Follow Your Soul is the title of Eliza Cabassoun’s new exhibition of photography and art now open at LEA6 as part of the Linden Endowment for the Arts Full Sim Arts series sponsored by the University of Western Australia (UWA).
The exhibition features a mixture of Eliza’s physical world photography, her Second Life photography and sculptures, and her poetry. It is very much a personal piece, although one with a message for everyone, as reflected in Eliza’s own words usefd to introduce it:
Everyone has a place where they found their soul. This is where I found mine. I found mine in a cabin by a lake where the fog rises in the morning into the mountains like a warm blanket. I began writing novels here and taking photos here. Nature can bring forth great inspiration, simply from towering trees or just the midnight sounds of tree frogs and rain hitting a tin roof … This lake is where I followed my soul to realize I have two gifts–writing and photography–and a part of my soul will always be here.
Follow Your Soul
The Lake is represented by the flooded centre of the region and features a central island topped by a rounded pavilion, connected to the shore by a long wooden bridge. The cabin Eliza writes about is represented by a LAQ cottage, which serves as the landing point for visitors and the teleport point for reaching other elements of the exhibit.
From the cottage, one can follow a path around the periphery of the lake, viewing Eliza’s physical world photography along the way, the path bordered on either side by easels displaying her work, the very ground beneath them displaying the stanzas of her poem Follow Your Soul. Some of the images on the easels also form backdrops for her poetry, while scattered among the easels are some of Eliza’s SL sculptures.
The walk around the lake has a slightly seasonal feel to it, with some of the trees coloured in the reds and yellows of autumn, their leaves falling gently to the ground and others – while admitting they are fir trees – are a rich green and suggestive of summer. There’s even a section where the ground is covered with snow, and pictures here all of a decidedly wintry theme.
Follow Your Soul
The teleport system will carry you up to the poetry garden, where there are make images of Eliza’s photographs forming backdrops to her poems, many of which will undoubtedly strike a chord or two in the hearts of those reading them. The teleporters also provide access to a small gallery of Eliza’s SL photography, which should not be missed during a visit.
If I seem to be writing a lot of art-related entires at the moment, it’s because there’s a lot going on right now in terms of art and SL, and I’m also trying hard to catch-up on a number of posts, some of which are art-related or have an art focus, like this one.
Aakriti Arts, located on the homestead region of Amadora, is a stunning venus for art, relaxation, music and meditation operated by Ranadeep Resident. To refer to it as a gallery or exhibition space would be an understatement; the build is itself a work of art, drawing on designs from a number of SL architects, notably Colpo Wexler, to create a venue which is simply stunning to behold, beautifully suited to its various purposes and worth seeing first-hand as much for its looks as for the art exhibitions hosted within its halls and guest areas.
In all, there are seven gallery spaces within Aakriti – which I believe means “shape”. The first and largest of these is Gallery One, a completely stunning design by Colpo providing a home to Ranadeep’s fractal and abstract art.
In front of Gallery One is a series of wooden walkways and concrete and glass platforms sitting just above the water, which connect the gallery spaces to one another and to the meditation and lounge areas, sweeping, glass-like awnings providing a measure of shade, and an ultra-modern live performance area.
These walkways can be used to reach another impressive design by Colpo, which forms Gallery Two, which is currently being prepared for an exhibition of Ziki Questi’s images from Second Life. The remaining five exhibition spaces are grouped around a paved plaza, also facing out towards the platforms over the water. Four of these spaces are contained in low, rectangular buildings either side of the plaza.
These four units host monthly displays by guest artists – and it is somewhat to my shame I’m just mentioning them now, as September draws to a close, because the works on display really are worth seeing. Spiral Silverstar offers her own fractal art, while Toy Soldier Thor presents a mix of 2D and 3D art from both the real world and Second Life; Creative Sam India (Sumanta Dutta in the physical world), who modestly describes himself as “just a beginner” with photography, displays some of his real life images, and ChapTer Kronfeld offers an intriguing series of 3D art pieces entitled, The Third Dimension of the Stroke.
Aakriti Arts – Peeking inside Gallery Two, where Ziki Questi will be exhibiting her work
On the far side of the plaza, sitting between the two pairs of guest art exhibit spaces is the final gallery space which is currently home to the LTD Gallery Shop, which features a newly opened exhibition of 2D and 3D art curated by Quan Lavender and featuring Sylvia Fitzpatrick, Mistero Hifeng, Kubbrick, Louly Loon, Sabine Mortenwold, Fushia Nightfire, Bryn Oh, Oh (Ohsoleomio), Janine Portal, FirleFanz Roxley, Milly Sharple, and Trill Zapatero, with all of the pieces being linked to the current edition of LTD Magazine.
