Open through until Saturday, February 13th at the Konecta Art Gallery, operated by Gonzalo Osuna (Jon Rain), is a selection of art by the talented Isle Biedermann. Occupying the lower floor of the gallery, the exhibition presents 20 pieces of Isle’s work under the title Landscapes and Still Lifes, although I do not think it unfair to say the bias of the images leans somewhat to the former.
These are elegant pieces shot from around Second Life – although some have that certain depth about their subject matter that at a casual glance, they appear to have originated in the physical world. Take Bayou 1, Goatswood, Tea Time and Goatswood Churchyard as examples of this. Others are particularly evocative in the story they offer – just take Time Travellers Club Guestbook as an example of this: whom do the names on the page belong to? Where (or indeed, when, give the nature of the book’s title, did they come from or go to?
Konecta Art Gallery: Isle Biedermann
Staying with the book theme, one can almost sense the spirit of Hercule Poirot or perhaps Jane Marple hovering at the edges of Crime and Punishment, the soft colours suggestive of the calm before the discovery of a terrible act forewarned by the book dropped on the floor…
Other pieces among the selection beautifully capture the season and / or Nature’s many faces; Windmill in the Snow and La Digue particularly captivate here, the former for its depiction of the perfect walk on a crisp winter’s day, the latter for the manner in which we can almost feel the fading warmth of the lowering Sun and scent the promise of rain in the evening’s air.
Konecta Art Gallery: Isle Biedermann
Indeed, such is the depth of all of these pieces, we’re left with a feeling that they are not so much here to be enjoyed, but entered into and experienced; that more than images, they are gateways to the worlds Isle has witnessed, offering us the chance to step through them and witness those worlds first-hand. Offered for sale at an exceptionally modest price, they are pieces waiting to grace any Second life home or form a part of any private collection. Definitely not an exhibition to miss.
And whilst on the subject of collections, when visiting the gallery, do be sure to pop upstairs, where Gonzalo is displaying pieces from his personal collection of Second Life art.
Kondor Art Garden, Dialogue Exhibition by Artemis and Hermes
I was back at the Kondor Art Centre, operated and curated by Hermes Kondor, just a few days after witnessing and writing about Melusina Parkin’s Lockdown and Hope (see here for more). The occasion for such a reasonably quick return was the opening of a new exhibition.
Located in the Art Garden at Kondor Art Centre, Dialogue Exhibition by Artemis and Hermes presents the remarkable sculptures of Artemis (ArtemisGreece) displayed alongside Hermes’ art.
It’s a part of my desire to create a place for different Art and Cultural expressions – music, art, conferences, readings, and more; a garden display of Artemis’ sculptures and my photographic interpretations of them.
Hermes Kondor
Kondor Art Garden, Dialogue Exhibition by Artemis and Hermes
Hailing from Greece, Artemis was attracted to Second Life due to it many opportunities for creativity and expression. She initially found an outlet building houses, but wanted to be more expressive. Whilst not a trained artist, she taught herself to use tools like PhotoShop and Blender, and moved to producing and selling sculptures and 3D designs, developing a portfolio of work, ranging, encompassing everything from neo-classical pieces through to humorous pieces (yes, you can have a farm cat riding bicycle!) and figures of musicians, as well as more general items – frames, cushions, etc.
For this exhibition we are presented with eight individual pieces that brings together elements of her work that lean toward neo-classical pieces that appear to be cast from brass, and figurines that look to have been cast and painted, to a complete set of her Chamber Orchestra collection.
Kondor Art Garden, Dialogue Exhibition by Artemis and Hermes
These are genuinely marvellous pieces, many encompassing themes, ideas and or statements, some animated to add depth to their story / increase appreciation of their form. All are offered for sale to those who wish to purchase them. And believe me when I say these are pieces that will grace almost any setting; so much so, I could not resist obtaining a copy of Woman Makes The World Go Round for our garden; while those seeking something a little more special, Artemis presents an exclusive twin set Out of the Box.
Partnering the sculptures are ten pieces of Hermes’ digital art, rendered with his use of Second Life’s wireframe mode (see: Behind the Scenes in Second Life), but here given additional depth through an expressive use of colour.
