Category: Art in Second Life

May at Holly Kai Park in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Holly Kai Park - May
Holly Kai Park – May

The May ensemble exhibition in the Holly Kai Art at the Park series commences on Saturday, May 7th, 2016, and runs through until Saturday, June 11th.

For this exhibition, we are both pleased and privileged to be featuring the work of Ceakay Ballyhoo, Eleseren Brianna, JudiLynn India, Lantana Silverweb, Slatan Dryke and SisterButta.

The exhibition will open with a special gala event at the Holly Kai Pavilion, which will also mark the end of Silas Merlin’s marvellous Mirrored Garden exhibition at Holly Kai Garden – see below for more details.

About the Artists

CK (Ceakay Ballyhoo)

CeakayCK Ballyhoo has been roaming SL in search of wonderful landscapes and interesting buildings to capture and use to make her art. She has also discovered the joy of background studios and is still learning new things every day, often through inspiration by other artists.

Her style can be best described as capturing moods. Feel yourself drawn into the landscapes of her pictures. See the emotion and character traits expressed in the people she portrays. It’s a dreamy world most of the time. Unclear lines, blurry, warm colours. Sometimes darker and gloomier.

There are often series. Sometimes around a theme, sometimes different takes of one scene, because she can’t decide which one she likes best and likes to give them time to grow on her.

Eleseren Brianna

ElesTrained as an illustrator in the physical world, Eleseren Brianna is perhaps best known as a fashion and couture model in Second Life, so her photographic work is understandably focused in that direction, but certainly not limited to fashion shots. Holly Kai will be her sixth major exhibition in Second Life, where she has only recently entered the art world, although , she has previously exhibited her work at Dreanz and Visionz in Inworldz.

The pieces she offers at the Park are placed under the title of “Myths”, which she describes thus:

I wanted to create mysterious and dreamlike images, that call upon the universal archetypes that Jung said lie tangled within the roots of our Collective Unconscious. These images do not try to explain, or define what is going on in them..they are left mysterious, open-ended, ready for the viewer to spin their own story onto.

JudiLynn India

JudiLynnJudiLynn is an established artist in the physical world who states she has been drawing since she could first hold a crayon. Since then she has pursued art both academically and physically, and since the turn of the millennium has focused on acrylic and digital painting.

JudiLynn says of her work:

My work embodies my spirit and personality. My goal is to allow you to experience the image with your own mind’s eye. My work is entirely intuitive. I get lost in the layering of texture and colour. Occasionally, I will include figurative work if my spirit is so presented with the composition. Just as there is order in the chaos of the universe, the energy within me is brought into focus one canvas at a time.

Lantana Silverweb

LantanaLantana Is another person who is new to the world of art in Second Life, but who is deservedly gaining a reputation for the outstanding images she produces. Describing herself as inspired by the work of other SL artists, Lantana has developed her skill and eye very much through a “learn by doing” process, which has led her into experimentation and a natural approach to her avatar studies. ” I don’t use photo poses but rather have the model use their AO and take the photos as they move around,” she says.

Her entry into SL art came – appropriately enough – as a result of a visit to Nitroglobus Gallery. “I sent some of the better ones to the owner who invited me to put them on their Flickr page. I didn’t know much about Flickr, but when I saw it realised I had somewhere to post my photos so that others could see them.” And from there things grew.

For her work, Lantana focus on the feeling each image evokes in her. “I work on them until I touch the darkness,” she says, before going on to express her preference for avatar studies. “I prefer to make images of people rather than landscapes and do my shoots on location although there have been a few occasions where I have built sets.”

As she gains experience, so she is looking to experiment further, noting she’s working with every more elaborate pieces in an attempt to move away from purely 2D art and more into 3D work, and taking advantage of the physics SL offers.

Slatan Dryke

SlatanSlatan Dryke loves art in all its forms, and while he may well be a photographer in the physical world, he regards painting and sculpture as being closest to his heart, and he works in both mediums here in Second Life, as the pieces he has opted to show at Holly Kai Park demonstrate.

A wanderer by nature, he enjoys nothing more than exploring the grid, finding new pockets of beauty for his pictures, thanks to the creativity and imagination of fellow residents, where his physical world knowledge of photography greatly informs his framing, windlight selection, image ratio, etc., such that he rarely post-processes his work.

As a sculptor, Slatan surprisingly claims to have limited skills with in-world building. However, his works – which focus on the abstract – demonstrate a talent for colour, motion, and composition, and show a skilled level of prim manipulation.

For Holly Kai, Slatan is present his 2D art on one of the art decks in the hill-top gallery area, was well as a number of his sculptures scattered through the art exhibition area.

SisterButta

sisterbuttaA professional writer, SisterButta, also known as Trolley Trollop, sees Second Life as a means to explore narrative techniques and means to create new “story-making” possibilities to create interactive and immersive environments to convey information in non-traditional ways.

A life-long denizen of on-line communities dating back to early 1980s, SisterButta is a noted performer and voice artist is Second Life, and has been active in the promotion of arts through the likes of Seanchai Library and the Decades festival, which focuses on historical role-play in Second Life. She has also, with building partner Robijn Resident, created an installation covering the first 200 years of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits), which was displayed at Rocca Sorrentina.

More recently, SisterButta and Robijn created Wound Angels, an interactive exhibit honouring breast cancer sufferers through the ages, as seen through the eyes of some of history’s greatest artists, and which was first shown at the RFL 2016 Home and Garden exhibition. We are very honoured to have it reproduced at Holly Kai Park.

Opening Event

joaquinThe new Art at the Park exhibition will officially open at 4:00pm SLT on Saturday, May 7th, with several of our artists on hand. The event will also mark the closing of the excellent Mirrored Garden exhibition by Silas Merlin at Holly Kai Garden, which you can read about here.

As always, the opening event will take place at the Holly Kai Pavilion, which can be reached via the bridge from the main Holly Kai Landing point, and which also connects with Holly Kai Garden, allowing attending to also visit Mirrored Garden.

Our friend Joaquin Gustav will be providing the music for the opening, and we very much hope you will join us, and either tour the park and garden ahead of the opening, or spend time exploring following Joaquin’s set. Formal attire is requested.

This post first appeared on the Holly Kai Park website.

Solitude at Dathúil

Posted on by Inara Pey
Solitude - Dathúil Gallery
Solitude – Dathúil Gallery

Opening on May 5th at Dathúil Gallery, is an exhibition of art by Cicada (aspencicada) entitled Solitude. It comprises 17 images, 16 split between to ground floor and mezzanine level of the gallery, with a large format piece suspended from the ceiling, facing the main entrance.

I confess to not having been previously familiar with Cicada’s work, and this exhibition presents an interesting contrast of subject and style focused on the central theme of solitude, with the majority of the pieces depicting either individual  flowers and plants, or groups of flowers seen from above, while five present avatar studies.

Solitude - Dathúil Gallery
Solitude – Dathúil Gallery

“Solitude,” the artists informs visitors, “is the remoteness from habitations. The sense of feeling to want to be away from everything. I’d like to be able to get away for a long time, just to think, to plan and to just be. A time to fix myself, fix all things broken, fix everything.”

This is certainly evident in the five avatar studies on display, all of which convey a certain pensiveness or pathos. Three in particular – two on the left of the entrance and one to the right – appear to be part of the same narrative,conveying that need to be alone coupled with a pensive response to being discovered and observed.

Solitude - Dathúil Gallery
Solitude – Dathúil Gallery

The remaining two, which comprise the large overhead image and a further picture to the right of the entrance, are more stand-alone. The latter suggests a time of solitary reflection, the overall lighting of the piece perhaps indicative that the reflections in question are centred on darker thoughts.

However, it is the overhead image which tends to dominate the space and hold the attention. This is in part thanks to the blanket of yellow flowers, matching those in the image, which carpet the floor of the gallery either side of a path of yellow tiles, all of which direct us to the image, which in turn seems to embody the idea of being alone in order to fix oneself.

Solitude - Dathúil Gallery
Solitude – Dathúil Gallery

The images of plants and flowers further convey the idea of solitude, albeit quite differently; so differently, in fact, that they may at first seem out-of-place compared to the theme of the exhibit and the avatar studies. But they stand as a reminder that there is beauty and peace in solitude – and also beauty in being among one’s friends and peers.

There is no formal opening planned for this exhibition, partially due to schedule conflicts and partly because Cicada prefers not to have a party. Instead, the exhibition will open in the morning of Thursday, May 5th (SLT) and will remain open through until May 30th.

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Mistero Hifeng at The Living Room

Posted on by Inara Pey
Mistero Hifeng at The Living Room
Mistero Hifeng at The Living Room

Now open at The Living Room, the art and music venue operated by Owl, Daallee and Nora, is the May exhibition, this time featuring a personal favourite of mine: Mistero Hifeng.

Anyone who has seen Mistero’s work will known that it stands and some of the most instantly recognisable 3D art in Second Life. His pieces, with individual figures, couples, or set-pieces has a unique look, style and evocative presentation which has us instantly responding to it as much on an emotional level as on a more objective critical level, engaging heart as well as eye.

Mistero Hifeng at The Living Room
Mistero Hifeng at The Living Room

Spread across all three floors of the gallery space are some of Mistero’s most iconic pieces, together with more recent works, offering those who may not be so familiar with his work with the broadest possible introduction to it. Many of the pieces have been imaginatively displayed.  E rubero’ per te la Luna, for example, presents our erstwhile lunar thief gamely tugging the Moon through the gallery’s window,  while the gaunt figures of Veglio su di te form canopies over the circular seats scattered around the exhibit space, thus literally watching over those seated!

Among some of the more recent pieces from Mistero is Oltre l’azzurro (Beyond the Blue), which is featured flanking a piano – one of the motifs he also uses at his gallery space; it’s a fitting pairing as well, given Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue… Oltre l’azzurro is one of his pieces I find particularly interesting as its possible interpretation can vary with just the slightest change in mood on the part of the observer.

Mistero Hifeng at The Living Room
Mistero Hifeng at The Living Room

It is the suggestion of narrative which makes Mistero’s work so attractive. Take La vita…imparare vorra, for example. is the person leaning against the wall weary from thinking, weeping as a result of some loss or happening, or engaged in a game? The story is entirely ours to determine. And again, the story may well change with or own mood, or simply as a result of the local lighting.

Mistero will be on display at The Living Room through until the end of the month, and don’t forget the monthly music sessions there as well! Thursday, May 19th will see The Vinnie show providing the music from 17:00 SLT, followed by Mark Allen Jensen at 18:00 SLT. Then, on Thursday, May 25th, Tone Uriza will be taking to the stage at 17:00 SLT, followed at 18:00 SLT by Bat Masters.

Mistero Hifeng at The Living Room
Mistero Hifeng at The Living Room

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Gem Preiz: a retrospective in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Gem Preiz Retrospective: Complexity (2013)
Gem Preiz Retrospective: Complexity (2013)

Open now through June at LEA 26 is a retrospective of Gem Preiz’s entire catalogue of fractal art installations in Second Life. For anyone who is familiar with his work, they offer a visual treat in spades; while for those who have yet to encounter Gem’s stunning canvases of intricate, fractal-generated images, all of which combine technology with wonderfully organic forms, even when depicting artificial structures, there has never been a better opportunity to be immersed in his work.

The installations are reached via individual teleports, arranged in chronological, left-to-right order as the visitor looks at them, each with its original info card giver located on the wall above the teleport disc. This allows visitors to not only visit each of Gem’s past installation in turn, but also to witness his growing confidence in using fractal generators to not only create scenes, but to weave narratives through his work, offering insight into his own growth within his medium.

Gem Preiz Retrospective: Heaven and Hell (2012)
Gem Preiz Retrospective: Heaven and Hell (2012)

I have covered Gem’s work extensively in this blog (all of my reviews can be found by following this tag, or view the menu: Second Life > Reviews > Art Reviews > Art in SL > Gem Preiz), and so was personally delighted to see his two earliest installations, Heaven and Hell and Complexity are included in the retrospective, as I’ve not previously had the opportunity to view them.

Heaven and Hell, Gem’s first ever exhibition in Second Life, dates from 2012 and takes as its lead a quote from French artist Georges Braque, “Art is made to disturb, science reassures.”

“It seemed to me funny and interesting to evoke the concepts of hell and paradise, which are by definition irrational, by means of one of the most accomplished domains of the science: mathematics and fractals.” Gem says of the installation.  inviting people to cross the Styx and enter the devil’s domain before being reborn in paradise.

Gem Preiz Retrospective: Polychronies (2014)
Gem Preiz Retrospective: Polychronies (2014)

Complexity, first displayed in October 2013 at Timamoon Arts, is an intriguing voyage of creation and growth, physically and in terms of knowledge, reflected in a quote, “The detailed knowledge of the world helps us to better understand it, but we never understand it better than when we forget its details.”

It takes us through fifteen images, each an ever more complex outgrowth of the last, carrying us from a single fractal at the centre of a blue realm, to the most intricate and complex shapes which form their own universe, expanding ever outwards until at last we come to … what appears to be a single fractal floating in a blue realm. A perfect summation of the quote.

