Category: Art in Second Life

Artful Expressions, the boutique gallery curated by Sorcha Tyles, made its return to Second Life, with a new skyborne location and an exhibition of monochrome photography by Jules (GiulianaNicol).

The new gallery is offered on a rocky platform surrounded by just enough foliage to suggest a garden / woodland setting, giving it a pleasant outlook through the large windows and open front door (the latter guarded by an owl to prevent people walking outside and slipping off the edge of the rock). A little smaller than previous iterations of Artful Expressions, the gallery offers a cosy, warm space for exhibiting art and as a place where art lovers can hang out and make use of the corner coffee bar.

For her exhibition, Jules presents a set of six self-portraits, each of which offers a life study and a broader narrative into which it can be framed. Each is powerful in both presentation and the story to be found within it, perhaps made that much stronger through the use of a monochrome finish.

The narrative for each piece is suggested through both the image and its title – and I do recommend looking at each of these pieces both independently of their titles – that is, before taking a peep via Edit – and after. Doing so can often result each perhaps has two stories within it – one shaped by first seeing it, the second by the title itself; making a visit double the viewing pleasure.

A small, intimate exhibition of some genuinely engaging and imagination-stirring art marks the welcome return of a boutique gallery that has been missed these last few months.  It will remain open through until the end of November 2018.

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Artful Expressions (Niaoupolis, rated: Adult)

Now open at the Lin C Art Gallery, curated by Lin Carlucci, is an exhibition of art by Janine Portal. Untitled, it is a fascinating display of art perhaps not often seen in Second Life, utilising animations and prims to present remarkable collage pieces with a surrealist edge that are quite captivating to see.

At first glance 2D art, Janine’s work is actually more complex than a flat prim canvas. By layering elements together and using animations, she creates pieces that not only incorporate motion (something often seen in 2D art in SL) but which can also offer changing perspectives and one cams over them.

I’m a first life artist, but I’ve also been making art in Second Life for a few years now. Visual effects that I could only dream about on paint and canvas can be realized here in prims and textures and, for that, I’m grateful. Sometimes I use my own images in my work, but I nearly always add found images, most of them in the public domain. This sort of visual collage seems to me to be very similar to the musical practice of “sampling.” I find a bit of this here, a bit of that, there, add unique elements and then weave and layer what I have into a new and pleasing whole.

– Janine Portal on her art.

The result is some of the most unusual art and effects I’ve seen in Second Life for a while, each piece offering an unexpected view of what might otherwise appear to be and ordinary scene or photo, or presenting a melding of ideas and / or narrative that is quite engaging.

To fully appreciate Janinie’s work, it is essential a couple of recommendations she offers are followed. firstly, set your local environment to CalWL, if possible. Secondly, rather than standing still when looking at her images, gently cam or tilt from side to side to witness the changing collage / effects, even with the pieces that already appear to be animated. If you have a flycam capability using a Space Navigator or joystick, this is really idea to witnessing the changing face of the images.

I could wibble on about the pieces presented in this exhibition, but really, this is art that should be seen to be fully appreciated, simply because of the way in which it has been created and presents itself to the eye. What I will say is that as well as the mobile elements of the art, there is a marvellous blending of styles and ideas, with some images incorporating layers photographs, others offering almost cartoon elements and still others built from what might be almost classically styled paintings, all of which adds further depth to an already intriguing exhibition.

However, the best way to appreciate Janine’s art is to see it first-hand, so I’m going to suggest that you hope along to the Lin C Art Gallery between now and November 13th, 2018 and have a look for yourself.

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

Art By Nature is the name Ani (Anibrm Jung) uses for her physical world photography presented through Second Life. I’ve covered her work in the past (see here and here), as I’ve always found it a stunning tour-de-force of photography sans the need for post-processing; and I’m happy to be able to say that she has returned once again to hosting her own gallery space in-world, this time located on the mainland region of Gimchi.

Based in the Netherlands, Ani is an award-winning photographer who has been active in Second Life since 2006. She  specialises in photographing nature – hence Art by Nature – and captures many of her images in her own garden using only her camera and natural light. Everything is framed directly through the viewfinder, and no cropping nor image manipulation is used after the fact. In this way, we are able to see each picture exactly as she did when taking it, allowing us to share her own sense of closeness with her subjects.

