Category: Art in Second Life

Currently open at Gallery 3 of Mareea Farrasco’s MAGOLand is Mindstorm, an exhibition of art by Bamboo Barnes which opened on October 6th, 2021.

Hailing from Japan, Bamboo is, as I’ve frequently noted, one of the most vibrant, evocative, provocative, and emotive artists displaying her work in Second Life. She is also an artist unafraid of plumbing the depth of emotion and introspection – and this is again true with Mindstorm, which presents a series of images she has been working on for “a few years”.

The best way to describe this exhibition is to perhaps use Bamboo’s own words:

When you are feeling low, isolated, misunderstood.
Look at your disturbed soul pretending it never hurts,
The ocean of the pain roar to sweep all the goodness from you so you can feel the bottom.
Like the wind and the tide, there are no keys to open the sea, keep you face over the surface to keep the breath.
When the sun is up your skin is dry, start feel it’s in the past, then life goes on, there’s another day.
Don’t know what will come tomorrow, beneath the surface there is mindstorm.

Bamboo Barnes, describing Mindstorm

Presented in Bamboo’s familiar bold colours, the 16 images within the exhibit are joined by a number of 3rd part 3D pieces she has also textured, which together offer very visual statements on state-of-mind / relationships, which through presentation and colour emphasis speak loudly to mood and feelings.

As introspective pieces, these might be seen – not incorrectly – as reflections of Bamboo’s moods. Again, and as I’ve note before, her work is strongly bound with her mood, whether drawn directly from the emotions of life or as a result of the music to which she is listening while creating a piece. However, and as her own notes for the exhibition state, these are pieces to which anyone who has weathered feelings of isolation – not so much as a result of the on-going pandemic, but due to circumstances of life such as the ending of a relationship or an (obtuse?) misunderstanding directed towards you or the hurt inflected by the actions or words of another, and so on –  can identify.

I’m not sure how long Mindstorm is set to run, but I do recommend it as an exhibition worthy of seeing.

SLurl Details

Please use the teleport disk from the landing point below to reach the gallery.

• Mindstorm, IMAGO Gallery 3 (Broken Arrow, rated Moderate)

Currently open at Feint and Bone, the immersive arts environment operated by Flower Rainforest and Tarhai Breen and curated by Bryn Oh, is Lifted, an environment by Kirumi Yoshikawa and Berkeley Burnstein that offers a lot to see – and to interpret; a place where apocalypse meets the realm of digital uploads.

The city of Korrosion was always pulsating with one Bass or another. One day while traversing the Galactic Meta, Rumi might have acquired more than anticipated with a new pet. She didn’t get the full instructions and the biggest no-no was NO BASS. Guess what ? We had BASS and it let the little pet she found grow to an unmanageable size. Bass was outgrowing the hunger so the city fell little by little, slipped into the sea. Uploading was the city’s last resort for preservation and this is where we are today; mid-upload while Rumi’s little pet devours the remains of the city.

– Kirumi and Berkeley describing Lifted

Thus visitors are placed in a midnight setting that exists partially on land, partially under water and partially in the sky; individual island and vignettes interconnected by teleporters that take the form of closet mirrors – at least two at each location throughout the installation – that offer their own path through the story; although, as the artists note, those who prefer can walk through the region on their own voyage of discovery.

The landing point provides four of these teleporters, offering the most direct way to get around – but note that they may not deliver you fully into the next scene. Where this is the case arrows flicker along the ground may point you in the desired direction, indicators that are also useful for those exploring on foot.

The individual vignettes vary widely: one offers the remnants of the city mentioned in the description, buildings canted or sinking into the waters, kraken-like tentacles rising up through streets and structures; are these part of the oversized “pet” that brought doom onto the city, or do they belong to something else? The other vignettes offer gardens that lie under the waves, protected by domes, or which float in the sky, pulsating with light, whilst some bridge the space between in the air and under the water.

What we make of these environments is a matter for individual interpretation. Some may well be parts of the failing city; others recreations sitting within the digital domain. Still others, gardens and buildings both, appear to be caught in the upload process – solid in form, but blue lines of light pulsating up into the sky like binary notations of their form moving from the physical to the virtual.

This idea of transformation sits further in the mirror teleporters. As well as offering a means to move through the installation’s vignettes, they present – as the artists note – a means of reflection. We stand before them in a “physical” form, and see within them an image of ourselves; thus they mirror, as it were, the idea of transformation as embodied within the installation’s story.

