Category: Art in Second Life

Opening on Sunday, July 5th at Kate Bergdorf’s Berg by Nordan Art gallery, located overhead of her home region, Nordan om Jorden, is an exhibition of images by Harbor Galaxy.

Running through July, August and September, the exhibition is called Undone, which is described as, “An examination of the physical loosening of restraints:  collapse, contemplation, release, surrender.” On display are nine nude studies of the female form, the majority either seated or reclined, set against minimal backgrounds which serve to drawn one’s eyes directly to the figure on display – and I do use the term “display” deliberately here. While most of the poses are natural enough, it is clear that they have been carefully set in order to emphasise the various aspects of the exhibit’s subtitle: collapse, contemplation, release, etc.

Not that there is anything wrong with the images being so poised in their execution – that is after all the case for any life study. Here, however, the posing draws us deeper into each image, encouraged to consider just what it is being contemplated or what the collapse signifies and so on. Some of the pieces also seem to have a subtle, layered context as well, offering more than one potential interpretation, which becomes clearer as one re-examines them.

The artist behind Harbor says of her work:

Through Harbor and the creative possibilities of SL, I have been able to explore my own creative impulses and give form to the pictures that have been swirling around in my head for years now.

I do want to add that I see my pieces as a collaborative work, dependent upon the countless creative energies of others like myself here in SL  and I am grateful and in awe of those energies.

Quite who or what the creative energies are isn’t entirely clear, which is a little regretful. Does the reference mean the models featured in the pieces? Comments and support from others? The influence other artists may have had on Harbor’s work? All of the above? It’s an enigmatic and intriguing statement; just as this is an intriguing and intimate exhibition.

Nudes may not be to everyone’s liking, but this is an exhibit worth seeing, one very well suited to the warm intimacy of Kate’s gallery space. As noted above, it will be running through July – September.

SLurl Details

• Berg by Nordan Art Gallery (Rated: Moderate)

Officially opening at 12:00 noon on Friday, July 3rd, is the latest exhibition at Max Butoh’s marvellous Dathúil gallery. Distributed Pieces of Self presents a series of images by Second Life (and real life) artist and photographer Amona Savira.

The title of the exhibit – chosen by Amona – is inspired by a line from 5th stanza of the 2004 poem Over Time, by Martha Collins:

Moon covered, un-
covered again, cold.
Cold and hot, very and both.
Disturbed the Sea of Tranquility.
Distributed by the Moon Shop.
Distributed self in pieces.
Oh my broken.

On offer is a series of image, each evoking a mood or style or approach, or a combination of all three; self-portraits in full or in part, each emoting both a story and a response.

The settings are minimal – Amona indicates she tends to use her own sets, although some of the images in this exhibit were posed using a set by the talented William Weaver. Post-processing is used with each image; again, Amona regards such editing, tuning and refining of her raw images as an integral part of her artistic intent.

The rest is a series of highly individual pieces that perfectly fit the title of the exhibit, and which offer the observer a glimpse into the world of the artist-as-subject. Each image presents an individual frame of life which, depending on how you view them and what comes to mind, might either by seen to complement one another, offering a collage, if you will, of images and emotions that come together to lend a “whole” to the “distributed story”. Or perhaps they remain framed in one’s mind as individual pieces, each standing alone in its narrative, moments frozen and distributed across time.

All told, this is another fascinating exhibition highlighting the work of a talented SL photographer (Amona also has a Flickr photostream I would suggest you check-out). If you like the works you see within this exhibit, do check Amona’s permanent exhibit spaces at East Art Gallery or at Harmony Garden Gallery.

My thanks, as ever, to Lucy and Max for allowing me to preview this exhibition, which will remain open through until the end of July, 2015.

SLurl Details

• Dathúil Gallery (Rated: Adult)

 

The last time I visited MetaLES, the art region run by Romy Nayar and Ux Hax, it was to visit Romy’s brilliant Sparkys, which I wrote about here.

Since then, I’ve not really had a chance to drop in and see what’s going on, so when both Honour and Ziki poked me about a new celebratory installation there that had just opened (and which will remain open until August 13th, 2015) as a celebration of MetaLES and its support group, ..O.., I knew I’d had to pop along and take a look.

Distrito Disinto – or Different Districts, if you prefer, presents a concept that’s simple enough: the visitor is taken on a journey through a series of rooms, or “districts”, as if travelling through, or with, a festival. Within each room, an artist has established a setting inspired by a song, and in which the song and art are presented together. Simple in concept maybe, but beautifully intricate and delightfully imaginative in execution.

On arrival, visitors “purchase” a ticket (they’re actually free) from the box office. This delivers a teleport HUD (just grant it permission to act on your avatar when worn), and some introductory notes. Then all that’s required is to ensure local sounds enabled, as the audio isn’t streamed, but played in-world, and the region’s windlight is being used. Then it’s a case of clicking on one of the musical notes in the HUD under each of the artists’ names. For the sake of convenience, I took the destinations in their numerical order.

The artists who have actively contributed to the installation are Betty Tureaud (musical piece: She’s a Rainbow by the Rolling Stones); Giovanna Cerise (Innuendo by Queen); JadeYu Fhang (What Your Soul Sings by Massive Attack); Maya Paris (Oh, Bondage! Up Yours! by X-Ray Spex); Cica Ghost (Lullaby by The Cure); Rebeca Bashly (Chop Suey by System of a Down);  Bryn Oh (Keep the Streets Empty for Me by Fever Ray); Romy Nayar (Nuit d’hiver (Chloé) by Mylène Farmer); Alpha Auer (Grid Factory by Alpha Auer); and Eupalinos Ugajin (Rockingchair by Estudio, Trabajo Y Fusil!).

Selavy Oh is also listed as a contributing artist, but there is no corresponding teleport option in the HUD. I assume this is because Selavy was unable to participate and the introductory note card was not updated.

To describe each of the pieces offered would be to negate the point of seeing them yourself. Suffice it to say that each offers an interesting interpretation on the subject matter of the chosen song, which ranges from the thought-provoking through to the light-hearted and witty, to some hints of pathos through to outright irreverence in the most wonderful of ways (who else could mix Oh Bondage, Up Yours!, Diana Rigg’s Mrs Emma Peel, Eartha Kitt’s Catwoman and flying saucers so brilliantly, than Maya Paris 🙂 ).

However, and while I enjoyed all the pieces on offer through the installation, and really don’t want to appear as if I’m singling any out over the others (not the least because those who collaborated represent some of my favourite artists), I have to say I was particularly drawn to Alpha Auer’s Grid Factory. There is a nuanced beauty to this piece that’s suggestive of many things, and return visits have drawn me back to it perhaps just a little more than some of the other pieces here. Be sure to pick-up your Grid Factory avatar from Alpha when you visit.

I also confess to enjoying Bryn’s interpretation of Keep the Streets Empty for Me, which offers an interactive piece that’s best shared  – thank you to Gem, Kate and Tutsy in joining me for a little house building – or is that house clearing?

Distrito Disinto is open through until August 13th – so go, enjoy!

SLurl Details

• Distrito Disinto (Rated: Moderate)