Category: Art in Second Life

Fancy winning a nice New Year prize? Windlight Magazine is running a photo contest offering three people the chance to share in a L$5,000 prize pool.

The New Year’s Photo Challenge ask entrants to take a photo of themselves “dressed to the nines” (i.e in formal wear)” for a New Year celebration. The photo can be of an individual, couple of group, and the setting can be anything you like – posed at home, at a club or special New Year party – just so long as everyone is formally dressed.

On offer are three prizes to the lucky winners, who will be selected by an independent panel:

• 1st Place: L$2,500 plus a double page ad in Windlight Magazine
• 2nd Place: L$1,500
• 3rd Place: L$1,000.

All entries must be posted to the official Windlight Magazine New Years  Photo Challenge Flickr group, and entrants are allowed up to 3 submissions each, and must be in accordance with the following guidelines:

• When posting your photos please use the following naming convention: New Years Photo Challenge – SL Name-Photo #1, (or #2 or #3 for additional entries)
• All photos must:
  • Be your original work, but can be posted to other Flickr groups
  • Must include the SLurl of the beach where they were taken (please do respect the covenant of any club or venue, and make sure you obtain the permission of the venue owner to use their location in your submissions)
• Nudity and / or adult activities are not allowed
• Post-processing using external tools is permitted.

All entries must be submitted by midnight, Saturday, January 2nd, 2016, and the Flickr date and time stamps will be used to assess whether or not entries meet this criteria, so check your time zones.

So – if you haven’t already done so, get yourself and your loved ones / friends suitably attired and get snapping!

Please refer to the contest page at Windlight Magazine for any additional information.

Madalynn Rose recently contacted me about Bellisimo Gallery at Vivara, which offers free space to artists on a month basis. Currently on display are pieces by Ryanna Foxclaw, Broderick Logan, Wheelerwood Oppewall, Addison Summerwind, Astrid Zhangsun and Indieskies Almodovar, who provides a series of 3D pieces.

There doesn’t appear to be a set theme to the exhibition, but given the greater proportion of the images feature avatars, one might consider it something of an avatar study, even allowing for the landscapes, 3D work and images from the physical world which mark this as quite an eclectic exhibition.

On entering the gallery, I found my eyes immediately drawn to the artwork of Addison Summerwind (topmost images), who presents a series of very evocative images covering a range of themes: portraits, fantasy, sensual … each one with a story to tell, and each one instantly captivating. Among these are six landscape images, smaller in size to the avatar studies, but no less appealing.

A thread of a theme connects Addison’s display with that of Broderick Logan, and given the current blockbuster movie on release world-wide, it’s in some ways quite topical: in the midst of Addision’s pieces sits Sith, whilst within Broderick’s sits the opposite side of the coin – Jedi.

Broerdrick’s display area is shared with the work of Rynna Foxclaw (immediately above). Again, both artists present an intense series of avatar studies in which sit single landscape pieces to offer contrast.

Addison Summerwind also shares a link with Wheelerwood Oppewall through the Obsession Exposed Studio and gallery.  Wheelerwood also offers up a series of avatar studies, striking in both style and finish, both Skip and Hania capturing my attention, constantly drawing me back to them as I wandered the gallery.

Astrid Zhangsun presents something entirely different: a set of photographs from the physical world, which make a striking contract to the studies of the other artists, while Indieskies Almodovar, as noted, provides a series of 3D pieces together with two paintings.

As noted, this is something of an eclectic exhibit in some respects, albeit it with some very compelling images which will remain on display through until January 8th, 2016.

SLurl Details

• Bellisimo Gallery at Vivara (Rated: Moderate)

Sunday, December 27th saw the opening of Cica Ghost’s latest installation Roots. Like all of her installations, it is a beautifully fascinating piece; one which clearly draws on some of her earlier pieces, offering a new interpretation of them while at the same time presenting something that is both captivating and tinged with a soulfulness that is quite moving.

