It’s been several months since my last visit to Eulennest Restaurant-Gallery in Second Life. However, I was drawn back following an invitation from Owl Dragonash – who is helping in matter of promoting the gallery – to pay a visit to the current exhibition, which opened earlier in January 2022.
Entitled Owls, the exhibition features a set of pictures by CK Ballyhoo, all with a common theme, as she explains:
I love owls. I love how they are inspirational to so many people and have significance in many different cultures. How they are creatures of wisdom, vigilance, fortune and also death.
Inspired by the offer of doing an exposition at Eulennest (Owls Nest in German), the theme of Owls was not a large jump to make. I’ve had a few owl pictures, taken at sims in the past, in my inventory for a long time and also objects of owls made by several people in SL. Also, my first try of making animated pictures is that of an owl flying past the Moon.
– CK Ballyhoo on Owls
Eulennest: Owls by CK Ballyhoo
Using images taken from around Second Life – either those where owls were present or where CK could rez her own – these are images that have undergone processing to give the appearance of having been painted, adding to their personal nature. Supporting the images are a series of sculptures and models of owls – some of which are featured in the images – adding to the tone of the theme of the exhibition.
While small in number (Eulennest is a small exhibition space that makes for an easy visit, with much to commend to the eye in the region around it, as I’ve previously noted), the paints included in Owls still makes for an easy, engaging visit.
The Free MuseumI recently received an invitation from Haiku Quan to pay a visit to The Free Museum, an art gallery she has established and curates in the Mainland continent of Satori with a rather unique approach to encouraging an appreciation of art within Second Life.
The gallery presents a collection of (currently) over 70 pieces of art from 2D and 3D artists from across Second Life that Haiku has collected from their artists with the open intention of offering them free-of-charge to anyone who would like a copy for their personal collection, as she noted to me:
Visitors to the museum are welcome to take a free copy of each and every work exhibited. There is nothing for sale or any solicitations at all. This is simply my way of giving back to the people of Second Life who make it such a fascinating world, and so that everyone can discover the artists who are creating these beautiful and provocative works.
– Haiku Quan
The Free Museum
Thus, the gallery presents works by the likes of Alpha Auer, Blip mumfuzz, Bryn Oh, Cica Ghost, Cherry Manga, Melusina Parkin, Milena Carbone, Nessuno Myoo, Thus Yootz, Xia Chieng, with each artist presenting one or two pieces for inclusion within the gallery’s spacious building.
Given this, the art on display is richly diverse in terms of subject, style, and artist. From avatar studies to Second Life landscapes to pieces created in the physical world, together with sculptures an pieces from well-known installations as well as standalone pieces, the gallery offers a genuine immersion into the richly diverse world of art in Second Life, ideal for those seeking an engaging introduction to art in Second Life.
The Free Museum
My goal is to attract people who never go to art galleries and never think of owning anything called ‘art’. I want to tempt those folks into taking these creations home where they can begin working their magic, day by day expanding their tastes and opening their eyes to how much fine art can enrich their lives.
– Haiku Quan
To help with this idea of presenting an introduction to the world of art in SL, Haiku has ensured that each piece available through the gallery is supplied within information / a biography on / of the artist, together with a landmark to any principal gallery / studio the artist has in-world, so that more of their work can be appreciated and purchased.
I purchase the right to do this directly from the artists, and agree never to sell their works or to profit from them in any way. And the artists are perfectly free to continue to show and sell their works as they always have. The artists are even free to withdraw their works from the museum at any time without reimbursing me.
– Haiku Quan
The Free Museum
In addition, Haiku has also taken care to ensure the generosity of the artists she contacts and the art she presents is not in any way abused: pieces are provided with No Transfer perms, preventing unfair further distribution.
I asked Haiku what inspired her to create the Museum – and her response was simple and honest:
Because the whole idea of a free museum is new to all of us. I hope it expands the market for the artists, but I honestly don’t know if it will. Nobody does. But it seems like an idea worth trying.
– Haiku Quan
The Free Museum
All of which makes for an engaging and worthwhile visit for anyone interested in art within – and beyond – Second Life. A visit I would recommend.
In December 2021, I wrote about Eskol, Morlita Quan’s art and event space in Second Life (see: Eskol: music, art and sound (& a photo contest) in Second Life). Within that piece, and as referenced in its title, the review also included information on the Eskol Photo Contest Morlita was running through December to the start of January.
On offer was a single prize of L$5.000 to be awarded to a single winner, as judged by a panel of three judges – Morlita, Lanjran Choche and myself. To enter, photographers could submit up to two images taking using one of the six photo booths Morlita had set-up specifically for the contest.
Eskol Gallery: Eskol Photo Contest – one of the 6 photo booths
In all 12 photographers submitted entries, comprising Mo Trill (1 image), Mystera Bloodbane-Ragnarok (Mysteria0402 – 2 images), Lucid (Photodoll77 – 2 images), Rya Santana (2 images), 4pril Resident (1 image), WuWai Chun (2 images), 04Noir (C1haos Resident- 2 images), 01NoirA Resident (1 images), Allanpoee Resident (2 images), Cielo Negro (Cielonegro Avril – 2 images), Néstor (NestorXX Resident – 1 image), and Iono Allen (1 image).
