Category: Art in Second Life

Open from Friday, May 11th through until Sunday, May 13th, 2018 is the second annual Kultivate Sensuality Art Exhibition. As the name suggests, this is very much an exhibition of adult-themed art, so may not be everyone’s cup of tea.

Located on a sky platform, the exhibition presents the artists work in a series of individual gallery spaces set around an events square. Some of the artists have opted to simply display their art unfettered (so to speak, and pardon the pun); others have opted to dress their display spaces in keeping with the themes of the exhibition.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the female figure predominantly features in the art of display (there still seems to be something of a shying away from public exhibitions for full made nudity in the art world, even allowing for the Adult rating available in SL). There are exceptions to be found – but they are the minority here.  Many of the individual exhibits also seem entrenched in a familiar take on “sensuality”: full frontal nudity, sex, and SM / BDSM.

Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with this per se in an adult-themed art exhibition, and I’ve nothing against what is on display within this exhibition. However, sensuality is a broad canvas on which to paint, and opting from full frontal or direct nudity or “simple” themes such as BDSM at times  miss an opportunity to engage imaginations beyond just titillation.

Let’s face it, the most erotic and sensuous organ in the body is the mind: so it would perhaps be nice to see more artists recognise this, and play or toy with our imaginations rather than perhaps opting for the easier boobs’n’bums approach. Why not, for example, opt for the soft focus and the use of suggestion through setting, pose, lighting, etc.? Give the eye and the mind enough to get the imagination to take notice, and then let it weave what it wishes into the image.

Which shouldn’t be taken as a complaint against seeing this exhibition. As noted above, it’s a personal – and subjective – point-of-view, although I hope it may challenge some artists to consider the subject more broadly next time around 🙂 .

The exhibition will be marked by a number of supporting events across the weekend (all times SLT):

Friday, May 11, 2018

• 08:00: Hot Kiss Hunt, Sensuality Raffle and How Sensual are You? Photo challenge all open.
• 16:00 – 17:00: As Bare As You Dare event with live performer Jaq Luik

Saturday, May 12, 2018

• 13:00 – 14:00 Naughty Trivia & Angels N Demons Party.

Sunday, May 13, 2018

• 12:00 noon – 14:00 Sensuality Whips & Chains Masked Ball.
• 20:00 – Exhibition, Sensuality Raffle, How Sensual Are You Photo Challenge & Hot Kiss Hunt End.

SLurl Details

• Kultivate Sensuality Exhibition (Water Haven rated – for the weekend of the exhibition – Adult)

Art exhibitions in Second Life come in all sizes – from those that are region-sized, through ensemble gallery complexes exhibiting work by multiple artists to small boutique-style galleries, either run by the artist or curated and offering a focused exhibition featuring the work of a single artist.  Two exhibitions falling  into this latter category are Ce Soir Arts, and VOIR Gallery. They are currently and respectively hosting modest exhibitions by Xanthe Firehawk and Storie’S Helendale (GlitterPrincess Destiny) which are both well worth taking the time to visit.

Mystical Spring at Ce Soir features nine images by Xanthe celebrating the arrival of spring. They range from pure landscape settings through to beautifully created avatar studies that richly capture the mysticism and romance we sometime embody within thoughts and images of spring.

The landscapes – La Pastorale de Printemps (“Spring Pastoral”) and Spring Awaking offer views rendered in both the soft colours and the rich blooms of spring; the latter very much the embodiment of nature bursting into a celebrating of the season, the former a little more subdued, and perhaps reflecting some of the religious / pagan connotations of spring through its title. These are mirrored  by La Danse du Printemps (“Spring Dance”) and Mystic Downpour from across the other side of the gallery space.

However, and for me at least, the most striking part of this exhibition are the five studies facing the gallery entrance. These perfectly embody all of the mysticism and fantasy we weave into spring whilst also standing as marvellous examples of Xanthe’s art. Such is the strength (and size) of the central piece – The Awakening of Spring – in this quintet of pictures, it is easy to find the eye drawn away from the smaller pictures bordering it two to a side; but I do urge you to take the time to examine them in turn, as they are as equally rich in narrative and symbolism – the unicorn, the font, the white stag – and again stunningly rendered.

Solitary Moments, on display at VOIR gallery, presents a series of self-studies by Storie’S, offered in both colour and black-and-white. The Advanced lighting Model (ALM) should be enabled within the viewer prior to viewing (Preferences > Graphics) and local Windlight set to that recommended at the gallery entrance or – if you don’t have the specific Windlight – set your time of day to Midnight.

The images themselves range in tone and approach; while nudity is limited, it is perhaps best to consider them as being close to NSFW. As the title of the exhibition suggest, the pictures reflect moments caught in the time when one might be alone with one’s own thoughts.

What these thoughts might be is part of the allure of the pictures; they invite us to study them and weave a mood and vignette around them. With one or two – such as Suspect Red – there is a suggestion of being caught unawares whilst lost in thought: the hand extended toward the camera perhaps in an effort to prevent the picture being captured. Meanwhile, Not Extinguished appears to suggest a certain pensiveness on the part of the subject – the cigarette, the way one arm is crossed over / holding the other… All of the images are further nuanced by their very titles, some of which invite more than one interpretation – again, Not Extinguished being a case in point.

All told, two very different, but equally engaging, exhibitions.