Overlaid with a subtle rumble of bass that is again in keeping with the central  theme of the installation and rich in colour and

SLurl Details

• Lifted (Feint and Bone, rated General)

Carelyna’s All 4 Art Gallery is currently hosting an untitled ensemble exhibition designed to showcase the work of those artists who have exhibited at the gallery during the 2019 and 2020 seasons. As such, it presents 2D and 3D pieces from an incredible 49 individual artists – probably the largest exhibition of art I’ve seen in Second Life gathered under a single roof.

Such is the range of art on offer, this exhibition presents an excellent opportunity by which those curious about art in Second Life but who might not be overly familiar as to how broad a subject it is, can dip their toes in the the water by hopping along and simply appreciating all that is on display. Similarly, for those who might be more familiar with art in Second life, it is perhaps an opportunity to gain an introduction to some artists who may not be as familiar as others, and to appreciate individual styles. And with the majority of the pieces offered at L$0, the exhibition also presents the means for people to start collections for their private enjoyment.

I generally try to avoid listing participating artists in so large an ensemble, as doing so too easily comes over as a litany of names to take up a word-count. But the range of art offered within this exhibition is extraordinary, so it is  – without any favouritism at all intended – worth mentioning some in terms of the genres one can find within the gallery.

So, for example, from the world of Second Life landscapes there are piece by Carelyna herself, Carisa Franizzi, Mareea Farrasco and RoseHanry, whilst among the digital art on display one can find works by Isabel Hermano, Mentat Immelman,and Etamae, whilst 3D artists are represented by the likes of Pol jarvinen, Harry Cover (impossibleisnotfrench) and Haveit Neox, and physical world art is presented by pieces from JudiLynn India, Zia Branner, and April (agleo Runningbear). And all of this barely scratches at a list that also includes Thus Yootz, Mara Telling, Bamboo Barnes, Moya, and more, further presenting opportunities for artistic discovery.

Given the exhibition does present so many artists – each of whom is represented by at least one piece on display –  the range of styles and approaches to the works present and in their subject matter is equally as broad. However, walking through the halls of the gallery (or more correctly, flycamming, as is my wont!), I was struck by the lack of avatar-centric studies. Yes, there are a couple, and there are also some pieces in which avatars are present – but they are not necessarily the central element within those pieces.

I offer this observation not as a complaint, but rather to underline what has perhaps been a careful consideration in curating this exhibit, because – and being perfectly blunt – when included in ensemble exhibitions, avatar studies can be so powerful (and often large) in form, then simply overwhelm the rest of an exhibition; we tend yo be intrinsically drawn to them and spend (in comparison to other pieces that may be on display) an inordinate amount of time studying them. However, within this All4Art exhibition there is no such lop-sidedness in how our attention is focused; rather, this is an exhibition where the eye can easily flow from picture to picture, giving each an equal measure of consideration in accordance with our eyes and preference.

Rich in contrasts and content, offered in a gallery space that offers the room in which they can be appreciated, this is an exhibition to be savoured.

SLurl Details

• All4Art Gallery (Shamone, rated Moderate)

Update, June 27th, 2022: Art Korner has Closed.

Currently open at Frank Atisso’s Art Korner through until October 25th, 2021, is Shades of Eo, a selection of art by Eoleon Elcano. Spread across the two levels of the exhibition space, it is a themed display of art focused on the the seasons of autumn and winter and the days, rich in golden hues or cossetted by white blankets of snow or cast in the greys that we so often associated with either season.

Within the space, the lower display area is given over to autumn. The floor of the hall is textured in grass topped by a patina-like spread of fallen leaves, whilst corner trees carry browned leaves and share their space with pumpkins to further help slip the mind and eye into an autumnal frame. The images themselves are rich in that aforementioned golden brown hue reflective of the time of month, although one or two could perhaps topple into the days of a late summer, depending on one’s personal take.

Reached via individual stairways but adjoining one another are the upper halls of the exhibition space, each offering individual collections of Eo’s art.  One is devoted to the winter months, five of the images rendered in soft tones and colours we tend to associate with the winter months: white, grey, blue; they sit within a hall in which snow falls to blanket the floor. Primarily landscapes, these five images are dominated by a sixth that spans one entire length of wall in a panoramic format I have not seen since Ziki Questi ceased exhibiting in Second Life. It is a genuinely magnificent piece entitled Winter Melodies, which carries with it a greater warmth of colour courtesy of a lowering Sun that forms something of a visual bridge between this hall and the autumnal display below.