Some of these images are placed as a backdrop to the sculpture they represent, as is the case with, for example Artemis Sculptures – 010 and Artemis Sculptures – 026; others stand a little more apart from their inspiration – but all of them a depth of narrative to accompany the pieces they represent. Artemis Sculptures – 010, for example, tells the story of how a dancer is inspired by the figure of The Ballerina, while Artemis Sculptures – 021 brings together a tale of Artemis’ Chamber Orchestra playing for the benefit of her Dancing Couple, in a tale of music, dance and romance.
Kondor Art Garden, Dialogue Exhibition by Artemis and Hermes
Individually, Artemis’ sculptures and Hermes’ art are each captivating to witness and appreciate; together they make for an enchanting exhibition that should not be missed – and don’t forget the telephone station connecting the art garden with the rest of the Kondor Art Centre.
LIV (Raging Bellls) recently expanding her Raging Graphix Gallery with a new skybox exhibition area featuring a special exhibition by the master of psychedelic art, ZackHerrMann.
Hailing from France, Zack has a passion for art that dates back to his early years, and which has been influenced in a wide variety of ways – including by the likes of Marvel comics, the performance artistry oft found within LGBTQ communities and within the rock music scene. He studies art of a number of years, and had hoped to specialism, but freely admits higher education in art (as with all subjects) can be prohibitively expensive.
Raging Graphix Sky Gallery: Zack Herr Mann
As a result, he became very much self-taught in terms of developing his own style and approach to art, as he also notes with disarming candour, touching on some of the influences on his work as noted above:
So, I started to discover night life, especially in the LGBT Community, touching on the worlds of drag queens and other creatures of the universe. Then I discovered the power of creation using a computer and graphics tablet, using PhotoShop. with these tools I felt reborn, free to recreate a persona based on a childhood character I made called Linda Cluster. This persona is a celebration of all that I love about the rock music culture, and is a nod to the musical artists I admire: Nina Hagen, Kate Bush, Cyndi Lauper, Bjork, and so on.
It is Linda Cluster’s work that I focus on presenting in SL, because its probably the more advanced works that I’ve done in RL.
ZackHerrMan discussing his work
The result of all of this are pieces that are rich and vibrant, frequently animated and carry a wonderful depth and life. wtached over by a figure whom I assume is a representation of Linda Cluster.
Raging Graphix Sky Gallery: Zack Herr Mann
Within the skybox at Raging Graphix, all of this is marvellously brought into focus. The two-roomed are is not large but it perfect for housing the selection of art Zack displays.
These are pieces which – while “psychedelic” might be the term he uses to describe himself and which are vital in their colour and depth – also carry within then themes that might also be considered spiritual and / or cosmic. Within them are pieces that suggest living mandalas, whilst other perhaps suggest the tree of life, whilst other contain heavenly (as in cosmic rather than religious) themes.
An important not to keep in mind when visiting is that Zack makes extensive use of projectors to give some of his pieces their depth. As such, if you are to fully appreciate attending this exhibition, it is essential you have Preferences → Graphics → Advanced Lighting Model enabled (you do not need to enabled shadow rendering as well, so the performance hit shouldn’t be too great).
Raging Graphix Sky Gallery: Zack Herr Mann
A visually impressive and and engaging exhibition.
Idrial Difference (Idrial Ghost) is the owner of, and creator for, _-FAS-_, the store of plants & fantasy avatar attachments inspired by nature. He is also a 2D and 3D artist, and his most recent exhibition recently opened at The Glinka Gallery, operated and curated by Wolfgang Glinka.
Lockdown Botanica is a series of images from the physical world he produced during 2020’s first pandemic lockdown period, mixed with some of his 3D mesh creations.
As the title of the exhibition might suggest, the images presented within the exhibit are all of plants, flowers, leaves, fruit and – with one piece – birds. All are beautifully presented in soft watercolours, with the majority of the pieces focused on a single fruit or flower that is presented against a pure white background that encourages the eye to focus purely on the shape and colour of the subject without any distraction.