Each of the six booths offered its own setting in which pictures could be set and framed, and photographers could dress them as desired, and entrants submitting two photos could either take them in one of the booths or use two booths.
Eskol Gallery: Eskol Photo Contest – Allan Poe and Cielo Negro
Unsurprisingly, most of the photographers opted to concentrate avatar-centric studies for their entries, with only a couple avoiding avatars entirely. Not that focusing on avatars lessened any of the entries; rather the reverse in fact: several presented very unique uses of the avatar and / or unique perspectives on a particular booth and avatar (as is the case with WuWai Chun’s Eskol 1 entry). whilst Iono Allen chose to offer a moment from a certain iconic 1969 motion picture (or as the director referred to it, “the proverbial good science fiction movie”).
While I cannot speak for the other members of the panel, I approached judging the submitted pieces on a set of criteria I’d settled upon before seeing any of them: composition (use of space, colour, lighting), framing, originality and narrative. However, given we all three each came up with a selection of seven initial finalists that were somewhat similar, I’d say we all used similar criteria. And certainly, the winning entry, C1haos Resident’s Eskol 2 was a piece we would all agree on as being a worthy winner.
Eskol Gallery: Eskol Photo Contest – WuWia Chun and C1haos Resident
Currently, all of the entries are on display at Morlita’s main Eskol Gallery, and will be until early February, so why not pop along and judge them for yourself?
In November 2011, I wrote about an intriguing exhibition of images by Guille (Antoronta) entitled Unseen Beauty, held at the Annexe of the Limoncello gallery. It was one of the the most unusual, engaging and informative exhibitions of photographic art I’d witnessed during the year, taking us as it did on a journey into the world of the microscopic (see: The art and beauty of the microscopic in Second Life).
While (at the time of writing) that exhibition is still open), I’ll delighted to say that the Desiderartum Gallery, managed by Peru Venom is hosting what might be regarded as the “part two” of a display of Guille’s work, in the form of Invisible Beauty, which formally opened on January 10th, 2022 (and my apologies to Guille for not being able to attend the opening in person).
Desiderartum Gallery: Guille – Invisible Beauty
The virtual incarnation of Antonio Guillén, Guille is a doctor in Biology and professor of Natural Sciences, whose background is as fascinating as his art, given his research projects span the environment, microbiology and astrobiology. He also has a refreshing – almost holistic, one might say – perspective on art and science in which the two interact with one another sans borders, informing one another and helping to jointly educate students and the public at large.
In particular, and given his professional focus on the microscopic, he has become a noted photographer-artist who captures the tiny worlds of micro-organisms – bacteria, fungi, archaea and protists – in all their exquisite beauty. And by “noted”, I mean precisely that not only has his photography been exhibited across his native Spain – including the National Museum of Natural Sciences, Madrid -, it has also garnered awards such as Spain’s National Prize for Scientific Photography and the Giner de los Ríos Prize, the country’s most prestigious educational award. In addition, his project The Hidden Life of Water received the first world award at a Google Science Fair (2012).
Desiderartum Gallery: Guille – Invisible Beauty
As I noted in November 2021, Guille’s work doesn’t just present images of these incredible, tiny and diverse living organisms, it takes us on a journey into their worlds, the images revealing them individually or collectively in the the most amazing detail, while the texts he has supplied to go with the images (obtained by clicking the title card either below or to the right of each image) reveal more of the realities of these micro-organisms – and not in in dry, scientific terms that are starved of emotion. Rather, Guille’s descriptions are wonderfully fluid, descriptive and in places poetic. It thus offers further life to the tiny creations his microscope has captured in still form, whiles also underscoring his belief that art and science should freely interact.
Like most of the algae of the desmids family “Euastrum” it seems to look at itself in a mirror creating a pair of green Siamese joined by the same heart in a game of symmetry in which survival today and that of the future are bathed of this simple and intense beauty.
A thick transparent layer, adorned with winding valleys, spines or sculpted buttons and made with cellulose and pectin protects the body from these beautiful algae and helps them to float and move slowly both floating and on the bottoms where they live.
Guille’s sparkling description of the supernova-like Euastrum Verrucosum
Split across the two levels of the gallery building, Invisible Beauty mixes some of the images seen within Unseen Beauty with those specific to this exhibition, providing a natural overlap between the two, and making a visit to both a natural experience.
In addition to the journeys into the worlds of prokaryotes and eukaryotes presented by Unseen Beauty and Invisible Beauty, more of Guille’s work can be found on his Flickr stream, whilst in-world, his has – with the support and assistance of Kimika Ying – created El Universo en una Gota de Agua (“The Universe in a Drop of Water”). There, visitors can see more of Guille’s photography as well as learning about the history of the microscope and about the study of micro-organisms – and even enter their world, where a human hair offered at a scale to represent its magnification by a factor of 10,000 helps put all of this tiny life into perspective.