All of the pieces across these two halls evocatively denote the time of year they represent. Each is individually styled through technique (such as the considered use of vignettes in some) and finish to evoke an emotional response in keeping with that time of year. Each carries within in a single-frame story as they catch a moment in time, a story to which we can also relate. But there is also something more within them as well; whilst the theme of this collection may well be that of the seasons and their shades, so too might they be said to carry hints of Eo herself, something hinted through the exhibition’s title.

Eo describes herself as “socially incompatible”, a term that suggests she is perhaps more comfortable with her own company or that of very close friends she has come to trust over the passage of time rather than with broader acquaintances; yet at the same time, there is perhaps that desire that comes upon us all at times to be freer in the company of others – or at least with someone we can regard as particular special. This sense of separation of self from others and the associated longing might be found within several of the images within both the “autumn” and “winter” halls of the exhibition.

Holding You, for example appears to be celebrating the autumnal (and often solo) pursuit  of kite-flying, it also suggests that yearning to have someone close, but being unable to bridge that last (self-imposed?) gap that forces separation. On the neighbouring wall, A Symphony of Solitude, we have a story of someone both at home within her solitude as she walks a sandy shore as the evening draws in, and also an image – courtesy of the long shadow stretched over the sand at an angle suggestive that it is leading her – that hints at a desire to share the moment with another.  Within the “winter” hall, similar subtexts might be found with both Winter Melodies and I Hold You.

However, this reflection of self really comes to the fore in the second of the upper floor halls, where eight monochrome images are to be found while are almost physically striking, they are so emotionally charged.

Given this, and if possible, I would recommend this selection of Eo’s work is viewed after the “autumn” and “winter” displays, simply because it is so rich in personal narrative (to achieve this, take the stairs closer to the eastern side of the gallery hall when moving to the upper levels). With the exception of Neverending Sakura Tales, the depth of personal feeling presented within each of these works is so beautifully mixed with their monochrome nature and composition that it is hard not to be completely captivated by each one, marking this selection very much as a exhibit in its own right.

Perfect in composition and presentation, rich in narrative and layered in interpretation / meaning, Shades of Eo is a magnificent exhibition of art and self.

SLURL DETAILS

• Shades of Eo, Art Korner (Deju, rated Moderate)

3D artist London Junkers is a 3D artist unafraid to offer art and thoughts on a broad canvas (so to speak) that encompasses subjects as diverse as the horrors of war (see: Picasso in 3D – Guernica at LEA) to the likes of the history of aviation (see: To Slip the Surly Bonds of Earth…). Currently within Second Life he has two installations that stand as celebrations of American literature, one of which recently opened, and the other of which is likely to be approaching the end of its run, and so might be vanishing in the very near future.

The latter of these two installations is Marking the Twain, a celebration of the life of Samuel L. Clemens, the typesetter turned  Mississippi riverboat pilot turned journalist who would become one of America’s most famous writers using the pen-name he appropriated from his days days as a riverboat pilot and under which he is lauded as “the greatest humourist the United States has produced”, Mark Twain.

This is an installation that is both elegantly simple in approach whilst also wrapping within it some very rich imagery, comprising four major parts. The first is at the entrance, where London has penned a story that might have between written by Clemens himself, a telling of the most popular tale of how he came by his pen-name from the practice of  tossing a weight on the end of line to measure (mark) the depth of water beneath a riverboat to ensure it did not become less than the two fathoms (the “twain” – equivalent to 12ft) laden boats tended to require to avoid running aground.

Whether this is true or not is hard to tell – Clemens himself claimed he appropriated the name from Captain Isaiah Sellers the “most respected, esteemed, and revered” riverboat captain on the Mississippi, following the latter’s death in 1863, and who had used it to sign reports on the river’s general condition. But howsoever Clemens came by the name, London’s story is a worthy read.

Beyond the plinths carrying the neatly penned story, a stern wheeled steamer of the kind Clemens would have piloted up and down the great Mississippi River rises from the river’s waters on a powerful blast of air whilst a giant pen dribbles into into the river to form letters that drift on the water beneath the boat’s flat bottom. Together, both flying boat and the dribbling pen and its letters offer metaphors for the two major halves (in his own eyes) of Clemens’ life: his time as a fully qualified riverboat pilot, a career he had dreamed of since his boyhood in Missouri, and his most famous years as the writer Mark Twain.

