Category: Art in Second Life

Melu and Whiskey: artistic dialogues in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
The 22 Art Space: Melusina Parkin and Whiskey Monday

Currently open at the 22 Art Space in Bellisseria, operated and curated by Ricco Saenz and Randy Firebrand, is a joint exhibition by Melusina Parkin and Whiskey Monday – the latter making a return to Second Life’s art scene (and the platform as a whole) after an extended absence.

Individually, Melu and Whiskey are two of SL’s most evocative photographic artists, each with a very individual approach to, and style of, visual narrative; and with Dialogues: Patterns, People, their work is combined in a manner intended to encourage the viewer to consider both the distinctiveness inherent in their work as individuals, and the manner in which their work is complimentary / complementary in the use of themes, focus, and presentation, allowing a “conversation” between the artists and the observer to develop.

The 22 Art Space: Melusina Parkin

In all, each artist presents ten images that have been split into two distinct collections. In the ground floor of the gallery  the images are focused on the theme of Patterns, with Whiskey and Melu each presenting four pieces on the subject; on the upper floor the theme of People, with the artists here presenting five works apiece in their respective rooms.

The two sections of the exhibition are then linked by a self-portrait provided by each artist – what might be a joint introduction to People. However, these are two pieces that also set up a conversation of their own, offering as they do reflections on the artists themselves. Within Melu’s it is possible to comprehend her contemplative approach to art, whilst Whiskey’s offers whispers on the intimate self-reflection that is a theme of her work, and the manner in which she so often offers up a reflection of her nature and identity whilst also maintaining a protective distancing between herself and her audience.

The 22 Art Space: Whiskey Monday

Within Patterns, Melu and Whiskey present images that play with the idea of repetition with variance. They offer something of a mix of the abstracted and the direct. Common themes of patterns can be found within individual pieces by each artist, allowing a certain dynamic to exist between them. Take Melu’s Colors 2 and Whiskey’s Choose, for example. Each stylistically uses doors (those of a lockers in one, and the doors of cells in the other), and through both we’re offered commentary on possession, self, restraint, freedom, isolation, reward and secrecy, each piece reflecting off of the other to present new ideas and interpretations.

For People, the narrative threads offered by the artists are less abstracted and more direct. Here ideas more than device conjoin individual images in each of the two rooms, allowing the flow of narrative to flow between the open doorway between the two areas.

The 22 Art Space: Melusina Parkin

Some time ago now, Ricco joined with artist Boudicca Amat to present an experiment in art entitled The Photo Game, in which pairs of artists were invited to select images from each other’s portfolio for display in a joint exhibition, and offer thoughts on why they selected the pieces (see: The Photo Game in Second Life and The Photo Game in Second Life: Proph and a Pey).

With Dialogues, Randy and Ricco have brought together two exceptionally talented artists who expand on that concept through the use of theme and unwritten narrative, thus taking the idea of artistic dialogue in an entirely new and engaging direction.

The 22 Art Space: Whiskey Monday

SLurl Details

White Noise at Nitroglobus in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Nitroglobus roof Gallery: White Noise

It is a little over a year since Rose (RoseHanry) was last at Nitroglobus Roof Gallery, operated and curated by Dido Haas (see: Rose’s Feelings at Nitroglobus) However, her return for April 2021 brings with it an exhibition that might be considered something of a thematic continuation of that last exhibition.

In her previous exhibition at the gallery Rose dealt with images intended to convey an emotional narrative – and with White Noise, her new exhibition at Nitroglobus, that narrative is very much continued, albeit it very much more sharply defined. Thus – and assuming she will allow me to express it in this way – where Feelings might be said to be the introduction to that narrative, White Noise, presented in a style that is entirely its own, offers something of a “second chapter” with its own nuance and focus.

Nitroglobus roof Gallery: White Noise

The central theme of this collection is that of dealing with life’s worries and problems – or more correctly, how we can become so obsessed with the issues of the week / day / hour / moment, we can’t actually see our way past them; we become blind to the world around us and thus, potentially to any means of resolving whatever those problems might be.

In reflection of this, the pieces Rose offers in White Noise comprise a set of avatar studies, each of them rendered as a drawing. Each one conveys a distinct mood or reaction or emotion that can be all to readily identified by anyone who has felt overwhelmed by an issue that could otherwise be handled by stepped back from it, collecting thoughts and then facing it, or who has become so focused on a worry / fear that they have forgotten there are those around them who are ready and willing to help, if only they could see this is so.

