Category: Art in Second Life

Innovations in Portraiture is the name of a new gallery in Second Life which celebrated its formal opening on October 15th, 2022.

The gallery is the joint work of Cayla (YumiYukimura) and Addie (adeleberry408), and is intended to act as a showcase for their respective art. Despite featuring the word “portraiture” within the title, the gallery covers a far broader spectrum of art than portraiture itself.

Addie is a relative newcomer to the Second Life art world, her work focusing on Second Life landscapes. Within the gallery she offers Scenes of a Virtual World, a collection of 18 images captured from around Second Life which share a raw beauty that is more than likely recognised by anyone who has become caught in the world of potentials offered by Second Life photography.

These are images very much “as-seen” by the the camera’s eye, reliant on only EEP settings and the artist’s viewpoint, and sans post-processing. Hence my use of the term “raw”; it’s not in any way negatively, but rather to emphasise the honesty contained within these images that – in an age where everything captured in-world is so often post-processed and enhanced – is genuinely refreshing, open and attractive.

In the physical world, Cayla is photographer and graphics artist. In particular, she specialises in what might be referred to as hybrid art – marking her current spread of work at the gallery the second encounter I’ve had with the format in recent weeks (see also: A gallery of dreams in Second Life), although Cayla’s work offers a new dimension to the format.

Her art starts with AI images prompted by a descriptive and sensory vocabulary. While multiple images may be produced, Cayla selects one for further processing through Adobe Photoshop to produce either a standalone image, or a possible backdrop for use with her avatar portraiture. This combination of AI generated image and avatar photography adds an additional layer to Cayla’s hybrid work.

Within the ground level of the gallery, Cayla presents a remarkable selection of highly sensuous flower paintings, generated through AI which are, to say the least, utterly stunning. They are bracketed by a series of character portraits on the ground floor of the gallery, and a richly engaging series built around the theme of elves – a subject always close to my heart.

Two very different artists linked by a common love of art and expression, Addie and Cayla offer a lot to see and appreciate (I do recommend Cayla’s essay on AI art as well, available through an easel in the gallery), and a look forward to future visits and seeing more of their work.

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• Innovations in Portraiture Gallery (Poursollet, rated Moderate)

I’m taking time out from regular art reviews to engage in an irregular bit of self-promotion. Opening at the Kondor Art Garden, a part of the the Kondor Art Centre, on Thursday, October 27th, 2022, is an exhibition of art entitled Masters of Landscape Photography.

The exhibition features the work of two individuals, Vanessa Jane – an accomplished Second Life photographer-artist – and moi, and is itself one is a series of exhibitions utilising the title and featuring pairs of artists to take place at the Art Garden.

I’m frankly – and genuinely – flattered to be asked to exhibit alongside Vanessa, who is is an artist in the physical world (and holds and arts degree), and is thus able to bring the eye, training and sensibilities of her physical world artistry to Second Life. This is clearly and fully demonstrated in  the selection of pieces she presents within the Kondor Art Garden, all of which demonstrate she is fully deserving of the title afforded the exhibition. Through her work, she has been one of a number of talented individuals who has – albeit indirectly – helped me to improve my abilities with the SL camera, although I still have a lot to learn.

The exhibition of our work opens at noon SLT today, Thursday October 27th, 2022, with music provided by the talented DJ Tulsa Sapphire, who will be spinning a mix from the 80s, together with taking requests from those who attend the opening. I very much hope that in reading this, you’ll opt to hop along and join us for the party, or that you’ll find the time in the course of the next month to pay the exhibit a visit.

My sincere thanks to Hermes Kondor, owner and curator of the Kondor Art Centre for both extending an invitation to exhibit at the Garden, and for encouraging me to do so.

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• Kondor Art Garden, the Kondor Art Centre (Waka, rated Moderate)

In a recent Exploring Second Life travel article, I wrote about Elephant Island, the 3-region location designed by Syx Toshi and his SL partner Bryn Toshi (Bryn Bulloch) – see Roaming Elephant Island in Second Life. During that visit, I mentioned Dreamd, the sky gallery home of Bryn’s hybrid art, and promised I offer a piece on the gallery itself- so here it is!

Hybrid art, for those who may not be familiar with the term, is a contemporary art movement which might be defined as, “embracing the convergence of science, technology, and the arts. The term was likely first coined in 2010, although as a movement, hybrid art predates the term by a number of years. Within it, artists work on a trans-disciplinary basis, initially integrating photography, film, radio, television, computers, and the internet into their artistic endeavours.