The Glinka Gallery: Lockdown Botanica
This approach elevates each piece from being a simple painting of a fruit or flower to being akin to a portrait as engaging as any portrait of a person or avatar, with the subtleties of form and colour playing as important a part in defining each subject as readily as the lines and expression on a face in a human portrait.
The two exceptions to this approach are Grapes Portrait, and Garden Tales. Both are again offered with plain white backgrounds, directing the eye and mind to focus on their subjects, the small grouping of the former giving a suggestion of life through its familiar depiction of grapes, the latter clearly suggestive of life and vitality through the presence of the two Cyanistes caeruleus.
Whwn viewing these pieces, with their lone focus on a specific item, rather than depicting each as sprays of flowers in a vase or a selection of fruits in a bowl, that brings to mind thoughts of the lockdown in which they were created. There is a sense of isolation and separation about each piece that is reflective of the sense of being separated from friends and family. Again, in this, both Grapes Portrait and Garden Tales stand a little apart, offering a view of times in the future when we will again be able to gather together with friends (Grapes Portrait) or spend time with someone we hold particularly close, but have been unable to see (Garden Tales).
The Glinka Gallery: Lockdown Botanica
Rounded out by 3D cacti, water lilies, tree stumps and more (make sure you touch the eggplant for a gift), Lockdown Botanica is an engaging exhibition by a creator and artist.
The Edge is Kultivate Magazine’s gallery space specialising in black-and-white photography exhibitions, generally hosting ensemble art displays by artists responding to calls for artists that are periodically announced by the Kultivate team.
Sunday, January 17th marks the first such exhibition at the gallery for 2021, featuring artists Jessamine2108, Maaddi, Eucalyptus Carroll, Johannes Huntsman, Moora McMillan, Blues Rocker, Tempest Rosca, Jamee Sandalwood, Veruca Tammas, Vita Theas and Myra Wildmist.
Kultivate The Edge: Veruca TammasAs tends to be the case with ensemble exhibitions, the art is wide-ranging in subject matter, featuring avatar studies, reflections on SL art, landscapes, and more. The majority of the artists are familiar to me, and and individuals whose work I always appreciate seeing – although I admit that both Maaddi and Moora are two artists whose work I cannot recall having previously witnessed – and I admit that I found the three pieces presented by Moora attractive in both their subject matter and presentation; Path Near the Sea in particular.
One of the aspects of monochrome photography I particularly like is the matter in which it can add a depth of life to a image, often more so than if the image had been produced in colour. In the latter the subtleties within an image can sometimes be overlooked as the eye is drawn to admire the way colours have been used or blended; within a monochrome piece, the use of light and dark, whilst obviously presenting contrasts, tends to allow those subtleties to be gently teased to the fore.
Kultivate The Edge: Jamee Sandalwood
This is certainly the case with the majority of the images here, so much so that singling any out is a little unfair, however, I do admit to fining Jamee’s and Tempest’s pieces to particularly demonstrate this. The central image of Tempest’s trio for example, appears to have been pulled from the physical world; had it been in colour, there is a genuine possibility that even allowing for post-processing, its avatarian origins would be apparent.
The one exception to the general themes offered through this exhibition is from Johannes Huntsman. John is an artist who never fails to impress as he constantly seeks to broaden both his art and his technique. Here he presents four pieces that he has simply called his Geometric Collection, but which carry within them a strong vein of cubism with a measure of abstraction, making them an engaging selection which – and in difference to my comments above regarding the power of monochrome images – would be as engaging were they in colour; so much so, that I look forward to seeing more of John’s experiments in this style of art.
Kultivate The Edge: Johannes Huntsman
But really, all the artists in this ensemble deserve recognition for the pieces they have selected for this exhibition – as you’ll be able to see for yourself in the coming month, or indeed at the formal opening of the exhibition, which takes place at 13:00 SLT on Sunday, January 17th, within the gallery.
Melusina Parkin opened her latest exhibition in Second Life Life on Thursday, January 14th at the Kondor Art Centre’s White Gallery.