Nitroglobus roof Gallery: White Noise

The emotional content of these pieces lies not only from the poses and rendering used for each image, but also from the overall framing. There is no backdrop to any of the images, just a white void. Against this light, the avatar is in some of the images strongly defined, bringing to the fore the very physical reactions we can have when problems overwhelm us – such as anxiety (White Noise 02), vulnerability (White Noise 05), or fear (White Noise 09). In others, the avatar appears partially lost against the all-pervading whiteness, thus evoking the sense of being overwhelmed or lost.

But why “white noise” as a title? In many circumstances (certain work or learning environments, dealing with illnesses such as tinnitus or simply trying to block the noise of passenger, and so on) white noise is known to be highly beneficial. Yet the very fact that it does have the power to overcome other frequencies can be damaging / harmful: the absence of noise can leave us focused solely on the absence of noise, leaving us feeling cut off from the world and alone. Thus the title perfectly reflects the theme of this exhibition, with the uses of the brilliant white backdrop within each image further underscoring this idea and the overall theme for the exhibit.

Nitroglobus roof Gallery: White Noise

Officially opening at 12:00 noon on Monday, April 12th, White Noise is available for preview now, and will run through until early May.

SLurl Details

Charlie’s reflections at Eulennest in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Eulennest Art Gallery: Charlie Namiboo

I first became acquainted with Charlie Namiboo as a result of her involvement in the (long since retired) Frisland region, which I had the pleasure of documenting in these pages on a number of occasions in 2015 / 2016.

Back then we did joke that we had something in common: she referred to herself a the Typo Queen, and I had a habit of wearing a tag that read Kween of Tpyoland. However, and to my shame, it was only later that I became familiar with her work as an extremely talented photographer. So, it’s with a great deal of pleasure that I’m able to write about her latest exhibition of work, which opened at the start of April at Kitten Mills’ Eulennest Art Gallery.

Well, so you asked me about my reasons why I started taking pictures. I guess, it was the same reason as many people have for their Flickr accounts. They simply take snaps of their second life to capture moments and make memories. When I explored places with my partner or had a special moment with him, I took snapshots.

– Charlie Namiboo on her work

Eulennest Art Gallery: Charlie Namiboo

The exhibition is offered without title, but I’ve taken the liberty of referring to it as “reflections” here, because it is the most marvellous selection of images that bring together elements of introspection and commentary on life.

Predominantly presented in black-and-white, these are pieces that are genuinely rich in narrative; more that a picture or image, they are the encapsulation of a thought, a feeling, or an emotion. Each one is perfectly framed and set to words.

I went through different phases; after pure (and very simple) fashion pictures, I fell for taking landscape themed pictures as regions and places became more and more attractive due to better landscape items. I worked with different windlight settings and also created my own when I found out that I was able to change the entire mood of a picture just by changing the windlight. And inspired by some of the greatest story tellers on Flickr, I started trying to tell my own short stories in a single picture.

– Charlie Namiboo

Viewing the pieces offered, it is clear that Charlies does more than just “try” to tell stories in her photographs – she does so quite magnificently. Each of the pieces included in this exhibition beats with a heart as it reveals a depth of soul. These are stories we can all relate to, touching on our own feelings and thought because they embody the things we have so often experienced. Also within them there is at least one challenge (so line on up, and take your place and show your face …), which has a particular depth of meaning in this day and age.

They are also, perhaps, personal reflections – if not on the things Charlie herself has experienced, then certainly on the depth of connection she has with her photography; a connection not only revealed by the images on display, but by the little vignettes of props she has included in the exhibition.

Eulennest Art Gallery: Charlie Namiboo

All told, a superb selection of pictures which I recommend to all patrons of Second Life arts.

SLurl Details

The remarkable art of Tucker Stilley in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Cape Able Art Gallery: Tucker Stilley – Palimpsessed

Commencing on Wednesday, April 7th, and running through until the end of May at the Cape Able Art Gallery is a most extraordinary exhibition of art from the physical world. Entitled Palimpsessed, it features the work of Tucker Stilley.

The exhibition is being hosted by Virtual Ability, who have worked in partnership with Tucker and his sister, filmmaker, editor, and producer Kate Stilley Steiner to bring the exhibition to Second Life, and I was invited by Gentle Heron of Virtual Ability to a preview of the exhibition ahead of the first of a series of special events that will accompany it.

