Category: Art in Second Life

Blogger, activist, supporter of live entertainment, raconteur, content creator – there are many ways in which Toysoldier Thor can be defined. However, the one by which he is perhaps best known is that of artist – and deservedly so.

A resident of Second Life since 2008, Toy works in both 2D and 3D mediums, many of which bridge the physical and virtual “divide” in the most interesting of ways. While his art has been widely exhibited across the grid – and even interpreted through dance – perhaps the best way to become acquainted with his work is by visiting his in-world gallery.

It would be easy to attempt witticism by referring to the gallery as his “toybox”,  but it would also be unfair; what is on offer across five floors of viewing rooms is a veritable treasure trove of unique art. All of the pieces on display are available for purchase (and any aficionado of art is going to be hard-pressed not to walk away with one or two purchases); but more to the point, each comes with its one descriptive note card, obtained by touching the work in question.

These cards are well worth reading. Far from being a purely descriptive piece on the art itself, they delve into the history of the work  – the inspiration behind it, the techniques used to produce it, the sources from which Toy drew in developing it, and so on. In this way, the cards not only reveal more about the piece, they allow us to share in the entire creative process, and provide links to influences and so on, thus providing a unique insight into not only Toy’s craft, but also to Toy himself.

The uppermost floor of the gallery includes a number of Toy’s mesh sculptures, including the remarkable Shattered. A remarkable and emotive piece Toy has produced as both 2D art in the physical world and a 3D mesh model in Second Life, Shattered and the artist have been engaged on a remarkable journey, further narrowing the perceived divide between the virtual and the physical; the piece first becoming a 3D printed model, and which now looks set to become cast in bronze in the physical world as well (and which you can still pre-order).

It’s actually this element of physical / virtual cross-over that I find really compelling in Toy’s art. By this, I don’t mean how he might use Photoshop or other digital wizardry in order to edit and enhance photos originating from in-world, but how he actually combines virtual and physical world images to create some quite spectacular works of art. As examples of this, I would point visitors to both Assassin’s Prayer and to Death Seer (seen in the above picture, on the right), which are, in a gallery of quite extraordinary art, utterly stunning.

Those familiar with toy’s work will need no prompting when it comes to a visit to his gallery. If, however, you’ve not taken the time to pay a visit, then it is well worth adding to your itinerary. Anyone who enjoys and appreciates art in either the virtual or the physical world is unlikely to be disappointed; quite the reverse, in fact.

Related Links

• Toysoldier Thor’s Gallery SLurl (Rated: Moderate)
• Toysoldier’s blog

Crossed Looks Over Moumou’s Square is a new exhibition now open at Trinity Yazimoto’s Petit Chat gallery. It features 20 pieces of art by Ermandalee and Lo Coeur, the result of an invitation extended to them both to create a series of images of the gardens of Moumou’s Square and Petit Chat.

With ten pieces from each artist on display along the paths and in the grounds of the gardens, visitors are invited to stroll around at their leisure and view them. Information givers scattered among the easel mounted pieces ensuring that, whichever direction one takes on arriving, information on the exhibition and the artists is readily available.

Many of the pieces on display are located alongside or near to the parts of the garden that inspired them, allowing a direct comparison between subject and image, and an opportunity to more directly see the subject through the eyes of the artist. This is particularly effective where Ermandalee and Lo have produced pictures of the same subject; not only does this help “see” the subject as each artist may have looked on it, it also allows one to enjoy their individual but very complementary styles.

Viewing the art in this way also gives the visitor time to appreciate the gardens, which have been landscaped for Trinity by Trixxie Nitely. As you do, you’ll find there are plenty of places to sit and simply enjoy things, and Trinity’s hospitality is both warm and inviting: she offers places to sit and eat or drink both indoors and outdoors; so don’t be surprised if you find yourself coming back for future visits simply to enjoy the friendly ambience of the gardens.

And when you are looking around, don’t forget to take a jump down the rabbit hole to Trinity’s underground gallery where she displays her own work. It offers a further artistic delight to visitors, as I noted when last blogging about it.

Crossed Looks Over Moumou’s Square will be open through until Saturday, March 21st, 2015, inclusive, and is a recommended visit.

Related Links

• Petit Chat-Moumou’s Square SLurl (Rated: Moderate)

Kayly Iali is an artist and the owner  / curator of i4 Galleries of Art. A suite of four gallery spaces within the Port Lydius region, i4 Galleries occupies the same quarter of the region’s sky space as Lusus Saule, whose work I also recently reviewed.

February saw the start of four new exhibits at i4 Galleries, three of which sit within the abstract school, while the fourth presents an delight take on the idea of vintage postcards.

I’ve encountered the work of JudiLynn India previously in SL, and have always been struck by her bold use of colour and materials. An artist working in acrylics and digital art in the physical world, JudiLynn here presents 14 striking pieces of her art which demonstrate her work to its fullest advantage.

The large format in which the works are presented allows the rich detail in each, including the texturing apparent within it, to be clearly seen, adding to their vibrant look and feel.  number also exhibit a rich, dynamic energy in both the use of colour and line; there is a sense of power and movement within them, while other are more restful in nature, presenting a calming influence whilst retaining a strong use of form and colour.

A former graphic artist working in advertising, Ieko Catnip switched to painting some 20 years ago, inspired by the work of Zao-Wou-Ki, Pierre Soulages, Antoni Tàpies and Hans Hartung. She specialises in lyric abstraction and has her own contemporary art gallery in SL.

The fifteen pieces displayed here are of  similar large format presentation to JudiLynn, which again allows the riches and dynamism of each item to be shown to its fullest.