Over the past decade +, the movement has grown to embrace the natural and physical sciences biology, genetics, particle physics, astronomy, geology, etc.), established and emerging technologies (computer sciences, data processing, robotics, AI, data visualisation, facial recognition, biometrics, etc.), to combine them with traditional art forms – painting, photography, sculpture – to develop art which may contribute to or even critique the fields of research on which it draws, as well as providing unique means for artistic expression. As an art form, it covers both 2D and 3D art. In addition to being regarded as expressive and experimental, it is an internationally recognised genre of art celebrated through festivals and competitions the world over.

For Bryn, Hybrid art is a means of self-expression utilising traditional photography and combining it with AI tools and “traditional” digital processing software such as Photoshop and Procreate to produce digit images that are unique in form and captivating in style. These may not be as bleeding-edge as the more modern forms of hybrid art, but they nevertheless allow Bryn to produce art that moves beyond just digital manipulation to present insight into her imagination.

In all, the gallery comprises four halls. In the first is what might be regarded as the most “hybrid” of Bryn’s work in terms of their imaginative spread, combining nature shots with those of space exploration. In the second hall is a series of pieces celebrating the natural world, again produced through digital means – including the use of algorithms (at least, going by some of the fractal-like patterns evidenced in some of them. While the third hall is currently noted as “WIP”, the forth contains a series of stunning portrait images, with a depth of realism that is genuinely astounding to the eye.

Taken as a whole, each and every image offered within the gallery has a depth and beauty that is genuinely captivating, while the gallery itself occupies a sky platform that sits as a natural extension to the region below. Whether visited in its own right, or as a part of a visit to all three regions. Dreamd gallery makes for a more than worthwhile visit and I do look forward to seeing how Bryn’s work develops and the themes she embraces.

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• Dreamd Gallery (Monkey Cove, rated Moderate)

Alsatian Kidd is perhaps best known as a region landscaper; his Green Acres Homestead region has been a regular destination for me for several years, as reported in these pages, and he also provides services to those who would like their regions and parcels landscaped. But in addition to this, he is also an accomplished photographer, as indicated by his Flickr stream and  – for the next couple of weeks – through an exhibition within the Sky Gallery at Monocle Man Galleries, the arts centre operated by Lynx Luga and Kit Boyd.

I often talk about art in terms of the narrative and the story it contains; be it within an individual image and / or through the the overall theme for an exhibition. Sometimes the narrative is offered through the image itself, sometimes through the title it has been given, and sometimes the mix of title and subject. With Nihongo-Ka – which translates best as “turning Japanese” – Alsatian offer a 4-chapter series of images which – thanks to the accompanying word panels – offer a story of one man’s travels through feudal Japan and the adventures / trials he faces.

Starting on the ground floor hall immediately on the right of the entry hall, the story unfolds in a clockwise direction through all four halls of the gallery space. In the first hall, we are introduced to the protagonist – Rokudenashi – and his white wolf, whilst setting the scene for his travels. From here, each chapter takes us, hall by hall, through the pair’s journey, at times introducing us to companions who might aid them, or those who might try to thwart them in achieving their goal.

Within each hall, the chapters (presented as scrolls with illustrations from both classical Japanese art and also captured from within Second Life) are mounted with images created by Alsatian that more fully illustrate the unfolding tale. Taken at Japanese-themed locations in Second Life, the images present elements of each chapter in a clear-cut manner with a light touch of post-processing that gives each image as sense of being illustrative to the story without dropping them into the realm of comic / graphic novel, instead leaving each as a piece that can be appreciated in its own right as well as in being part o the unfolding story.

As well as offering the final chapter of the story, the fourth hall of the exhibition space also presents what might have initially served as the inspiration for this artistic tale – the lyrics from Turning Japanese, the  single by British New Wave band The Vapors. Released on the group’s first album, New Clear Days, the song reached number 3 in the UK singles chart in 1980 and remains popular with fans since the band re-formed in 2016.

A simple but engaging artistic tale, Nihongo-Ka will remain open to the public through until the end of October 30th, 2022. And Star Trek fans might what to keep an eye open for the subtle reference to the original series tucked away within one of the panels!

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• Monocle Man Sky Gallery (Flying Fortress, rated Adult)

 

It’s been barely a Kwarting¹ since I was last at Onceagain Art Gallery curated by Onceagain (Manoji Yachvili), with my last visit being to witness the B&W Group Exhibit (see: Onceagain with black and white in Second Life); and while a month is traditionally said to be a long time in politics, the same is very much true in Second Life. This is because in the time since my last visit the gallery has been relocated from the sky to the ground, and Manoji, and has expanded, its facilities.