Aakriti Arts offers a fabulous venue for art, and a very photogenic place in its own right. Those who don’t wish to spend their time walking between the various exhibition areas can use the teleport boards, while the lounge and meditation areas offer places to set and relax.
Patons of the art or anyone wishing to keep up with events in the region, be they exhibition openings or music events, etc., can do so by joining the Aakriti Arts group. If you do enjoy art in SL and have yet to visit Aakriti, it is definitely one to add you your list of “must see” galleries.
Bryn Oh is perhaps one of Second Life’s most respected and well-known artists. Her work spans the last seven years of SL’s history, and her installations have been visited by many in that time, whilst also making frequent appearances in the Destination Guide. Over the years, her pieces have grown from static sculptures to region-wide art-focused experiences, rich in narrative and elements of gameplay. It also spans the virtual and physical divide, having appeared at exhibitions, shows and festivals around the globe, marking her as an internationally regarded digital artist – in every sense of the word “digital”.
Such is the extent of Bryn’s work, that and in-depth retrospective is perhaps long overdue. Chance Acoustic and Art Blue have offered a modest, but attractive means of celebrating Bryn’s work through A Room for Ferrisquito. However, Bryn’s catalogue is so vast, it cries out for something more extensive.
Until recently, Bryn has fought shy of offering such a retrospective herself. However, she was recently invited to participate in the Art & Algorithms digital festival in Titusville, Florida, where she is one of a number of digital artists exhibiting their work through the festival’s digital lounge, and thus Bryn Oh retrospective 2007-2014, has been born.
This is a comprehensive study of her work, which might be said to span two locations in SL. The primary focus for the retrospective is a region-wide installation at LEA9, where visitors can explore the development of her art over the years chronologically. The second element – primarily aimed towards to the Art and Algorithms event, is an invitation for them to experience The Singularity of Kumiko on her home region of Immersiva – where she states she has instructed Mr. Zippers not to slaughter anyone should they do so!
The LEA9 installation is an immersive, multi-faceted endeavour involving elements of her work in both 3D and 2D together with information boards and links to machinina pieces on YouTube. Interestingly, most of the pieces on display are not Bryn’s own choices; as far as possible they’ve been drawn from suggestions and requests provided by members of her Immersiva in-world group.
Putting some of this together wasn’t easy, as Bryn informed me on inviting me to take a look around LEA9. “I discovered that all my really old work from 2007 etc., are now all unlinked and the prims migrated in some cases!” she said. However, if any of the early pieces on display had to be put back together, I’d say the time spent doing so has been more than worth it, because LEA 9 presents the visitor with a fascinating voyage through Bryn’s work – and more.
Those familiar with Bryn’s art over the years will doubtless recognise many of the items on display and regard them with fond memories; they may even trigger reminiscences about art, SL and more. Each year is presented in it own space or spaces, combining individual pieces with sets from some of Bryn’s more immersive, region-wide designs. Large signs denote the years as you come to them – make sure yo take the welcoming note card on your arrival, and do take your time exploring; there is a lot to see and read – and not all of it in the exhibition spaces, as noted there are a number of opportunities to watch machinima of Bryn’s work, such as the one below for Condos in Heaven.
Bryn is known for giving insight into her creations through the pages of her blog, where she frequently allows us glimpse her creative thinking. In many ways, this retrospective is a deeper extension of that process. Exploring it, I felt I was not so much looking back over her work of the last seven years but had in fact entered her “Country of the Mind”.
I make no apologies for using a fictional construct, as given form by Greg Bear, to describe my response to viewing this installation; if anything I’d say it was actually appropriate. “Bryn Oh” came into being as a way of exploring whether a digital character unaligned with any physical identity could gain acceptance as an artist in her own right; given the world-wide renown Bryn’s work has attained, there is little doubt she has achieved this goal.
But creativity is rarely purely an outward expression; through the creative process, we often define or enhance or influence or own thinking and perhaps reflect facets of our personalities back to ourselves as much as display them outwardly. As such, wandering through these spaces within LEA9 gave me the sensation that I was witnessing not only the growth of Bryn’s artistry within SL, but was also seeing the growth of her persona as a distinct entity separate from the human mind behind her. It’s as if each of the pieces on display, from the small to the large, form aspects of her “big and little selves”, to use Bear’s terminology, each reflecting a facet of her creativity and drive, which blend together and with her Primary Self – the human mind behind her – adding to her growth as a distinct personality. I actually mentioned this idea to Bryn as I toured LEA9; I’m not entirely sure what she thought of my perspective – but she seemed intrigued.