The result of this are images that are completely captivating in their depth and presentation, which Ani rightly displays in-world in a large format (although I believe her work is resizeable post-purchase). Split across two floors, her new gallery presents pieces that combine her marvellous work with the macro lens with her broader landscape work, offering the visitor a rich mix of her art.

Broadly speaking, the ground floor focuses on Ani’s landscape work and features some truly stunning photos of sunrises and sunsets, the majority making beautiful use of water and light to produce genuinely wonderful images. On the upper floor, the focus is towards Ani’s macro work – and this really has to be seen to be fully appreciated. It is in her close-up images of flowers and Ani captures the majesty of nature we can all too easily take for granted when captivated by the broader scenes of the world that nature presents to us.

From the delicate touch of a bee collecting pollen through to the beauty of trees and contrails caught against a sunset to the playful delight of a cat, there is so much here to capture the eye, making a visit more than worthwhile.

All of the images displayed are available to buy, and if you do visit the gallery, please consider a donation towards its upkeep.

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• Art by Nature (Gimchi, rated: Moderate)

Opening on Saturday October 13th, 2018 on the mezzanine level at Club LA and Gallery, curated by Fuyuko ‘冬子’ Amano (Wintergeist) is an exhibition of photography by  oYo (Oyona). Offering a mix of landscape and avatar studies, it encompasses a sublime sense of “natural” photography that has enormous depth  and, in the case of many of the images, considerable narrative substance.

For the exhibition, the mezzanine area has been converted so as to give a feeling of being outdoor – almost somewhere very close to the sea or up on moorland. Open sky forms the walls and ceiling, while the floor is a mix of scrub grass and shrubs through which sharp tongues of rock poke forth.

Within this space 22 photographs are arranged, mixing monochrome with full colour with the majority presented in softer tones and finishes that adds an extra dimension to them. What is striking about many of the photos is oYo’s use of camera placement and angle; the construction of many of the avatar-centric images are such that while carefully composed and comported, they actually have the sense of being spur-of-the-moment shots, pictures captured through happenstance rather than design and pose.

This is immediately evident on arriving on the mezzanine. To the left of the entrance sit What Do You Expect?, Take Care and Emo (all seen in the top image). All three have been composed to present a specific focus and emotional response. But through the use of lighting, shadow, angle, soft focus, it is as if each was caught entirely by chance: a camera being used and raised in mid-conversation or when the subject was least expecting it.

Thus the story within each of them becomes broader, encompassing the “person behind the lens” as much as the subject and setting: what was going on immediately before the picture was taken? What words were being exchanged? were both parties in Take Care aware that this was perhaps the last photo one would take of the other, a natural falling of shadow as the image was taken now serving to add to the stirring of emotion and memory whenever the taker of the photograph looks at it?

The landscape photos offered in the exhibition demonstrate a similar seasoned and skilled eye for composition, colour, tone and framing, all of which generates a narrative well beyond the photo itself. This is again evident from the very first image seen on entering: Le Rivage (again seen in the top image, on the left). A marvellous close-up of cormorants offered in monochrome and soft focus, the framing perfectly captures the moment at which some of the birds start to demonstrate agitation, wings spreading perhaps aware of the not-too-distant photographer. But so does it bring to mind the story of how it came to be taken: the careful manoeuvring downwind of the birds, edging over sand and rock or through wet marsh, constantly aware that push things too far, and the birds will take flight; then the use of a telephoto lens, perhaps crouched uncomfortably…

Time and again this storytelling comes to the fore in so many ways: the happy-go-lucky, out-of-the-window “holiday” shot of Saint-Martin, to the lonely beauty and pathos  – again both in front of and behind the lens of Tout Refaire (second image from top in this article).

These are all images that are rich in life and emotion as well as offering an unforced guide to the art and artistry of photography. Most definitely an exhibition to be seen. The formal opening will take place at 13:00 SLT on the afternoon of Saturday, October 13th, and the exhibition itself should be open through the first half of November.

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