SLurl Details

• Ce Soir Arts (Ce Soir, rated: Moderate)
• VOIR Gallery (Topaz Square, rated: Moderate)

Now open at Club LA and Gallery, curated by Fuyuko ‘冬子’ Amano (Wintergeist) are two very disparate exhibitions by Second Life artist / photographers which each have their own very individual nuances – and, if I’m subjectively honest for a moment – niggles.

Suspiria (“Sighs”) is the more recent of the exhibitions being held at the gallery, having opened on Sunday, May 6th, 2018. It is by Sophie and Dorian Gray (Sophie Stuer and dorianderrida), and is located on the mezzanine level. It presents 11 images, framed by a blank verse poem which reads more as a moment captured in time: two people reflecting on the nature of sight – do they each really see the same thing within a moment – and more particularly, the strength of their relationship.

Each of the pictures captures a scene from (presumably) this relationship; eleven emotive vignettes. Some appear clear in their meaning: a moment of tenderness, a mutual expression of love. Others, however, tend to reflect the questioning raised in the poem / narrative: are these two people really experiencing the same closeness, or are they in fact in different emotional places?

In several, this is perhaps reflected in the physical distance separating them as they sit across a room from one another, or even in separate rooms. In others, it is more subtle: crossed arms in the face of an oncoming kiss, suggestive of seeking self-comfort in the face of sign of affection the recipient is uncertain about (and, of course, there is also the psychological myth of crossed arms being a sign of defensiveness); the attempted hug that is blocked by am arm held across the recipient’s body. Throughout all of the pieces, one can almost hear the accompanying sighs that give the exhibit its title – but whether they are sighs of contentment or regret, I’ll leave to you to decide.

Rainbow in the Dark, by Cipher (Ciphertazi Wandin) is located on an overhead platform, reached via a ground floor teleport door.

This exhibition utilises lighting projectors, so you must ensure Advanced Lighting Model (ALM) option for your viewer is enabled (Preferences > Graphics). The ground level instructions also state Shadows should be set to Sun/Moon+Projectors. However, this isn’t actually required – SL’s lighting projectors do not require Shadows to be enabled (which can be a massive performance hit) in order to work; so nothing is lost by ignoring this instruction, providing you can use the suggested windlight option (Phototools – No Light, if installed on your system) or set your viewer’s time of day to Midnight.

Rainbow in some ways mirrors Suspiria, in that it presents 11 images, all framed by a poem (found on one wall of the display space). However, the subject matters in these images is much more diverse: encompassing landscapes, avatar studies and object studies, each image having its own story to tell entirely independently of the others.

Nuanced, evocative and exceptionally eye-catching in tone and study, each of the images has a depth to it which is quite breathing – and the use of projectors to superimpose them on their canvases, rather than simply presenting them as mounted / framed images is quite inspired. (Hence why you must have ALM enabled in your viewer – if not, all you’ll see is eleven white panels in a dark room.)

The subjective niggles I have with Suspiria and Rainbow are just that: entirely subjective. With Suspiria, I couldn’t help feel that many of the images have been finished a lot more darkly in tone and colour than necessary; one is often left peering at them, trying to make out what’s there rather than appreciating their narrative. With Rainbow, there is perhaps a risk that specifying a Windlight option only to be found in a specific viewer (unless manually installed), regardless of the popularity of that viewer, might put some off visiting. Better, perhaps, to specify Midnight as the setting, particularly as nothing is really lost in using it.

Nevertheless, both Suspiria and Rainbow in the Dark are more than worth taking the time to see, either individually or together – and when doing so, please also take time to appreciate Land of Confusion, the first public exhibition by Norri (Iron Emerald), which is still open on the ground floor of the gallery. Modestly sized with just a handful of images, it nevertheless reveals an artist whose work deserves to be seen much more widely in Second Life.

SLurl Details

• Club LA and Gallery (Amano rated: Moderate)

Opening on Sunday, May 6th, 2018 is the Kultivate Magazine’s Windlight Art Gallery May-June exhibition, featuring art by fifteen Second Life artists and photographers.

The first gallery to be opened by Kultivate, run by John and Eleseren Brianna, the Windlight Gallery offers new and established SL artist the opportunity to display their work, with applications periodically available through the Kultivate website around two months ahead of each exhibition period.

As a voluntary exhibition space, Windlight Gallery always brings together a range of talent and subject matter, which can span both Second Life and the physical world. As such, it is a veritable melting pot of photography and art, and an excellent opportunity to gain familiarity with the work of artists and photographers who may not exhibit their work that widely in Second Life, as well as some of the more well-known names from SL’s panoply of artistic expression.

Those participating in the May-June exhibition are: Pam Astonia, Sandi Benelli, John Brianna, ByrneDarkly Cazalet, Slatan Dryke, Syphera Inaka, Virtual Insanity, Lena Kiopak, Kody Meyers, Inara Pey, Kapaan Resident, Ladmilla Resident, Reycharles Resident, Neoma Vasilia and Freedom Voix.

From Second Life landscapes and avatar studies, through artistic interpretations of SL landmarks and art exhibits to pieces verging on the abstract, as well as stunning black-and-white photography from the physical world, the May-June exhibition offers one of the richest mixes of art and photography I’ve witnessed, and my thanks to John and Brianna for the opportunity to participate alongside some of the true exponents of Second Life art.

SLurl Details

• Windlight Gallery (Water Haven, rated: Moderate)