Lockdown and Hope is a highly topical selection of art by Melu that takes as a part of its theme – as the name implies – something that remains on a lot of people’s minds as we roll on into 2021: the situation around the continuing threat of the SARS-CoV-2 virus / COVID-19, and the continuing grind, for so many of us, of being in a lockdown situation that brings limited opportunities to get out, interact with others or do the things we really want to do.
Melusina Parkin: Hope (v) 4 and Hope (v) 5
However, rather than focus just on the negative, Lockdown and Hope also looks to the future and the time beyond the shadow of the virus, when we can all resume largely “normal” lives with their attendant freedoms and activities as the various vaccines spread amongst populations, allowing us to, if not eradicate COVID-19 entirely, then at least bring it under control and diminish it’s threat.
On the surface, this is an exhibition of two halves: on the lower floor are 18 images that carry the title “Lockdown”, and very much focus on the impositions that have been placed on us as a result of the pandemic situation. Their dominant themes intertwine feelings loneliness, listlessness, boredom, the need for escape, and / or being cut off from the world. These are presented in Melu’s captivating style of focusing down on just a portion of a scene. It’s a technique I’ve long admired, simply because captured in this way, her images offer the opening lines of a story, leaving our minds to tell the rest based on the title of the exhibition and the point of focus in the image.
Melusina Parkin: Lockdown (v) 3 and Lockdown (v) 4
Take Lockdown (v) 16, as an example (seen in the foreground at the top of this piece). With its focus on the handle of a door, and the shadow on a distant wall cast by the light falling through a window, we’re given an image that clearly speaks to being shut-in. The door, so long a means of keeping others out so we can enjoy our own company, now a barrier to our ability to go out, the door handle caught in sunlight now a forbidden thing, the patterned shadow of an unseen window the calling of a world currently beyond our reach.
On the upper floor is a further set of 18 images that express the idea of Hope: that those freedoms we are temporarily without will return; that we will once again be able travel, to share, to appreciate nature, to enjoy a vacation on some remote shore and or enjoy the simple pleasures of walks along the coast or country roads. In contrast to those on the lower floor, these are offered as more expansive images – open spaces, broad skies, distant horizons – all of which are emblematic of freedom and the ability to roam where we will, and partake of all that life has to offer.
Melusina Parkin: Hope (v) 13 and Hope (v) 14
But there is more here as well; within many of the images on the lower floor offer not only representations of the isolation of lockdown, but also a glimmer of hope for the future. Again, to take Lockdown (v) 16. Whilst standing as a symbol of the need for us to stay isolated from those beyond our immediate bubble (if indeed, we have a bubble), it also offers hope: the very fact that sunlight is falling on the door handle suggests that the day will come when we can again open our doors to others and invite them in without fear, or pass through the door into the world beyond that is promised in the shadow falling on the wall beyond the door; indeed, the very fact that the door stands ajar suggests that time might actually be not that far away.
Elsewhere, Lockdown (v) 9 offers us a view of again being cut off from the things we would normally take for granted – cars parked outside the window with their promise of taking us anywhere we might desire, but for now beyond our reach. However, it also reminds us that despite all the impositions of lockdown, the cars are still there, waiting, and one day we’ll be free to travel wherever we would. Meanwhile,
Melusina Parkin: Lockdown (v) 8 and Lockdown (v) 9
This double focus can also be found in several of the images upstairs. Take Hope (v) 13 and Hope (v) 14 for example. Both offer use the promise of freedoms to be joyed – whilst the presence of the fences, open as one is and as relatively unobtrusive as the other might be in allowing us to see the sky, reminds us that the freedoms we’ll soon resume are not quite here yet, and restraint of action is still required.
From gowns cast across furniture out of possible frustration at being unable to wear them in public to the promise that nights out will yet return (Lockdown (v) 10) to a look towards a time when walks along sandy shores or country roads will again be ours to enjoy, but which is not yet upon us – hence the empty chair and bench Hope (v) 12 and Hope (v) 15); and with tales of separation and togetherness bound within the simple framing of a teapot, cups, decorative hearts and the placement of two chairs (Lockdown (v) 4). All 36 images within Lockdown and Hope have a richness of narrative, marking this as another extraordinary and engaging exhibition from Melusina Parkin.
Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld 