Category: Art in Second Life

Several years ago, I was pointed towards a You Tube video showing the creation of a scene in Second Life. The video was posted by Sharefestival, but was originally produced by Robbie Dingo.

Watch the World, made far back in 2008, poses the question “Ever looked at your favourite painting and wished you could wander inside, to look at it from different perspectives?”, and takes us on a time-lapse journey through the in-world recreation of what is perhaps Vincent van Gogh’s most celebrated work, The Starry Night.

The Starry Night is one of many the artist created depicting the view from the window of his asylum room at Saint-Rémy-de-Provence. It is the only noturne he produced in the series and was painted a little over a year before his death. In it we see the pre-dawn countryside visible from the artist’s bedroom, but with a styled village of Saint-Rémy – which was not visible directly from van Gogh’s room – added in the middle distance. It’s a poignant painting, and one which inspired American singer-songwriter to compose the equally poignant Vincent.

In the video, we are taken on a journey with Robbie as he recreated The Starry Night in Second Life, offering visitors the opportunity to enter van Gogh’s world and visit his village. It’s a wonderful video, hauntingly framed by McLean’s lament, and it is one I’m often drawn back to time and again, so much so, that I had convinced myself I’d already blogged directly about it.

Sadly, the build itself has long since passed from Second Life, but as I’ve not dedicated a post to the video, and again found myself watching it recently, I thought I’d rectify the latter and write about it now. It’s a timeless piece, and a beautiful demonstration of how Second Life can be used to present a new perspective on art.

Robbie also offers a Revisited video on the piece, in which he shows footage not used in the original cut:

Now open at Gallery 24, curated by Kayly Ilali, is a beautiful exhibition entitled The Portraits of Silas Merlin. And it is, in a word, magnificent.

Silas is better known in the physical world as Jean-François Le Saint, a Maître Pastelliste of the Société des Pastellistes de France. In Portraits he presents a number of his pastel studies from the physical world, all beautifully reproduced for in-world exhibition in a manner which loses none of their context or the power of his chosen medium.

Spread through the two floors of the gallery is a virtual treasure trove of his work, offering a unique and involving insight into Silas’ world as an artist who uses modern and traditional means to produce a portrait, mixing photography – while he does enjoy live sittings, he much prefers capturing his subjects on camera, often taking hundreds of photographs whilst visiting  traditional or medieval festivals in Brittany –  with the great tradition of pastel art.

Through the images, with their layered, textured richness, it is possible to appreciate just why pastels have been a favoured form of portrait art since the Renaissance period. The pale colour tones which are available or can be mixed result in incredibly life-like images which can often transcend the use of paints, capturing the very essence of the subjects in a study.

You might wonder why an artist established in real life might want to bring their work into Second Life, where the ToS is seen as being hostile. In talking to Kayly Iali about his work, Silas offers a more relaxed view on the benefits of exhibiting in-world:

Second Life is warm and cozy, I want to be here. Importing my real life work into Second Life and rezzing it on a virtual wall gives me a new perspective on it. By contrast sticking it on a website or posting on social networks does not add anything or give me new insight to my paintings.

Artwork comes into being in the virtual world, (especially when you don’t use the full bright lighting feature in Second Life), it is affected by the day cycle, local lights that can be coloured, projectors [that] cast shadows…

On a more practical level, Second Life offers him the opportunity to learn about using new mediums. He’s particularly interested in  sculpture, and adapting some of his work into 3D pieces.

The platform also present Silas with the ability to socialise more easily with visitors to his in-world studio, something he notes isn’t easily achieved in the physical world, where he is often lost in the flow of his work.

There are many facets to this exhibition which are both fascinating and enticing – the presentation of physical world art; the insight into Silas’ work and talent, the glimpse we get into the lives of his subjects. Speaking entirely personally, all of these aspects for me come together in one particular piece Silas has chosen to display: his portrait of Russian actress Natalya Gousseva, as she appeared as a 12-year-old in the mid-eighties Soviet television mini-series, Guest from the Future.

There is something fabulously intimate and compelling about the portrait, while beneath it, a bright panel offers us a glimpse into its creation: a link to a time-lapse video of the piece being drawn. Taken together, portrait and film offer a wonderful insight into Silas’ world, and I again offer him my thanks for allowing me to embed the video here, hopefully as a further enticement for people to visit the exhibition.

As well as the pastel studies, Portraits includes a number of photographs featuring young subjects Silas sketched during live sittings, presenting a further means of witnessing his work. And for those who might wonder how their avatar might look rendered in pastel art, a trip to the rooftop terrace will reveal a number of avatar portraits, work he still does today on a commissioned basis.

All told, The Portraits of Silas Merlin is a compelling exhibition, one all lovers of art should make time to see. For those who, like me, become enamoured of his work, Silas has a gallery in New Babbage and a second on Escapades Island – do visit them as well.

SLurl Details

• Gallery 24 (Rated: Moderate)
• Silas at New Babbage (Rated Moderate)
• Silas at Escapades (Rated: General)

Now open at the Windlight Art Gallery, the January-February 2016 Windlight Fellowship exhibition sees exhibits by Ceakay Ballyhoo, Eleseren Brianna, Jarla Capalini, Warm Clarity, Glitterprincess Destiny, Hana Hoobinoo, Victoria Lenoirre, Carley Noonan, Autopilotpatty Poppy, Jamie86 Resident, Jazsintha Resident, and Tempest Rosca.

On offer is another rich mix of styles and subject matter – landscapes, avatar studies, some abstract work and some images from the physical world. It is this mix of styles and subject which makes the Windlight Exhibitions more than worth the visit; the Gallery design encourages the visitor to focus attention on each artist in turn whilst at the same time allowing individual styles and approaches to be compared and contrasted, helping one to appreciate further the skills evidence by each artist in creating their work.

There are a number of artists in this group whose work I know and admire, and several who are new to me, but whose work I’m rapidly coming to admire as result of seeing them at Windlight. While I don’t like to seem as if I’m picking favourites at an event like this. I have to admit that I found myself drawn back time and again to Hana Hoobinoo’s and Jarla Capalini’s images; the latter offer rich portraits and landscapes with a marvellous painted quality to them, while Hana’s present a beautiful ethereal quality.

But all appearances of favouritism aside, all of the images on display through January and February are guaranteed to please and entice those who visit the gallery; so be sure to add it to your list of places to visit, and if you wish to find out more about the artists, be sure to read the special Meet The Artist articles in the Windlight blog.

Footnote: Due to issues with Second Life, the formal opening event for the exhibition has been rescheduled for 14:00 SLT on Saturday, January 16th, with formal attire preferred. However, the gallery is still open for people to visit and see the art on display.

The Windlight Artist Fellowship Programme

As a part of the magazine’s desire to help promote and support artists and photographers, Windlight Magazine and the Windlight Gallery operates the  Windlight Artist Fellowship Programme. This allows artists to apply for free exhibition space at the Windlight gallery for a period of 30 days. Applications are open to artists from across Second Life, and the criteria for acceptance can be found in the Artist Fellowship Programme application form.

Related SLurls and Links

• The Windlight Art Gallery (Rated: Moderate)
• Ristorante Ivanna (Rated: Moderate)
• Windlight Magazine website

Opening today, Saturday January 9th, 2016, and running through until January 24th at the Art on Roofs gallery, Solodonna Land, is a small exhibition of my images I’ve called Through a Blogger’s Eyes. In it, I present a series of images I’ve taken of the places I’ve visited over the years; some of the images have been seen before in-world, while others are new to in-world presentation, although they have been seen on this blog.

The images selected lean towards my more recent SL region travels, all of which are documented under my Exploring Second Life tag, and by year through the blog menu (Events-Reviews-Travel > Exploring Second Life > select year), although some stretch back as far as 2013.

It’s the nature of places to come and go in Second Life, so some of the images are of places no longer with us, or as they appeared before more recent make-overs. However, most are still active today, and within the exhibition notes I’ve included a list of landmarks should anyone wish to visit the location depicted in a particular image.

Also, as a part of the exhibit I hope to be running a playlist of videos of the places, art installations and events I’ve filmed over the last few years. The playlist is set-up, but YouTube and SL were having a little bit of a fight during testing, so I’m seeing how that goes :).

As I say in the introductory notes, I don’t consider myself in any way a Second Life photographer or artist; my images are purely produced for illustrating the blog (I use Flickr to simply save on using the limited disk space WordPress provides). I’m therefore genuinely flattered when asked to display like this – and my thanks go to Terrygold, Sniper and Elettra for inviting me to exhibit at Art In Roofs; I hope you will visit and enjoy it.

The opening is at 13:00 SLT on Saturday, January 9th, with music by the folk at Solodonna club, and I hope you’ll join us.

SLurl Details

• Art on Roofs (Rated: Moderate)