Gem Preiz Retrospective: Metropolis (2015)
Gem Preiz Retrospective: Metropolis (2015)

From Complexity, one can travel onwards through Cathedral Dreamer – my first exposure to Gem’s art,  to Polychronies, which still stands as one of my favourite installations by Gem,  and onwards through to Metropolis, with his most recent joint work: Heritage: Vestiges and Wrecks, also on display above the same entrance hall, thus providing a complete tour de force of Gem’s work to date.

Gem’s work is a wonderful mix of art and science, organised structure and organic growth. Within it complex themes are interwoven, which also doesn’t prevent him from having a little fun as well. But when taken as a whole, his work simply isn’t something to be missed, as this retrospective amply demonstrates.

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Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor
Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor

Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor is the latest immersive installation by Frankx Lefavre. Like all of his work, it is deep in imagery and symbolism, but it is also and in difference to his previous works, a very personal piece.

“Serotonin reuptake inhibitors are the primary drug used to treat anxiety, depression and panic attacks. Last December, I was given a LEA grant for 2016. By January, I was suffering major attacks of anxiety and panic leading to depression. This is the resultant build,” Frankx says candidly of the piece.

The result is a piece that is deeply immersive installation making extensive use of projected lights and colours (so you’ll need to have ALM enabled in your viewer). In entering it, you are literally entering the artist’s mind, and witnessing first hand the tumult and confusion of a mind in turmoil and at odds with itself. Light, colour and sculptures all conveying the sweep of emotions: the helpless sense of falling; the demons of the subconscious  looming over all thoughts and feelings, and the desire for calm and emotional stability, which is perhaps symbolised by the image of Buddha located on one side of the installation.

Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor
Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor

Such is the evocative richness within the piece, it really is one to be experienced, rather than witnessed in words and still images. For those who have experienced Frankx’s situation, there is perhaps catharsis and a demonstration that there is healing and release. for those fortunate to nave never trod this path, there is the opportunity for insight into what it is like, something one would hope foster greater understanding in our response to those suffering from anxiety, fear and panic.

Given it is a visual piece, I’m not going to say too much more about it here, other than to strongly urge people to hop over the LEA 23 and see it first hand. instead, I’ll leave you with a video in the hope that it will encourage you to do so. This is a truly extraordinary piece of art.

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Red – Girls – Hot – Fruit in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Art on Roofs: RED - GIRLS - HOT - FRUIT
Art on Roofs: RED – GIRLS – HOT – FRUIT

RED – GIRLS – HOT – FRUIT is the latest exhibition to open at the Art on Roofs gallery curated by Terrygold. It presents a series of distinctive watercolours by LeMelonRouge (better known in the physical world as Spanish artist Francesc Palomas), balanced between images of females (mostly nude) and images of fruits, all painted using a palette biased towards red and the warmer colours associated with it.

Red is often associated with passion / the erotic – we so often refer to the “heat of passion” – and several of the nude images reflect this, albeit with a slant towards the erotic, given hand placement. Others are more gentle in both tone and colour, suggesting restfulness; whether this is innocent sleep perhaps the “post-coital glow”, is for the viewer to decide.

Art on Roofs: RED - GIRLS - HOT - FRUIT
Art on Roofs: RED – GIRLS – HOT – FRUIT

There is another emotion we associate with red as well – anger; and this is also visible in some of the images certainly also visible here, through what appears to be a cry of anguish in “Alone 3” (above right) or distress (“Alone 2”, not pictured here).

Whether intentional or not, both of these images – “Alone 3” and “Alone 2”  – seem to also depict acts of violence. Taken as a whole, the pose and red splashes to one side of the head suggest  the moment after a heavy blow has been struck. Similarly, the red marks across the subject’s back in “Alone 2” might be taken as welts of received blows.

Art on Roofs: RED - GIRLS - HOT - FRUIT
Art on Roofs: RED – GIRLS – HOT – FRUIT

Contrasting with the dynamic imagery of the nudes, the painting of the fruits  – while in places suggestive of passion and heat (cherries and chilli peppers) – come across as havens of freshness and health (pumpkin and tomatoes), forming a soft contrast to the human figures whilst also offering a subtle reflection of the emotions displayed within them.

When taken as a whole, RED – GIRLS – HOT – FRUIT is a complex series of images in which more may be going on both within the images themselves and in their placement in pairs, requiring considered evaluation. The exhibit will remain open through until May 8th.

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