Category: Art in Second Life

The September Windlight Gallery Fellowship awardee exhibits are now open at the gallery for viewing ahead of the formal opening and reception, which will take place on Saturday, September 12th, at 12:00 noon.

The awardees for this month are:  Bamboo Barnes, Canary Beck, Serenitee Bliss, Sparkie Cyberstar, Kayly Iali, Lala Lightfoot, Eeraftr Resident, Saoiriseheart Resident, Theadreem Resident,  Wintergeist Resident, Trav Solar, and Theda Tammas. Between them, the offer a wide range of styles and images, although there is a strong leaning towards avatar-focused images.

Perhaps the one notable difference in the group is Kayly Iali, who offers a series of her physical world paintings and sketches. These combine abstract with portraiture and oils to present a display which is both eye-catching and breath-taking – as can be seen from the image above.

By Contrast, Trav Solar (below), the only male awardee this month (come on guys, let’s see you applying!), presents a series of avatar studies within a set of slide show displays allowing a broad and very striking range of images to be displayed and shared between them.

Crossing the divide between avatar studies and landscape images captured around Second Life is Serenitee Bliss, who presents one of the fullest displays of art I’ve yet seen at Windlight, making full use of the wall space to present a simply stunning collage of images one is instantly drawn to and drawn into as it entices the eyes to linger and capture every detail in turn.

It may seem a little unfair focusing on just three of the awardees for the month, and in truth, everyone selected has offered  display that is both attractive and well worth viewing; I just confess to finding myself drawn to these three artists’ work in particular (although I confess to being very familiar with Kayly’s work).

The September Fellowship exhibition will be open through until the end of the month and the opening reception on the 12th has an open door invitation to all wishing to attend. It will feature the voice and music of Caasi Ansar and formal wear is requested. Hopefully, I’ll see you there!

About the Windlight Gallery Fellowship Programme

The goal of the Windlight Gallery Fellowship Programme is to provide promotional and artistic resources to artists in Second Life, and is open to both new and established artists. Space with the Windlight Gallery is provided free of charge for a period of 30 days. Applications for space can be made on-line, via the Fellowship application form, which includes all applicable terms for the use of space in the gallery.

Additional Information

• Windlight Gallery SLurl (Rated: Moderate)
• Windlight Magazine website and blog
• Windlight Artist Fellowship Programme
• Windlight Magazine on Facebook
• Windlight Magazine on Google+
• Windlight Magazine on Tumblr
• Windlight Magazine on Twitter
• Windlight Magazine in this blog

Opening on Wednesday, September 2nd, 2015 at Dathúil Gallery, owned by Max Butoh and curated by Lυcy (LucyDiam0nd), is a new exhibition by Maloe Vansant, entitled Faces of Longing and Grief.

As the title suggests, this is a series of studies of the human face – mostly female (Maloe herself, I believe), although Maloe’s partner, Burk Bode, is also featured – in which the focus is very much on the emotions either displayed within the subject’s expression, or conveyed by the pose itself.

Maloe uses quotes to describe the exhibit, of which a short extract from Barnacle Love, by Canadian novelist Anthony De Sa is perhaps the most informative:

The Portuguese call it saudade: a longing for something so indefinite as to be indefinable. Love affairs, miseries of life, the way things were, people already dead, those who left and the ocean that tossed them on the shores of a different land — all things born of the soul that can only be felt.

And indeed, there is a longing and a sense of sadness, a hint of grieving, an echo of death to be seen as one wanders through Dathúil’s hall and examines each of this large format images in turn. But to think of this as a “dark” or “depressing” exhibition would be a mistake.

There is a raw, emotive power to each of these images – either within it, or in the response the observer has to it, or both. It is very hard, for example, not to imagine learning into one and kissing the worries of the subject away and giving a loving reassurance, or taking the hand of another in comfort  and offering to share the burden of sadness.