The clearest inspiration for the installation is Cica’s marvellous Little Village from March 2014. The little houses, clinging to their little hills, paths running around and between them, are all here; but something is very different. The gay colours have faded, the paths are in places broken, frameless windows stare sightless across a darkening landscape, while doorways sit slack-jawed  without doors,

Cica tells us, “The people have gone… the village remains, and time and nature now live here …” and so it is. Roots rise up from the ground and spring from gaunt trees, passing through empty windows to rise through roofs, while trees sprout new growth where once chimneys puffs the comforting smoke from fireplaces, and the fences alongside the paths broken and bent.

Sitting under s sombre sky, the little village slowly surrenders itself to nature, quietly decaying and fading. Even the bright flowers have been mostly replaced by poppies, the flower so often associated with sacrifice and death. However, this shouldn’t be taken to mean all is dark and foreboding here.

There is a melancholy beauty within Roots which has to be seen to be appreciated. There is something also Burton-esque in its construction that tugs at the heart; walking through the village, it is hard not to be captivated and enthralled. And when you do, you’ll come across other touches echoing Cica’s earlier works. A face peeking around the window of one house hints at Strings, while a strong echo of Dreamers can be found in the form of sculpted heads; a suggestion that what we are seeing is but a dream, or simply decorative pieces left with the rest of the village?

Should you wish, you can also take the air, balloons float, hover, drift and bob their way around the village, and you can hop a ride on them. Whether you float via balloon, walk (or do both), do be sure to have the audio stream on as well; the music does much to complement the installation, helping to enhance one’s feelings and response to the build.

I make no secret of my admiration for Cica’s work; her imagery, her use of motifs, her presentation and the joy she brings to her art always captivates me. At the same time, she can often challenge our thinking or our perceptions as she tells a story through her work.

Roots is another wonderful piece, and one not to be missed. It’s also one I made sure I made time to film, having missed the opportunity with Prison and Strings.

SLurl Details

• Roots (Rated: Moderate)

Coma: I Can’t Speak!, is a collaborative installation now open at the Black Label Exhibitions Corner. Conceived and produced by Storie’S Helendale (GlitterPrincess Destiny) with the support of Kristine Blackladder, AnnaFrancesca, Monique Helendale and models  Fritz Citron, Aleks Piers and  Terrygold, coma: I Can’t Speak! uses images and a poem, read out over the audio stream, to convey a story.

The arrival point offers instructions on how to enjoy the exhibition to the fullest. first among these is the suggestion you run the viewer with the graphics quality slider set to Ultra; however, I’d respectfully suggest that it’s more important that you are able to have ALM enabled, and Shadows set to Sun/Moon + Projectors, so I’d suggest adjusting your viewer to whatever settings work best for you to achieve the latter (including cutting back on the draw distance, if this further helps with frame rates). Do make sure you enable the audio stream as well, this is an essential part of the piece.

Once you’re set, step through the scrolling image to enter the installation proper – preferably during the break between playbacks of the music. This will allow you time to collect a copy of the poem from jut inside the entrance.

The poem is read by Storie’S Helendale over a soulful, piano / cello piece, the story unfolding in images around the walls, running from the left as you enter. The images are beautifully presented; muted tones set against a black background, projected lighting framing them perfectly.

To fully appreciate both poem and images, they must be taken together; their relationship entirely symbiotic, flowing and intertwined, emotional resonance ebbing and flowing between them and, ultimately, surrounding the observer.

And what is the story being told? That is something I’m not about to reveal; spoilers never sit well. All I will say is that the story here – to me at least – is layered, and you might find your interpretation flexing and changing as the poem unfolds and you move from image to image, or as you examine the images sans words while the music plays on, or again while the poem is again read. Love, loss, hope, regret, fear, longing, all seem to be threads of narrative waiting for the listener / observer to catch.

And I do recommend remaining to hear the poem at least twice, and taking the time to appreciate the images whilst just the music is playing. You might be surprised at how your interpretation might reshape itself as you follow the various threads of narrative.

I’m not sure how long Coma: I Can’t Speak! will run, although it only opened on December 23rd, 2015, so I would anticipate it being available for a while. And I most certainly do recommend it for viewing.

SLurl Details

• Coma: I Can’t Speak! Black Label Exhibitions Corner (Rated: Moderate)