My point here is that this installation is more than just a simple retrospective display of past works; there is something very tactile about it which speaks as a voyage through the developing of Bryn as a personality as much as to the creative beauty of her work. As such, it is a fascinating place to visit and in which to dwell.
Certainly, this is an installation – a country – worthy of careful exploration. There is a visual and written richness to it that is engaging and well deserving of the time one can spend immersed within it. I can honestly say I have spent more than two hours within the installation following Bryn’s invitation, and I will doubtless be returning to it again.
Timeless Grace Art’s first exhibition features the work of Kandece Weissbrod, Aurora Mycano and Uleria Caramel
Timeless Grace Art is a new gallery located on Shoals dAlliez which opened early in September with three stunning exhibitions of virtual and physical world art.
Owned by MacKena Soothsayer, who co-curates the gallery with Yvan Slade, the gallery is located high above the region, occupying one of Aki Shichiroji’s marvellous mesh buildings, an industrial unit which offers a light, two-storey environment which has been simply but beautifully outfitted as a gallery space.
On the lower floor of the gallery is a striking exhibit of art by Uleria Caramel, entitled Oil vs Glass, and which feature her paintings from the physical world uploaded and presented within SL. All of the pieces on display reflect her focus on colour contrasts and abstract expressionism. Two of her mediums are working in oils and working on glass, and the display is a reflection of this, with pieces from the two mixed together throughout the ground floor of the gallery.
One of the issues in bringing real world paintings into SL is that where there is a reliance on something like texture, such as in an oil painting which uses rich, overlapping layers of colour, or which has been produced on a particularly rough canvas or cloth, the depth of the texture can be somewhat lost in the purely 2D image seen through SL. Several of the oil pieces in this exhibit are strong enough to overcome this; however – and without critique Uleria at all – I did find myself wondering how much stronger and more alive some of the pieces would be had normal maps perhaps been added to them to generate that sense of texture.
Which is not, as I say, to critique Uleria; the pieces on display here, whether representative of oil paintings or glass paintings, are quite captivating. So much so that when viewing them, I found myself wondering that were I seeing them in the physical world, might i in fact be wondering about price and wall space at home…
Upstairs, the gallery provides room for Photography by Kandece Weissbrod and Fractal Art by Aurora Mycano.
“As long as I can remember, I’ve loved photos; old photos that told stories of lives once lived, the power of different generations, happiness, sadness, peace and love,” Kandece states. “Just by holding them in your hands, it’s almost as if you can feel the aura. There’s something powerful about a story that can be told through emotions in photography.” This is certainly true of the elements of her work on display here.
Presenting a mix of physical and virtual work photography, Kandece offers the visitor a fabulous mix of images from the abstract to the seemingly simple, each one carrying a particular captivating quality, with many suggesting they have more than one story lying within them.
I found myself particularly drawn to three studies using light sources against a black background which occupy one corner of her exhibition space, while the placement of some of her physical world images opposite those taken within Second Life offer a series of striking contrasts as well as a subtle blending through the fact that within each of them, same eye for detail and story, the same passion for capturing emotion – be it through the image itself or from within the person viewing it – is clear.
Aurora Mycano focuses her talents primarily on digital, fractal, modern and abstract art. Fractal Art reflects her fascination with this particular medium, which started in 2012, and which has gained recognition in the art world – in spring 2013, she was the winner of the first JWildFire fractal art contest. JWildfire, by Andreas Maschke, is a popular fractal art generation programme, which Aurora uses alongside Apophysis and UltraFractal. A key aspect of her work is that the fractal art she produces is “raw” – there is no subsequent post-processing through PhotoShop or other editing applications.
The pieces on display here are a mix of colour and white fractals presented on black backgrounds. All are intricate and not a little mesmerizing in their beauty and execution; however I confess to being particularly drawn of the white-on-black studies, which put me in mind of intricate etchings in glass, and two of the colour items which show particularly strong Mandelbrot elements within them.
Aurora says of her work, “I am very passionate about my art and expressing myself with it. You will find a little part of my soul and heart in each of my pieces, as they all reflect a certain moment in my life, which inspired me to create it.”
This could also be said of all three exhibits on offer at Timeless Grace: each of them offers clear insight into the passion of the artists for their work; they are someone – to this observer at least – very personal in their presentation.
Altogether, a fabulous trio of opening exhibits which make a recommended visit. I look forward to seeing what else the team at Timeless Grace Art bring us in the future.