The use of colour and of black and white in the images is equally striking in how they bring the emotions of an individual piece to the fore and regulate the observer’s response. A series of four full-colour images on one wall (seen above), for example, tend to evoke a very strong – dare I say “louder” – emotional response when compared to the black-and-white studies, where the emotional content is perhaps more constrained within the image itself, and our own response is similarly toned down by the more monochromatic presentation.

Some of the images balance the use of the colour against a more monochrome look –  as with A touch of Melancholy and Just Want to Blend In (seen below), for example. The result is something of a different texture and feel to the emotion / feeling s captured within the image and in one’s own response. I admit to becoming quite captivated by these two pieces in particular.

All of which is a long way of saying that these are studies where it is next to impossible to not yourself feel emotionally involved. The story behind each image may not be clear, but the desire to offer comfort, support, love, companionship is unavoidable.

This is yet another outstanding exhibition of an artist’s work which further enhances Dathúil’s reputation as one of the leading galleries in Second Life. Lucy is to be commended for arranging Maloe’s exhibit, and Maloe herself congratulated in bringing together images to present such a powerful and emotive subject.

Faces of Longing and Grief formally opens at 13:00 SLT on Wednesday, September 2nd, and will remain open through until September 30th, 2015. You can also find more of Maloe’s work on her Flickr stream.

SLurl Details

• Dathúil Gallery (Rated: Adult)

Over the course of a century, Le Fantôme de l’Opéra’s  cloak has been thrown wide to encompass many retellings and adaptations in every medium – film, radio, stage, television and print – since Gaston Leroux first saw it serialised in the pages of Le Gaulois in 1909/10. Many of these adaptations, such as the 1943  film starring Claude Rains in the titular role, have themselves been folded back into the original story, adding to the legend.

And now, through until October 21st, that cloak has been thrown over MetaLES in the form of a tribute to the original story and some of its many interpretations, entitled A Bit of Red, by Kicca Igaly and Nessuno Myoo.

Floating over the landing point on a series of large blocks (between which it is possible to fall if you’re not careful), lay key scenes from the story.  Most will be recognisable to those at least familiar with Andrew Lloyd Webber’s 1986 musical production (and short notes, indicated by the presence of a rose or rose petal, help give context to each scene), although the influences do go back to the original tale, and reflect some of the other many adaptations.

Thus we have, for example, the motifs of the Phantom’s mask and the opera house itself (although sadly, not the great chandelier); there is a familiar great pipe organ, from which huge spherical notes  float, and there is a the ruin of a boat, and an iron grate through which one can drop to a tunnel below, all representative of the story; the last referencing the labyrinth of tunnels and cellars beneath the opera house and which play a key role in the tale. Finally, raised above the centre of everything, is a dais on which Erik, Le Fantôme and Christine stand, separated by a mirror, symbolically broken on one side, whole on the other.

Alongside of these there elements rich in symbolism, such as the broken cage. In it we can see Erik’s desire to hold Christine as his own – captive, if needs be – and also his change of heart towards her in setting her free. It also, perhaps, symbolises his own heart held captive to her and destined only to be broken. Or if you prefer, there is an alter, reminding us on the one hand of Erik’s attempt to force Christine to marry him under the threat of destruction and the death of others, and on the other of her love for Raoul and her desire to be with him.

Then there is the memorial to Christine. It both serves as an affirmation of Erik’s promise to the Persian within the novel that he did indeed set both Christine and Raoul free, and as a reference to the  2004 Joel Schumacher film, carrying as it does Christine’s married title and her dates of birth and death.

In all A Bit of Red has been carefully constructed and does present an interesting reflection on Leroux’s work and its various offspring. The intricate design the weaving of the key aspects of the tale into understandable vignettes is undeniable. Nevertheless, in exploring, reading and witnessing, I couldn’t help but feel I was merely that: an observer. I didn’t feel as involved in the installation as I had perhaps hoped on my arrival; the Phantom wasn’t there, inside my mind, so to speak. Perhaps he’ll be in yours.