For the opening exhibition of 2022 at her Nitroglobus Roof Gallery, Dido Haas brings us Mindscapes, a celebration of the humble prim by Moki Yuitza. Featuring both 2D and 3D elements, this is an engaging, joyous exhibition, which is best introduced by Moki herself:
SL is a virtual world in which everything is possible; space is a mathematical/mental construction in which anything we can conceive can be realised. When I was young, I loved building everything that popped into my head with coloured bricks, and here in SL I used the same basic bricks which were available to give substance to my mental spaces; landscapes, formed just with simple prims in which we as avatars, giving it body and dimension [because] one is meaningless without the other.
– Moki Yuitza on Mindscapes
Mindscapes can be very broadly split into two parts. On, over, and under the transparent floor is the 3D element: prims ranging from the relatively small to the extremely large, some apparently jumbled together, others arranged to form patterns and objects or stacked into columns. Around the walls, meanwhile, is a series of 2D images by Moki, presented in the traditional large format used at Nitroglobus.
The latter most clearly offer a visual representation of our avatar-based relationship with prims. Offered as primarily black-and-while / monochrome pieces, the 2D elements used the shapes and forms present within several of the 3D pieces within the gallery to present intriguing landscapes, rooms and situations from the seemingly simple – giant pyramids being looked upon by a couple of avatars -, through to almost alien landscapes filled with what might be giant spores or pollen, or spaces that seem to comprise random shards of light and dark through which two tiny avatars dance.
Colour plays a minimal role in these pieces, but where it is used, it is to great effect, emphasising the avatars through arms, hands, feet (and in one shot, the avatars directly). By using colour in this way, Moki both draws attention to the avatars, even if largely unseen, and thus the relationship we have with them when bringing this virtual world to life, whilst also equally emphasising the life and vitality we give to our avatars.
Through many of the images and the 3D elements, Moki also celebrates the mathematical dimension of shapes and space, a further outworking of the aspects of Second Life, design and art she notes within her introduction to Mindscapes.
Moki has a long and deservedly recognised reputation for producing installations and art that is richly expressive, engaging and thought-provoking. With Mindscapes she offers all of this and an exhibition that simply offers – as noted – a joyful celebration of the magic to be found within the humble prim.
Kondor Art Centre – Into the Future Gallery: Clau Dagger
January 6th 2022 saw the opening of Awakening, an exhibition of art by Clau Dagger, which is being held at the Into The Future Art Gallery, a part of the Kondor Art Centre, operated by Hermes Kondor.
Specialising in avatar studies, Clau is an artist photographer whose work I’ve not previously seen exhibited in-world, but who has – as this exhibition demonstrates – a talent for creating images that not only present her avatar, but offer an entire story within – and beyond – their frame. As someone who always tends to look for a narrative within a picture, this makes her work particularly fascinating to me.
Kondor Art Centre – Into the Future Gallery: Clau Dagger
Comprising over 30 images spread across the three levels of the gallery building, the art within Awakening presents an visually engaging mix of studies that are richly expressive in terms of their colour and presentation, and which offer a range of themes and stories. From “simple” pictures celebrating the seasons, through to those focused on fantasy, horror, science fiction and glamour, with dips into literature and film, this is a collection that will capture the eye and offer a richness of story that extends will beyond the framing of each picture on its own.
While there are many who practice the art of avatar study and in creating single-frame stories with their images; Clau’s work stands apart in the level of detail presented in each piece. From backdrop through props, to angle, framing, focus and pose, everything within each picture is brought together not just the create an image, but to create a world that lives beyond the limits of each image.
Kondor Art Centre – Into the Future Gallery: Clau Dagger
One aspect of this “larger than the frame” story aspect of Clau’s work is her conscious directing of her avatar’s eyes. Rather than looking out of the image towards the camera, Clau frequently directs her avatar’s gaze to a point off-camera, with the rest of her avatar’s pose set to suggest a reaction to something out-of-frame and entirely separate to the camera’s position. This gives these pieces – such as Ritual Night, Holy Gral [sic] and Cabell (as three examples) – a cinematic feel, we are caught in a moment of something wider, that were the camera pan around, we’d see more of the story and the action would resume.
Another factor that brings a number of these pieces to life is their richness of colour. Often with avatar studies, there is a tendency to tone down colour in post-processing an image, to add “natural” haze or “natural” light. While this is true in several of the pieces within this exhibit, there are also pieces here where the colour has either been left untouched or perhaps enhanced (e.g. Supernatural, Under the Holiday Tree, Spring Fae and Metamorphosis) that further intensifies their framing and story.
Kondor Art Centre – Into the Future Gallery: Clau Dagger
All of which makes for an exhibition that is genuinely worth visiting, one that lifts avatar studies to a new dimension of expression.