On the deck of the boat – and able to be reached by ramp offered as a swirling tail of the wail that has lifted it into the air – is the tall, stout figure of Clemens himself. He stands, staring into the face of the wind as it carries his boat aloft, in the white suit and homburg hat that became his trademark dress in later life, whilst clutched between teeth and lips hangs a clay pipe rather than the cigar we might usually associate with him.

Thus the figure, whilst not a metaphor, is offered as a composite to further mark these two sides of his life: the suit marking him as the well-established humourist and writer, Mark Twain, the clay pipe harking to his time as riverboat pilot Clemens.

The final part element of the installation can be found in two parts that directly reference Twain the writer.

The first part is perhaps the easiest to understand. On the bank of the river, and seemingly oblivious to the boat’s airborne passage, sits a boy – “Huck Sawyer”  – quietly fishing. He is by name and nature a conglomerate representation of the two major characters from Twain’s most famous works of fiction. Less obvious, perhaps, is the frog that sits alongside the figure of Clemens/Twain on the deck of the boat. Looking a tad dapper in his top hat and bow tie, he has three three small round pellets before him and while he might look to be merely a piece of decoration, he is not.

For both frog and the pellets reference Jim Smiley and His Jumping Frog, a humorous story Twain first saw published to a good deal of acclaim in the New York Saturday Post in November 1865. Less than a month later (possibly to greater acclaim) it appeared under the title The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County by The Californian (Calaveras being a county in California). Most significantly of all, perhaps, is the story of the frog became the anchor for Twain’s first full-length book, published in 1867. As such, the presence of the frog and the pellets neatly round-out this celebration of Twain’s life.

Meanwhile at the newly-opened  Kuidvis Art Space, London presents The Thunderous Train of Air, another celebration, this time of the life and works of American poet, author and teacher, Ruth Stone.

Again an installation of elegant in its simplicity, this installation takes as its title and encompasses within it the story Stone told journalist Elizabeth Gilbert as to her inspiration as poet, and which Gilbert in turn related thus during a TED talk in 2009, not long before Stone passed away:

As [Stone] was growing up in rural Virginia, she would be out, working in the fields and she would feel and hear a poem coming at her from over the landscape. It was like a thunderous train of air and it would come barrelling down at her over the landscape. And when she felt it coming . . . ’cause it would shake the earth under her feet, she knew she had only one thing to do at that point. That was to, in her words, “run like hell” to the house as she would be chased by this poem.

Thus, The Thunderous Train of Air offers a scene set within a open field sitting beneath a sunlit sky, the rural piece of which has been shattered by the drive of wind and the arrival of a great steam train, tracks and all, charging through the crop, driving the young figure of Ruth Stone before it as she desperately chases pens and writing book as they are carried in the wind before her, so she might capture the words as they reach her and set them down indelibly in ink.

The proximity of the train to the running figure perfectly  encapsulates Stone’s acknowledgement that when the inspiration came, she would sometimes succeed in her race for home and pens and paper, and capture the words of the poem, whilst other times would see the inspiration “barrel through [her] and continue on across the landscape looking for another poet”.

Nor is the train alone as a representation of creativity. To one side of the installation a tornado-like tower of air turns, a single book at its base,. It carries with it the image of the whirlwind rush, even when home safe, and with pen in hand and paper on table, to get the words down in the order they desire, before their memory fades entirely.

Close to this tornado sits a small stage and a microphone, perhaps metaphors for her time as a teacher and the fact that her poetry has one of the most unique voices of the modern age, combining as it does imagery from the natural sciences with a broader non-scientific intellectualism in a complex, and at times philosophical, dynamic.

And be sure to touch the book at the base of the tornado’s funnel, it offers a poem by London, a beautifully written homage to Stone and her poetry.

Both Marking the Twain and The Thunderous Train of Air are presented as monochrome pieces that adds depth to their reflections on the two writers and their writing. They are also installations that should preferably be seen under their intended environment settings and with both Advanced Lighting Model (Preferences → Graphics → check Advanced Lighting Model) and local sounds enabled for the greatest sense of immersion.

SLurl Details

• Marking The Twain, UASL (Karpov, rated Moderate)
• The Thunderous Train of Air,  Kuidvis Art Space (Omael, rated Adult)