Born in Santa Ana,  California in 1961, Tucker Stilley is a veteran intermedia artist and distinguished alumni of the Massachusetts College of Art and Design, where he was a member of the Studio for Interrelated Media. A leading member of the Boston arts community throughout the 1980s and 1990s, he has worked the MIT Media Lab, and with his partner Lindsay Mofford, in a range of environments – academia, technology , corporate, public – producing a broad range of art exhibited at the likes of the Museum of Fine Art, Boston, the Boston Film Foundation and Harvard University, as well as continuing to work with the “arts underground”.

Cape Able Art Gallery: Tucker Stilley – Palimpsessed

Now residing in Los Angeles, California, Tucker Stilley is now completely paralysed, the result of ALS/MND (Lou Gehrig’s Disease), with which he was first diagnosed in 2005. Nevertheless, he continues to create the most incredible art that is rich is substance.

He does so using his one means of communications, a hybrid computer he controls with his eyes and which allows him to essentially “live” within the world wide wide, remaining in contact with friends, colleagues and artistic collaborators, seeking inspiration and engaging in research.

Through this computer, and most recently using ophisticated generative software, Stilley literally pains with his eyes. The pieces he creates bring together a host of genres and styles – abstraction, post-modernism, conceptualism, touches of surrealism, collage, etching, and perhaps in places a hint of fauvism – in the most remarkable and fascinating of ways, all of which is demonstrated in the exhibition at Cape Able.  Within these pieces can be found simplicity and complexity of expression, hints of irony or whimsy.

Cape Able Art Gallery: Tucker Stilley – Palimpsessed

Palimpsessed can be further enjoyed every Wednesday through April and May 2021, when Cape Able Gallery will be hosting guided tours between 17:00and 19:00 SLT.

This is a genuinely extraordinary exhibition that is compact enough so as not to overwhelm, but rich enough to provide a look into the life and creativity of a most amazing artist and visionary.

SLurl Details

Bare Skin in Second Life (NSFW)

Posted on by Inara Pey
Nitroglobus Roof Gallery: Bare Skin – Traci Ultsch and Dido Haas

This is the first of planned two visits to Dido Haas’ Nitroglobus Roof Gallery for April – the second will come in about a week and feature the gallery’s April 2021 main exhibition. However, I wanted to jump over to see a new exhibition by Dido herself, together with Tracy Ultsch.

The images in Bare Skin – as noted in the title of this article – may not all be suitable for work viewing, dealing as they do with the subject of female nudity. However, this are not “simple” or “gratuitous” nudity; rather the pieces presented are a genuine celebration of the art and beauty to be found within the female form by two of Second Life’s most accomplished photo portrait artists.

Nitroglobus Roof Gallery: Bare Skin – Dido Haas

Located in the smaller gallery space at Nitroglobus, Bare Skin presents a total of eight monochrome images by Dido and Traci, who display four pieces each.  The two sets of pictures are most clearly differentiated by the fact that Traci’s work utilised a white background, and Dido’s a black backdrop. Both artists approach their work in a similar manner – none of the images feature any background elements distraction to clutter up each image, although props are used in some (notably a cat with some of Traci’s images) that add a sense of focus / narrative.

Whilst breasts and/or nether regions can be seen in some of the images, these are not – again as noted above – pictures intended to titillate in any way. Rather, through framing, pose and focus they encourage the observer to initially consider the inherent grace and lines of the female body,  be it is the rise and sweep of a breast, the arch of a foot, and gentle valley of waist between upper torso and hips – or even as a canvas on which to reflect creativity and expression through the wearing of jewellery or the inking of tattoos. But after this first inspection, there is more to be found.

Nitroglobus Roof Gallery: Bare Skin – Traci Ultsch

These are images that are both intrinsically feminine and beautiful layers in interpretation. Take Traci’s pieces for example. The use of the cat subliminally reminds of of female grace a poise – and also of a woman’s power. Just look at Cat Cat Cat; the kitty may well be stretching and yawning, but the entire image carries a marvellous subtext of I Am Woman, Hear Me Roar. Similarly, the use of tattoos speak both to the ideas of creativity and expressionism / individuality mentioned above, and also to ideas of tribalism –  and with it humanity’s long history; a history in which all successive generations have all be born of Woman.

Similarly, Dido’s images speak to grace and beauty – and also to confidence and power.  Within them lies a statement that women need not fear that their only value lies in their looks and figure, nor do they need to compete through trappings of power dressing in order to demonstrate male-like assertiveness. A woman’s power comes from within; it matters not whether she is dressed or naked – it is simply there, as natural and admirable as any line of mouth or curve of breast.

Nitroglobus Roof Gallery: Bare Skin – Traci Ultsch and Dido Haas

An engaging and visual mini-exhibition well worth taking the time to see.