Now located on the ground level of its home parcel within the Peaceful Mountains region, the Gallery comprises a number of halls and buildings separated by landscaped gardens. At the time of my visit, parts of the the gallery were still in development. However, this is to be expected because, as Manoji notes herself, she is always tweaking things and making adjustments (and in fact note that the Gallery might be closed on Mondays so that she can do so in peace) – but there is more than enough to occupy the eye even should some elements of the gallery’s lands be under development.

This being the case, the new facilities,  which opened on October 16th, 2022, comprise:

• The Main Gallery, alongside of which is the primary landing point for the Gallery spaces as whole (although the landing point is not enforced so that all remaining gallery spaces can have their own LP). The Main Gallery provides an ensemble exhibition of art.
• The Private Collection, which as the name suggests, features art from Manoji’s personal collection.
• The Personal Exhibition Gallery, featuring Manoji’s own work, which appeared to be under construction at the time of my visit.
• A “Free to Rent” gallery, which was again under construction at the time of my visit, but once available, will be available subject to guidelines offered through a dedicated note card.
• The Artist of the Month gallery, presenting the featured artist invited to display within the Gallery’s spaces – if I am understanding Manoji’s notes correctly, may be presented in one of a number of gallery space designs, as selected by Manoji after viewing the artist’s work.

In addition to the above, at the time of my visit, the north side of the parcel was marked as Under Construction both for what I took to the Personal Exhibition gallery noted above, and to what appear to be three further boutique style gallery spaces and a little caravan park.

Between and around the buildings, the setting has been landscaped as a garden space, high granite cliffs forming privacy walls along two sides, and from which water falls, some of it to feed a stream burbling and bubbling its way through the land. A good portion of the garden has been constructed using Alex Bader’s always popular Zen Garden Building Kit, with the more open lawns being home to 3D art elements again from Manoji’s own collection, whilst towards the centre of the gardens sits what appears to be an office-come-bookshop / quiet spot.

For October, the guest artist is Kika Yongho who, along with Manoji, presents a light-hearted selection of images entitled I only have eyes for the Flamingo. Kika’s images are located on the upper level of the gallery (alongside the landing point), and clicking each piece will supply a note card offering something of a story to go with the image. Four further flamingo-centric images by Manoji can be found on the lower floor of the gallery.

Those wishing to have their art displayed at Onceagain as a featured artist should contact Manoji directly for information on how to do so – with information also being supplied via note card to those using the main landing point.

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• Onceagain Art Gallery (Peaceful Mountains, rated Adult)

1. Kwartang (n.). A unit of measure for time in British politics named for Kwasi Kwartang, the former Chancellor of the Exchequer. It is roughly equivalent to three times the American political unit of measure, the Scaramucci – itself some 11 days in length. (Yes, folks, a touch of political humour to go with the time, if utterly divorced from the focus of this article.)

Currently open at The Glinka Gallery, operated and curated by Wolfgang Glinka, is an exhibition of original paintings by Serbian painter and digital artist, Lash VV. Entitled Animal Instinct, it marks his fourth show at the gallery, and focuses on one of his core interests as an artist: the natural world.

Located within one of the gallery’s halls, Animal Instinct is a collection of some 25 paintings of animals in the wild. It’s a selection that offers insight into Lash’s range as an artist, the pieces representing original works produced in oil, acrylics, watercolours, charcoal and ink drawings, drypoint, his skills with digital post-processing techniques and more.

These are pieces also representing their subjects in a similarly broad range of genres – still-life, impressionist, minimalist, abstracted – with each approach clearly balanced to best reflect the motion of its subject or captures the manner in which we tend to picture them in the mind’s eye.  This gives each picture a depth and sense of life that can so easily capture the eyes – and also offer a hint of a story.

Take Dance of Love, for example. It captures two Japanese cranes in courtship, but more than this, though the the style, the minimalist use of colour, the piece offers a broader suggestion of the country itself.  close by, Antelopes similarly captures the alertness of their subject while the light hatching of lines beyond them as all we need to see in order to be transported to the Serengeti.

Standing just inside the hall on the right is Fight, a beautifully raw piece, accompanied by a poem by Wolfgang entitled Rutting that equally captures the rawness of animal life in the wild.

Watched over by a 3D salamander also created by Lash, this is a wonderfully evocative selection of art guaranteed to capture the hearts of wildlife lowers.

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• The Glinka Gallery (Seaforth, rated Adult)