into English and arrange visual exhibitions in SL art galleries.

– AlenaPit on her writing

Alongside the gallery’s cathedral is Venicio Armin’s selection of images for the exhibition, and I must again confess I found these to be completely engrossing. Presented in monochrome the images and words, provide a story of two relationships: the relationship between a man and a woman and the love Argentines have for the Tango. Through six images and short poems bother are beautifully framed and presented in magnificent depth, with Venicio also offering the opportunity to hear the music of the Argentine Tango.

Also on offer at the gallery is an exhibition of art by  anibrm Jung and 3D art by Sempiternel and Mariemadeleine38. These add further depth to an engaging visit – but again, you should allow time to give the exhibitions the attention the deserve.

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• THE EDGE Art Gallery (Totuga Island, rated: Moderate)

Currently open at IMAGO Art Gallery, curated by Mareea Farrasco, is an ensemble exhibition celebrating NorderNey (closed to public access at the time of writing), one of Second Life’s more popular photogenic regions (and which I confess to having covered in these pages in 2014, and 2017, although I really should have taken the time to visit it more recently).

Happy Days at NorderNey is a small but enticing exhibition, featuring images by Maxie Daviau, Ninny Dazy, Sorcha Tyles and Mareea herself in a space specially prepared to resemble a part of the region with a sandy beach, the foaming wash of a tide, under an overcast sky.

Each of the artists presents four pieces of art, somewhat split between landscapes of the region and avatar studies that using the region as a backdrop. Together they form – as the title of the exhibition suggests – memories of happy times spent within NorderNey in one of its more recent iterations.

What is particularly interesting in the sixteen images presented is the way that all of the artists have selected more-or-less the same aspects of the region to include in their images: the path to the beach with bicycles leaning on the fence, the sailing boats moored off-shore the scooter sitting at the boundary between tall grass and warm sand for example.

In doing so, each presents unique perspectives on the setting through the use of colour, tone, and post-processing to bring out the clouds, or to offer a feeling of summer warmth or the overcast of an autumn’s day, and so on. Thus, each group of four images may feature some of the same elements as the others, but overall they present different moods and stir different emotional responses.

A small, easy-to view exhibition featuring a group of richly talented Second Life photographers.

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• IMAGO Art Gallery (Broken Mountain, rated: Moderate)