SLurl Details

Visiting IMAGOLand’s new home in Second life

Posted on by Inara Pey
IMAGOLand, April 2021

I’ve been visiting Mareena Farrasco’s IMAGO art gallery in its various forms for the last few years (check the IMAGOLand tag  in this blog). However, and as Shawn Shakespeare recently reminded me, I haven’t dropped in to see it since Mareena relocated and expanded its offerings using her IMAGOLand title.

The new location continues to offer art exhibitions – the galleries now located in skyboxes, rather than using the ground level’s open spaces as once was the case for IMAGO. Waht’s more, they share the sky with a number of other public areas which are connected to the ground via a teleport network.

IMAGOLand, April 2021

The ground itself presents an open, low-lying island which is probably best thought of as offering a series of populated vignettes rather than having a contiguous theme stretching through it. There’s no set landing point, so I’ve arbitrarily selected a location nor far from the region’s centre, where sits a teleport disk and a directory of destinations (sit on the disk for the menu dialogue in order to TP rather than touching the directory).

Close by is one of the vignettes: an open-air dance floor and stage where an Animesh band is playing.  Most of them appear to be engaged in a ballad of some kind, although one of the guitarists looks as if she’s off in a hard rock / metal riff of her own!

IMAGOLand, April 2021

Beyond this stage lies a bar where patrons and staff are engaged in coming, greetings and reading – and thus the frame of the island is set: simply wander the landscape and you’ll come across much such settings, some large, others small. Some can be reached via the teleport system, but it’s honestly worth taking the time to wander on foot, as there are some that can be easily missed just hopping point-to-point. The use of static and Animesh NPCs helps to give the setting an interesting sense of life – particularly along the beach (although I wouldn’t recommend arguing with the seagulls laying claim to the little rowing boats – they are big enough to make their objections felt!).

When you feel you’ve seen all the ground has to offer, the teleport system can be used to reach the gallery spaces. At the time of my visit, these were home to exhibitions by Mareena and Carelyna (Carelyna Resident).

IMAGOLand Gallery #1: Mareena Farrasco – Painting the Summer

In Gallery 1, Mareena presents Painting the Summer, an utterly gorgeous collection of rendered paintings taken from around Second Life that capture the warmth and delight of slow summer days, both in subject and the muted tones used in their post-processing.

Looking through the images within the exhibition, I realised that Mareena and I are frequently drawn to similar focal points for our images – notably bicycles and rowing boats. However, Mareena has a superb talent not only for turning her images into watercolour-like works of art, she also frames them in a way that tells a story  – a technique I have yet to come anywhere near achieving; these are painting that you feel you could simply step into and explore, or join her as she sits or stands in contemplation within some of them.

IMAGOLand Gallery #1: Mareena Farrasco – Painting the Summer

Red Alert is the title of Carelyna’s striking and evocative exhibit, occupying the second gallery space and featuring 15 large format images together with a series of oversized props.

It may at first be difficult to assess whether there is a central theme within this selection that reaches beyond the predominant use of red within all of them. However, closer examination of each image together with its title helps crystallise the theme of danger  – hence Red Alert – each represents.

IMAGOLand Gallery#2: Carelyna – Red Alert

This danger spans the personal – as seen in the likes of Femme Flamme, with its essence of la femme fatale, Addiction, Alone With Myself with its suggestion of isolation and depression – to more global themes of concern such as global warming (Crying out for Rain and the Titular Red Alert) and ecological disaster (Burning Forest. some, like Never Enough…. appear to span both personal and global excesses (personal exemplified in the idea of spending too much time in the Sun; global suggested by the vivid red and the loss of our protective ozone).

Rendered in styles that range from painting to etching, and which mix elements of abstraction and expressionism, this is a genuinely stylish collection of images that can be appreciated both for the artistry involved in each piece and for the interweaving of ideas and expressions.

IMAGOLand Gallery#2: Carelyna – Red Alert
Beyond the galleries,the teleport network can also be used to reach a photographic studio(although props cannot be rezzed even by group members) and a little setting called Storyteller Burrow, which I admit I’m not clear on as to its purpose. These share the same platform with one another and a small club space, although the latter was not connected to the teleport system at the time of my visit., so many or may not be part of the main facilities within the region.

Art remains the primary attraction at IMAGOLand, although the ground level offers its own attractions as well. As such, I look forward to seeing what future exhibitions are unveiled here.

SLurl Details

Broken Mountain is rated Moderate.