Category: Art in Second Life

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.

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.

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).

A visually impressive and and engaging exhibition.

SLurl Details

• Raging Graphix Sky Gallery (Heatherwood, rated Moderate)

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.

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).

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.

SLurl Details

• The Glinka Gallery (Nolidae, rated Moderate)

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.

As 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.

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.

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.

SLurl Details

• Kultivate The Edge Gallery (Water Haven, rated Moderate)

Eclectic Dreams is the title of an exhibition of art that recently opened (January 9th, 2021) within the Janus I Gallery at Chuck Clip’s Sinful Retreat. Featuring Lash VV’s work from the physical world, it is one of the most raw and vital selections of art I’ve come across in recent times.

Hailing from Serbian, Lash VV is an artist whose work tends to focus on a range of themes, including the spiritual, religious and erotic, that can often include motifs that can be primal and / or universal in suggestion, connecting his art to life and the vitality of living. In reflection of this, rather than confining himself to one or two styles of presentation, Lash VV, encompasses a broad range of techniques and styles,  including impressionism, abstraction, hints of fauvism and impasto. At the same time, he freely utilises watercolours, pen and ink paint, acrylic, oil, tempura, and compositing techniques (including digital compositing) to both emphasise and layer his work. 

All of these styles an approaches can be gathered under the core umbrella of expressionism in its broadest sense, in that Lash’s art is often a refection of his own memories and outlook on the themes his work enfolds.

In this, the choice of style used within each piece is, I would suggest, an essential part of its interpretation, adding, indeed, evoking, that raw vitality I mentioned at the top of this article. There is not a piece in this selection that doesn’t evoke a sense of life and / or offers an emotive sensation, From very human pieces such as the still life studies Blue Thoughts (which I admit to being the piece I found the most captivating in this portfolio of richly engaging pieces) and Woman in Blue, through to the abstract forms of Initial Frenzy through Passion, the selected technique does as much to bring each piece to life as does the (more usual) technique in using a dominant colour as a means of expression.

There is more here as well; in some of the images, the selected technique can give some of the pieces an unfinished edge to them that further adds a degree of life and, with some, brings to mind the work of past masters.

Tor example, take Cognition. Within it, the seemingly rough lines that hint at being hurriedly drawn, point towards Da Vinci pondering the beauty of the human head – and what might go on within it and using a sketch to capture thoughts that occur whilst engaged on other work. At the same time, the subtle use of colour demonstrates the fact that far from being incomplete, the picture is exactly as it is intended to be, a skilled study of art and form, and one reflective not just of a classical genius, but of Lash’s own unique skill – and his own contemplations.

With around 29 pieces on display, many of them carefully placed within small groups defined by style so as to present exhibits within an exhibition, Eclectic Dreams is a truly fascinating – dare I say masterful – collection of art from an artist who is, I understand, new to the SL art scene, but whom I have no doubt will be seen more widely as time goes by – and deservedly so.

SLurl Details

• Eclectic Dreams (Sinful Retreat, rated Adult)