Category: Art in Second Life

The Endless is the title of an ensemble exhibition of art curated by Angelika Corral and Sheldon B as a part of their DaphneArt presentations. It features works by Ariel Brearley, Awesome Fallen, Kiki, Maloe Vansant, Nevereux, Paola Mills and Whiskey Monday, and it is a display where the art space itself might be considered as much a part of the exhibition as the images and pieces themselves.

Located high above ground, the exhibition space a place of geometries and reflections. A large grid forms the main platform crossed – literally – by two footpaths. At one end of this grid is a tiered seating area, split along one axis to presented a mirrored arrangement. Facing this, at the far end of the grid, sits a black hemisphere. set between the two are four cubes and two pyramids, neatly arrayed in two sets of three – again as if reflecting one another – either side of the path running from the seating area to the hemisphere. All of these elements  – seating, cubes, pyramids and hemisphere are additionally “reflected” by copies beneath the grid, mirroring their placement.

I’m not entirely clear on the significance of this arrangement beyond the idea that when placed correctly, two mirrors can give a sense of infinity through their endless reflections of one another, which might appear to echo the title of the exhibit. However, what I can say is, the design – by Sheldon B – is highly effective and eye-catching.

The work of the seven invited artists can be found within the various cubes, pyramids and hemisphere, which alternate in exterior finish between whites and black. Each artist presents at least one work, with not offering more than three. These again continue to mirrored them – each piece seemingly “reflected” in the floor of its display space.

The themes for the pieces are varied in style and tone. Again, I’m unclear as to the central theme (if there is one) – the DaphneArts website was down at the times of my visits, and the invitation I received to visit the exhibition was sans curator’s notes. Suffice it to say, there is a certain edge to all the pieces, be it sensuous, thought-provoking, nudity or a discomfiting reminder or two of out own mortality.

Certainly, each display is eye-catching, evocative (or provocative), emotive and variously attractive.  However – and for once – I’ll leave it to you to visit The Endless for yourself and discern your own understanding of the pieces and the exhibition as a whole. Which should not be taken to mean I’m being dismissive of it in any way. Rather, this is an ensemble of work and setting which deserves direct viewing and interpretation, rather than being filtered by my thoughts.

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The Endless (Isle of Seduction, rated: Adult)

Sunday, April 9th saw the opening of an exhibition of Lulu Jameson’s photography at Dathúil Gallery, curated and operated by Max Butoh and Lυcy (LucyDiam0nd). Apparently untitled, it offers just under 30 pieces of Lulu’s work bound together with a quote from Roald Dahl:

And above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don’t believe in magic will never find it.

The quote very much sets the tone for the pieces on offer. While the majority might appear to be avatar studies (one or two of which touch upon the NSFW boundary), the majority of them actually offer much more than this – although a careful eye – and a willing ear – is required to fully appreciate all that each image might have to say.

These are pieces which each tell a story – that’s guaranteed to get my attention, given my love of narrative. However, each story is in two distinct parts. The first comes when looking at it on your own. Each piece demonstrates an extraordinary use of tone, colour, depth of field, perspective, angle, and so on, in various combinations to make each piece harness our attention. Then within each of them is the story itself, conveyed through the emotions we see and sense:  love or loneliness; wonder, joy or sharing; regret, loss, contemplation or reflection; desire or passion.

It’s an evolving narrative; one which grows as we take in more of the detail, focusing down while at the same time considering the whole. These are pictures that feel alive, as if responding to our appreciation.

The second part of the narrative comes from the artist as he directs our thoughts in examining his work. It is achieved in on or two ways, depending on the picture. The first and most obvious, common to all the pieces, is the name. Carefully chosen, the title of each paces draws our response in a certain direction. The second – and only present with some of the pieces – is through an audio link in the form of a volume button, which takes us to a song or poem on YouTube. Some of these reinforce initial impressions gained directly or through considering the title of an image, other carry our response and thoughts in an entirely new direction, encouraging a reconsideration of the picture and the story it may want to tell.

This is a truly fascinating and magical exhibition. Lucy and Max have never really missed a beat with the exhibitions at Dathúil.  However, Lulu has provided something very special with this one; the mix of visual and aural art is perfect. And if you have an eye for detail – keep a look out for Lulu’s cat in the gallery 🙂 .

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• Dathúil Gallery (Rated: Adult)

“Although I love landscapes and broad views, my photographer’s eye needs to go close the things,” Melusina Parkin says of he recently opened exhibition World of Details. “Maybe I got impressed forever by the words said by Mies Van De Rohe – one of my favourite Masters of 20th Century aesthetics – ‘God is in the detail’.”