Livio Oak Korobase returns to the LEA on Wednesday September 17th, with a new installation entitled Black Elk at LEA 1. The installation draws on the life and writings of Black Elk, a medicine man (wičháša wakȟáŋ) of the Oglala Lakota, born in 1863, and author of The Sacred Pipe and Black Elk Speaks, a book responsible for sparking a renewal of interest in Native religions, based as it is on Black Elk’s experiences and those of the Lakota people.
Livio takes for the central theme of the installation, Black Elk’s great vision, which came to him as a boy of nine, while ill. In the vision, he was visited by the Wakinyan, Thunder Beings, who took him with them to the centre of the earth, and to the central mountain of the world, the axis of the six sacred directions, watched over by the Grandfathers.
This was the first of many vision he had throughout his life, and which, when he related it to the medicine men of his tribe when 17 years of age, established him as a great medicine man himself.
Symbolism is strong in the work at LEA 1 – as you might expect, given the focus – with horses, birds, bison, fish and more featuring large (literally as well as figuratively), together with more sacred characters. Around and among these hang quotes from Black Elk, powerful statements on who we are, where we come from and what we are a part of – that we are all, really, one nation; joined together and sharing hopes, loves, fears, life – and death. These words were formed through an early life marked by war and conflict and events such as Wounded Knee.
Given this, it should come as no surprise to see a quote by John F. Kennedy sitting alongside those of Black Elk. The quote is from Kennedy’s June 1963 Commencement Address at American University, given in the wake of the Cuban Missile Crisis, an event which came so close to visiting a global calamity on the world, and time when Kennedy, whose early adult years were also shaped by war and conflict, resolved that East and East must find the ways and means to live and work together as peoples of a single world. In this, they offer something of a latter-day reflection of Black Elk’s words.
When visiting, I would recommend that you use the region’s default windlight setting – used to take the images seen here – as this will allow you to experience the installation to the fullest, the use of reflective surfaces is very well executed, and gives a further depth to the piece. Also, if you don’t feel like walking everywhere, there is a horse rezzer, so you can ride around the pieces in the installation – and don’t miss the two teleport arrows at the arrival point to get you to the more elevated parts of the installation; and do keep an eye out for Livio’s signature Creature!
All told, a thought-provoking piece, beautifully executed and well worth visiting.
Eupalinos Ugajin fired over an invite for my to join a group of friends trying out How’s the Water? This is a giant catapult Eupalinos has been able to install over the Holtwaye ArtSpace.
I last visited the gallery, which is co-managed by WayneNZ and Holter Rez, back in June, not long after it had opened. So as well as visiting How’s the Water? I took the opportunity to see what was going on down in the gallery itself.
How’s the Water? is a wonderfully huge piece of interactive art / fun involving – as noted – a giant catapult. But this isan’t any catapult; at one end, where the “missiles” sit, is a huge wash basin with hot & cold taps, and a large counterweight at the other. Across a void sits a tall tower. The aim – literally – of the game is to add one or more objects to the basin using the cold water tap, and then fire them at the tower using the hot water tap.
The objects which are “fired” can be selected from a menu, and feature pieces from a number of artists, some of which can be sat upon, if you wish to take a ride yourself! When the hot water tap is touched, a giant strawberry (what else? 🙂 ) descends from the sky to add its mass and velocity to the counterweight, swinging the catapult into action.
Hitting the target tower – despite its size – isn’t easy. But should you do so, there’s a bit of an explosion, and rather than collapsing, the tower is bent back from the force of the impact, juddering and weaving with the imparted energy before righting itself for the next onslaught.
A small red canon and lawnmower at the base of the tower may also be worth investigating…!
If you’re looking for art that is a little … calmer … in nature, then down on the ground and inside the Gallery is a new exhibition entitled Be Our Art: Pink Edition, featuring pieces by Tomais Ashdene, Bryndarkly Cazalet, Awesome Fallen, Hottie Biscuit Lockjaw, Ziki Questi and Bianca Xavorin, all of which have, as the name suggests, a pink theme to them. Fuschia Nightfire also presents a piece for the exhibit in the media room, entitled Faerie Grotto. You’ll need to stand just inside the room and have media enabled to play this.
Also still on display in the various gallery areas of the building are works by Chuckmatrix Clip, Fordis Flores, JJ Goodman and Waynenz, which I reviewed last time around, and Olio, a series of images by my friend and fellow SL aviator, Tomais Ashdene; while sculptures by Bryn Oh, Nessuno Myoo and others can be found in the gallery and its surrounding grounds.
If you’ve not had the chance to visit Holtwaye ArtSpace before now, I do recommend to add it to your list; not only are the exihibitions there worth seeing, as I noted in my original piece, the building itself – designed by Waynenz, who also designed the beautiful Toru, the Enchanted Forest.