Also, as with JudiLynn’s work, there is a striking dynamism to the pieces on display, although one somewhat different in nature. The shapes within several of the pieces are far more anthropomorphic in nature, more suggestive of the human form in motion, while in others there is sense of movement and form which might suggest a ship in a storm or lily pads on the water.

Vonnie the Fox is a relative newcomer to Second Life. An artist in the physical world, the exhibition at i4 Galleries marking the first public display of her work. She sees SL as a means of exploring and experimenting with digital art and expression, listing both SL art and building as two of her interests.

Here she takes an interesting approach to abstract works, presenting a series of colour images of scenes in Second Life shot through the medium of Linden Water. This gives the pieces a rather unique sense of motion / distortion, while the use of bright colours, either within the subjects of the pieces or through the selection of windlights, leads to a set of highly individual pieces. Don’t forget to check his Flickr stream, either.

The final exhibit in this quartet steps away from abstract foundations and is, perhaps, the most interesting in both idea and format – and one which offers a unique way of showing appreciation to a friend.

David Peyton works mostly in photography and mixed media, and his exhibit at i4 combines both to present a series of vintage postcards featuring a range of sights from around Second Life

Not only is a delightful series of postcards offered for admiration and (like the works in the other three exhibits) also for sale, it is presented with a wonderful dash of humour through the Kisses on a Postcard element of the display, which feature imagined missives from the likes of Napoleon to Josephine or Georgia O’Keeffe to Alfred Stieglitz, and others. What’s more, David also offers a special service: select a postcard, pen your own message and David will supply you with a set of 20 individually numbered postcards you can send to friends in SL.

As an added bonus, once you’ve toured the main gallery spaces, you can also teleport to the Skyloft (ou can also reach it via the teleport board at the gallery landing point). Here you’ll find Kayly’s own work on display, a beautiful mix of abstract and still life work, presented in an ambient environment that really shows them to their best advantage, making it easy to see any of the pieces displayed on a wall in your own home.

All four exhibits in the main gallery spaces will be open through until April 2015. Given their proximity to one another (The Vonnie the Fox and David Peyton exhibitions are just around the corner to Judilynn India and Ieko Catnip), they can be enjoyed together. This is something especially worthwhile given the abstract theme carried within three of them, while David’s exhibit offers a unique and charming approach to art in SL. A trip to Kayly’s skyloft will also round-out any visit perfectly.

Related Links

• i4 Galleries for Art SLurl (Rated: Moderate)

“Presently striving to become an artist in Second Life”, is how Lusus Saule describes himself. I think he’s being far too modest; his artistry is clearly evident in his work, and I find it remarkable that I haven’t seen more of his pieces exhibited through SL galleries.

As it is, his work can primarily be found on display in his own Lusus Art gallery complex, a suite of four gallery spaces located in the Port Lydius art region and nested behind the i4 Galleries.

Officially opened in October 2014, the spaces are currently displaying four aspects of his work which all have a decidedly mathematical leaning, and which each present a series of fascinating studies.

I was actually drawn to his work when I spied one of his fractal images on a poster while visiting Port Lydius for other reasons. As regular readers know, this particular form of art has a specific attraction for me, so seeing the poster encouraged me to go take a look, and I was quite delighted by all I discovered.

“These images were created with the 3D fractal software called Mandelbulber,” Lusus says of the pieces on display in his Fractals exhibit. Five of these are quite strikingly offered in the kind of panoramic format I personally feel is ideal for capturing the beauty of this type of work. Intriguingly, Lusus says that these items were the result of getting sidetracked using the software while working on a larger project.

“I originally wanted to see if it was possible to create an immersive experience by creating fractal images that surrounded the viewer,” he says. “[So] look out for these some time in the near future!” I can say that it is something I’ll certainly be doing.

Alongside of the fractal exhibition can be found Droste Images. Here Lusus presents  series of images taken in, and of, regions in Second Life which he has then manipulated to create finished works based on the Droste effect. This essentially sees the same image repeated within itself, each version geometrically reduced. Such images form visual instances of strange loops, itself a foundation of fractal geometry, making it the ideal partner to the fractals exhibit. Indeed, some of the images on display here are suggestive  of another mathematical form which utilises fractal properties: mandelbrots.

Across the courtyard from Fractals and Droste Images can be found Op Art and Animated Gifs.

Op Art blends of Op Art and Kinetic Art in a series of striking pieces which have a geometric / mathematical foundations. Traditionally, Kinetic Art relies on the observer’s movement around the art (be it 2D or 3D) to generate the sensation of motion. While this is clearly evident in the pieces displayed here, Lusus has added to it through the use of scripts to generate additional movement.

This actually gives these pieces considerably greater depth, and when combined with slow, simple camera movement when viewing them, can result in some startling effects, most of which are rather difficult to capture in a still image. The movement and depth within individual pieces can also change simply as a result of the distance from which they are viewed, giving rise to a range of optical effects and illusions that enhance the Op Art aspect of the works.

Animated Gifs,as the name implies, presents a series of animated GIFs to the observer – although they may not appear to be animated when first viewed. This is because Lusus is utilising SL’s Media On a Prim capability for his work. This means that in order to be correctly seen, media needs to be enabled within the viewer, and individual images clicked upon (the frames may go white for a few seconds prior to the images displaying).

The result of this is a series of animated images and abstracts, all following geometric patterns which are perhaps both more fluid and complex than might otherwise be achieved through purely scripted means of showing animated gifs. Again, still images don’t really capture the dynamic nature of these pieces, they have to be viewed first-hand.

Whether viewed individually, or toured together, Lusus’ gallery spaces are more than worth a visit. You can also find out more about his activities in SL via his website, and if you’re ever in need of a helping hand with an aspect of using Second Life, be aware that he also curates the Metaverse Tutorials website as well.

Related Links

• Lusus Art SLurl (Rated: Moderate)