And so it is that we are led on a journey of fine detail through more than thirty images arranged around the split-level floor at Delmonico’s Artspace, where Melusina once again reveals that she truly does have an eye for detail and composition. In some respects, A World of Details shares a heritage with Closer Looks, and exhibition I reviewed in May 2014. As with that exhibition, the pieces here focus on the smaller details of a scene: instead of an entire workspace, we have a single typewriter or sewing machine; rather than the street, we have the street sign. Thus, common everyday things we might otherwise  never notice or which we take for granted are presented in a new light.

“Isolating a detail is an exercise of cleansing for our mind;” Melusina states. “It means to concentrate attention on a piece of reality,  until it loses its relationship with the environment and reveals its own meaning (or its own triviality). Then, we have to rebuild the context and to insert the detail into. These operations – made by our eye, that is: by our mind – can make true what Bertolt Brecht says in The Exception and the Rule: ‘We ask you expressly to discover that what happens all the time is not natural. For to say that something is natural […] is to regard it as unchangeable’.

She continues, “Moreover, attention to details can take us to the awareness that beauty and meanings aren’t compellingly in elaborated and sophisticated things, but they’re common and widespread.  I try to enhance all that by shooting everything I notice when I look close at anything. Sometimes I subtract or add light or colours, sometimes I isolate things deleting parts of their environment. Point of view, light and cut-off can enhance the subjects’ power of suggesting something.”

The majority of the pieces on display are new in terms of being exhibited; something which again helps with the feeling that World of Details and Closer Looks share a common bond. What is remark is – as noted above – the way in which the ordinary, the trivial, the things we regard as serving a physical function in life, become in and of themselves, art. The framing, colour palette, angle and focal point within each; the way each – as Melusina notes – offers a visual metonymy of a larger scene or of someone’s life.

Study is warranted, because each image reveals more than might at first be thought; as Melusina says, “All of them tell us something about their creators. All of them are both actors and silent spectators of the play we call ‘our life'”.

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• World of Details (Time Portal, rated: General)

The April exhibition at Artful Expressions, the boutique gallery curated by Sorcha Tyles, opened on Saturday, April 1st, 2017. This month, it’s an all boys affair, featuring Panteleimon Aeon and Sven.

Up until now, exhibitions at the gallery have tended towards offering pairings of artists whose work tend to be complementary to one another. This has always added depth to a visit, encouraging one to compare and appreciate both styles on display and consider them as both individual portfolios and a join exhibition, flowing one to another.  With Pan and Sven, Sorcha has shifted things a notch:  Pan focus on avatar studies, while Sven leans more to landscape images; thus presenting two contrasting portfolios of images, each of which are fascinating in their own right.

Pan’s work is visually striking, combining a sense of posed set piece with natural flavour. The result is that while each may well have been composed, so to could each have been easily caught as a moment from the subject’s life; a frozen instant of an unfolding story, the subject unaware they have been so captured.

As regular readers know, I’m strongly attracted to images with contain a narrative, and Pan’s work easy contains entire novel in each image. They draw us into the story, opening the floodgates of the imagination so that we become enwrapped, filling out the back story to these people, their surrounding, and what brought them to this moment in time. These are images to be admired from an artistic standpoint as well; the use of light and shadow, the muted toning, the use of perspective, depth of field, rule of thirds, framing – all play a role in attracting us to these moments in time.

Across the central aisle of the gallery space, Sven also presents nine images, but these are focused on the places in Second Life he has visited and appreciated. “I am definitely no professional by any means. [This is] merely a hobby that I enjoy,” he states disarmingly of his work.

He may not by a professional – after all, how many of us are? – but that doesn’t negate his eye or his style. All of the pieces are again evocative in presenting the scenes they have captured. They also draw us to them, stirring thoughts and imagination, tempting us to wonder at what we might find were we to enter the worlds they offer us and encouraging us to check the pictures for the location names in a desire to visit them (and yes, the names are given).

And did I say these were two contrasting styles? Well, perhaps they are; but they are also drawn together into a cohesive whole by Pan. He has included a single, striking landscape in his set of images. It serves as a natural, subtle link between his display and Sven’s.

Both Pan and Sven will be on display at Artful Expressions until the end of the month. Don’t forget you can also enjoy an ever-changing display of Sorcha’s work on the ground floor of the gallery.

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• Artful Expressions (Adored, rated Moderate)