Category: Art in Second Life

The latest exhibition at Dathúil Gallery, curated and operated by Max Butoh and Lυcy (LucyDiam0nd), opened on March 4th, 2017. Entitled Private Sphere, it features the work of Prairie Kawashima, and encompasses adult themes, and so should be considered NSFW.

“For almost a decade, Second Life has been my refuge – a place of boredom, excess, love and inspiration,” Prairie says, introducing her exhibition. “Some of this incredible mixture that I keep enjoying so much has turned into a river of self-shots (including occasional homages to my closest friends) that has  found its way to my Flickr account. Other things will forever remain private. Private Sphere is a selection of mostly unpublished pictures that have been between these two categories for some time.”

On display are 29 images laid out in a maze-like pattern in the lower floor of the gallery. The central theme is avatar studies with a focus on bondage and / or nudity – hence the adult nature.

Some of the bondage is explicitly shown, with several images featuring shibari / kinbaku, with the focus purely on hemp-style rope, others featuring more westernised approaches of restraint: manacles, stocks, cuffs, etc.  Where bondage is not the focus of an image, it is sometimes implied through the curls of rope on a bed or the flow of chains across a sheet, while several of the poses include suggestions or hints of submission.

The nudity within the images is also explicit, and most of the pieces appear to have undergone minimal post-processing. Combined, this gives them a direct feel which is – to use an English phrase – pretty “in your face”, in that their raw sexually is openly shown without the subtleties of soft focus, light airbrushing or similar, which might otherwise soften the impact as one wanders between the frames in which the images are set.

This approach – both in terms of the directness of the images and how they have been laid out  –  adds a voyeuristic frisson to the exhibit: we are being invited into a private sphere of activities and witness them with the added excitation over what might be revealed around the next corner.

Private Sphere isn’t going to be to everyone’s taste – but that doesn’t mean it is any the less artistic in form and presentation that more modest displays of avatar studies. It will remain on display at Dathúil through until the end of the month.

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• Dathúil Gallery (Rated: Adult)

Sorcha Tyles opened the next exhibit at Artful Expressions, her boutique gallery, on Saturday, March 4th, featuring the work of Maxie Daviau and Cyoko Xoon (AkomoXoon). Once again it’s a fascinating pairing of styles.

To give full disclosure, I’m familiar with Maxie’s work; she’s both a friend, and recently exhibited her work at Holly Kai Park; as such, I might be said to be a tad biased. But only a tad: Maxie’s work carries enough depth of its own to stand without prompting from me, and I’m delighted to see her exhibiting at Artful Expressions.

Nine pieces of her work are on display, the majority of them landscapes, and all fully demonstrate Maxie’s eye for an image and her ability to take a picture of a location and create an evocative story through considered use of cropping and post-processing. These really are pieces which each tell a story, whether it is one of a journey along old railway tracks, as the shadowy form of a steam train emerges from a tunnel with all the mystery of where it might be going, and who might be occupying the carriages it pulls; or whether it is musing about all the stories the aged and bent trees featured in a number of her shots might be able to tell us, if only they could speak.

Rounded-off by an equally evocative self-portrait, this is an excellent selection of Maxie’s work, and one I have no hesitation in recommending.

Cyoko Xoon, I have to admit, is a name I’ve not previously encountered – and am possibly the poorer for not having done so. Like Maxie, she has an eye and talent for taking a snapshot and turning it into an extraordinary work of art.

As with Maxie, nine pieces of Cyoko’s work are on display, these with a strong emphasis on wildlife  – and the angles Cyoko has chosen to capture them adds a depth of life to each one which is fabulous to see. Careful Contact, Aggressive and Care in particular are utterly captivating, with Care (seen at the top of this review) in particular the kind of piece I would have no hesitation in hanging in my physical world home, were it possible. Landscapes  also feature in Cyoko’s select, and these are as equally captivating as her wildlife pictures, expressing the same depth and life in each and utilising a similar approach to camera positioning and angle.

Maxie and Cyoko are two more artists with exceptional ability to bring a new perspective to the world around them, and they will be on display at Artful Expressions through until the end of March 2017. Not to be missed – and don’t forget Sorcha’s own art on display on the ground floor.

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• Artful Expressions (Adored, rated Moderate)

It’s pretty well established in these pages that I’m attracted to fractal art. So it was with some interest that I read about a new installation by Asmita Duranjaya entitled Fossil Fractals, currently on display at her InterstellART community region.

“This exhibition shows a new art technique meshing of fractal creations and making them relief-like 3D-art,” Asmita says of the exhibition. “The results look like fossils found on an exoplanet in the universe, being displayed for human eyes.”

On display are around (I think) 16 pieces  – the display space is something of a maze, so finding them all requires a certain amount of walking along hallways and up and down steps and ramps! Each mesh piece is presented in a haut-relief format, and as Asmita notes, they are decidedly fossil-like in form – although the finishes on some suggest their origins might have been more mineral than organic.

The latter are quite exotic and alien is looks: crystaline structures rising from a flat base, demanding that one zoom and cam gently around them, the minerals and crystal fragments within them glittering gently. Others are more familiar in looks, displaying the spiral sweep found in ammonites. Some, from certain angles, look perhaps less like fossils and more relief maps of an alien world, as built up from 3D images taken from orbit. All of this makes the display an intriguing exhibit. If any of the pieces catch your eye, they are available to purchase.

As noted above, Fossil Fractals is displayed as a part of the InterstellART community, and when visiting it, you can also visit the surround (and overhead) galleries, some of which house permanent exhibits, others of which are supplied as studio space for artists. A teleport network is provided for getting around (and links to the ground level exhibition spaces), although the easiest way to get to the art studios (floating on islands overhead from Fossil Fractals) is to either fly or use a double-click TP. Those interested in joining the community should contact  Asmita directly.

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• Fossil Fractals (Borneo Atoll, rated: Moderate)