Category: Art in Second Life

Located close to the channel connecting Blake Sea with Second Norway lies Foliage, a Homestead region noted for the presence of the Foliage airstrip and the Art Gallery Sky Hye, both of which are distinctive in the use of Art Deco style buildings designed by region holder Transparent Banshee (who also presents the neighbouring and massive Greenhouse next door).

The Art Gallery Sky Hye is home to the work of physical world artist and teacher / animator Sky Hye.  Within it she presents a modest selection of her work in various styles and mediums, complete with explanatory text that provides insight into the techniques used to produce the art, thus providing an added layer of creative context to the displays.

The building has a pleasant open plan look with high ceilings featuring a glass archway skylight, and space for a galleried upper level, all of which allows plenty of ambient light within the design. The lower level is divided into three areas. To the left on entering from the landing point give above, are two paintings from a series entitled Threatened Landscapes, and which show two tranquil country settings, either of which could have been painted as much in Second Life as in the physical world. A sculpture by region holder Transparent Banshee sits directly before the paintings, and a further sculpture (by Wolk Writer) can be found in the grounds of the gallery.

Split between the lower and upper levels are two displays of monotype images. As the gallery notes state, these are one-off prints created by applying paint of ink to a suitable surface – glass, metal, plastic – then transferring the image to paper via printing press.

The series on the lower level is entitled Sand Treasures, and features paintings of glass fragments, shells and seaweed found on a beach. They are quite exquisite to examine – although given their size, some careful camming is required in order to fully appreciate each in turn. On the upper level, Sky presents an intriguing set of gesture figures, which she notes were painted during a figure drawing marathon prior to being transferred to paper the following day. It is perhaps the aspect of having been produced during a marathon that gives these paintings an added dynamic edge.

Also on the upper level are two paintings produced in 1999 which beautifully illustrate the artist’s skill in classical painting techniques (a further example can also be found in her Second Life profile).

The final display, located on the lower floor, is a series of wash drawings of the male body. These are drawings produced in a monochromatic style using ink or watercolours. For this series, Sky notes she used watercolour and bistre with hand-made and sized 100% linen paper. Again, while requiring some camming to full appreciate, this is again an exquisite series of images which demonstrates both the artist’s eye and skill.

SLurl Details

• Art Gallery Sky Hye (Foliage, rated: Moderate)

I was led to The Inevitability of Fate, a region-wide installation by Rose Borchovski (the innovative Dutch multimedia artist, Saskia Boddeke in the physical world) by fellow grid explorer (and accomplished writer and machinima maker) Erik Mondrian – and I’m genuinely indebted to him for doing so, for a number of reasons.

The first is, and to be perfectly honest, I actually had no idea any of Rose’s installations were still present in Second Life; over the last few years she appears to have focused more on physical world installations that have a virtual cross-over features the work of artists such as Bryn Oh (see Art and Obedience in Berlin and Second Life and The virtual reality of the Russian avant-garde for more). Secondly, while this installation did get a mention in this blog when writing about Rose’s work on 2013, I never actually properly reviewed it, so I can now put that to rights.

Thirdly, and most significantly, this is an installation that is poignant in its message, and while it reflects on events that took place in the middle of the 20th Century, the underpinning message it carries has as much relevance in the world in today’s political climate.

The landing point provides, via blank verse, a synopsis of the installation. This comes with an information note card outlining preferred viewer settings. Of these, the most important is to make sure your local sounds (not the audio stream) are active – a major part of this piece is aural, starting right on the landing point itself, which should be listened to before taking the teleport down to the ground level, as it very much sets the scene both directly through the spoken words and by the background sounds – particularly the clackety-clack of a train, which is not as innocent as might first seem.

On the ground, we are introduced first to Lot, then to her mother, Beth. All seems normal, Lot at play in the first vignette, and beyond it, Lot happily celebrating her ninth birthday with her mother. As a small aside, when moving through the vignettes (your route is denoted by white-on-black arrows), keep an eye out for the yellow tear drops, which offer poses, and the small blue eyes, which offer teleports.

These first vignettes are joyous – as childhood should be. But all too quickly, things change as we move beyond the birthday celebration.

The war came and all did change. A harsh hand ruled the world of Beth and Lot. They were forced to leave. They were separated from each other. They were made the enemy.

With the war comes an increasing series of unsettling changes: we – with Beth and Lot – must wear yellow ribbons (a recognition of Jews within Germany and other occupied  / Axis nations being forced to wear the yellow Star of David). Then we are informed of a list of restrictions placed on our lives, both in terms of movement and activities. Finally comes removal of identity we become a number and “the Ememy”, forceably relocated to a ghetto.

This leads, inevitably to separation, as Lot is taken away from Beth. Here the story jumps forward to a post-war era, where, and although she survived, Beth’s agony does not end.

After the war Beth returned. The child Lot had disappeared; no one knows where she went. Beth keeps searching for Lot. On good days, Beth is able to imagine that Lot is flying like a bird, with her face towards the sky, searching for the stars. On bad days, Beth can only be angry about her loss. Beth’s wounds will never heal. Lot had no chance to become who she meant to be.

While the horrors of the concentration camps and the Holocaust are not represented directly, they are given subtle recollection: the aforementioned clacking of train cars on rails (trains being the means by which those from the Ghettos were ferried to the camps) and the high “fence” surrounding the installation revealing itself, when viewed closely, to be the names of those known to have lost their lives as a result of their internment. Meanwhile the chequerboard surface of the landscape and some of the elements within it might be seen as an indirect reference to the stripped uniforms worn by those interred in camps and prisons.

Although historical in presentation, the relevance of The Inevitability of Fate to the modern political landscape is clear, from the re-emergence of discrimination and bigotry against people on the basis of appearance, colour race, gender or sexual orientation, through to the use of their religion or circumstance to blank label them as “the enemy” and / or a scapegoat for perceived woes – or simply as a means of political expediency / deflection, right up to and including the separation of children from parents, which has led to many of the latter being left entirely unaware of the fate of the former.

All of this may make The Inevitability of Fate an uncomfortable visit, but that doesn’t make it any less worth seeing.

SLurl Details

• The Inevitability of Fate (Cariacou, rated: Moderate)

Ice is the name of an exhibition by Fluer Heartsdale Chun (Fluer Heartsdale), now on display at the Artist in Residence gallery at InterstellART. This is a fascinating exhibition of real-life photography focused – as the title suggests – the subject of ice.

My journey into art began many years ago as a child while watching my grandmother paint. I experimented with many different mediums before falling in love with photography. Photography allows me to capture the world as I see it and show it to others.

– Fluer Heartsdale Chun discussing her art.

While perhaps in keeping with the time of year (at least in the northern hemisphere!), ice is also unique subject for photography, it is a unique substance, able to present itself in many different ways and forms, Fluer’s images demonstrate this, as well as revealing her eye and talent as a photographer.

When looking around my eye is drawn to the hidden and often overlooked common objects that surround us. With the aid macro lens I am able to capture and bring to light that which is often overlooked.

– Fluer Heartsdale Chun discussing her art.

Often seen as a colourless, sometimes clear, sometimes cloudly creation and generally thought of as smooth and evenly surfaced, ice can in fact be alive with both colour and form. Individual crystals are multi-faceted; they are both delicate and yet tremendously strong when unified. When we look at a surface of ice, it can be like looking into a frosted pane of glass or seeing the roll of waves on a pond or observing a limb of the Moon. All this and more is perfectly captured in the images Fleur presents within this exhibition.

With my macro lens I am able to take close-up photos which show that there is much more to ice than is visible to the naked eye. In the future I will collecting water from different sources to freeze and photograph, so that I may document any difference in how they freeze and photograph.

– Fluer Heartsdale Chun discussing her art.

This is a truly unique set of photographs, and one I thoroughly recommend seeing for yourself. When visiting, I would also suggest setting your viewer to midnight to fully appreciate the photos.

SLurl Details

• InterstellART (Nice Atoll, rated: Moderate)

Now open on the mezzanine level of Club LA and Gallery, curated by Fuyuko ‘冬子’ Amano (Wintergeist), is an intriguing exhibition by Joss Floss.

Fracture Facture (or possibly just Fracture) is an unusual curio of a piece that defies attempts to quantify it – which I tend to think is intentional. It is also very cleverly presented, mixing 2D and 3D elements that I suspect in places are both slightly tongue-in-cheek whilst simultaneously intended to challenge perceptions.

What amounts to eight individual pieces are arranged around the walls and on the floor, each presenting a very specific vignette, starting with (in terms of being nearest to the stairs up to the level), the titular piece Fracture. No liner notes are provided to the exhibition or to the individual pieces, so interpretation is purely in the eyes of the beholder.

For my part (and given the way my mind works), I felt several of the pieces perhaps carry a subtext on the subject of identity, which rage from how we perceive our worth in life, to the manner in which some may objectify others, unable to see them as individuals, through to a need to reinforce ego, with (perhaps) a metaphor for our lives always in a state of flux (or perhaps “repair”). Another of the pieces struck me (whether intentional or not) as gently mocking the more highbrow approach to art, as it put me in mind of the over-inflated view taken of a certain English artist’s “autobiographical” work. However, I do emphasise that there is absolutely no objective reason why this should be so, in terms of the piece by Joss.

But this is the real charm of the items in little exhibition. Like the artist, they defy being put in a box, but instead ask to each be seen and judged on the basis of how it presents itself to us, without a broader constraint of exhibition theme, or stated ideal on the artist’s part.

SLurl Details

• Club LA and Gallery (Amano, rated: Moderate)