Category: Reviews

Currently open at the Janus I and Janus III galleries at Chuck Clip’s Sinful Retreat are two independent exhibitions by Jennifer Steele (Steele Wilder) and John Huntsman (Johannes Huntsman) that share a common link.

I’m going to start with John’s Latitudes, on display at the Janus III Gallery, as this has been open the longest thus far, having commenced on October 17th.

A Marine Corps officer in the physical world, John is well-known within Second Life as a multi-talented individual: photographer, Second Life entrepreneur responsible for the Kultivate brand that recently extended its portfolio to include live music, arts curator and organiser of Team Diabetes of Second Life, whilst in the physical world he is becoming more involved in his family’s art gallery and learning more about art curation in the process.

John’s photography spans both the physical world and the virtual, and encompasses many genres – landscape, architecture, machinery, vehicles, nature, the parts of the world to which he has been deployed on active duty. He presents his images in a variety of styles from colour to monochrome, whilst using post-processing to offer some with a vintage look and feel. More recently he has started to use digital techniques to render his photographs as paintings, and this has led him into a deeper examination of digital painting.

It is that latter that is particularly offered for display with Latitudes, a selection of 20 pieces, with those on the lower level of the gallery offering a marvellously abstracted series of images that are striking in their use of form, colour and style. Some are richly geometric – straight lines, right angles, etc., others present a more fluid, natural flow of line.

These are complimented by a mixed set of images on the upper level of the gallery that brings John’s other artistic talents to the fore, with marvellous natural images of insects, together with photos-as-paintings of vehicles and boats, a combination that offers a rich diversity of John’s work.

Located in the Janus I Gallery is The Art of Jennifer Steele, which opened on Sunday, October 25th. I  admit I think this exhibition is the first time I’ve seen Jennifer’s work, which is odd considering she has exhibited at the likes of BURN 2 and the original LEA. As with John, she is multi-talented: an artist both in the physical and virtual worlds. She is also a chef, voice-over artist and business woman running her own company, whilst in Second Life she has worked as a volunteer and mentor among many other aspects of her involvement in virtual life.

As an artist she studied Fine Art and Fine Art History at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo Ontario Canada, under the mentorship of Michal Manson. Her work has been featured in the Robert Langen Art Gallery in the late 1980s, and also in the TAG Art Gallery, The Hub On Queen in Niagara Falls and at Niagara Night of Art, all in Canada. Since graduating, she has studied art in both the United States and Europe, and also presents her own art classes on-line.

Jennifer’s work has been influenced by a number of artists and moments, including the Algonquin School (the Group of Seven), Alex Colville, Ken Danby, Wassily Kandinsky and Claude Monet. Some of these influences are notable within the art presented within the Janus gallery. The eight smaller pencil (and chalk) pieces, for example, lean towards the Realist movement and so echo Colville and Danby. Together, they make a series celebrating the female form and are rich in emotion and energy.

These pieces are accompanied by 16 pieces that are of a more abstracted nature, thus offering that thread of connection with John’s exhibition – although Jennifer’s pieces perhaps lean more towards abstract expressionism in places. These are again pieces rich in colour and form, well suited to the large format in which they are displayed.

Taken individually or together, these are two remarkable and attractive exhibitions which sit well within the broader displays of art to be found within Sinful Retreat (see: Unveiled: a new art experience in Second Life), and should be visited both as a part of that, and / or individually.

SLurl Details

Sinful Retreat is rated Adult

• The Art of Jennifer Steele, Janus I Gallery
• Latitudes, Janus III Gallery

Memories Of A Foreign Reality is a new exhibition by Etamae and Imaginary Footprints (01Matthew10) that opened recently in the White Hall of Akim Alzono’s Itakos Project gallery. It’s a fascinating and complex exhibition in terms of concept and execution, although I admit to finding myself slightly at odds with its central tenet as defined by the artists.

Back in the 60`s and 70`s there was a need to raise this individualism as the holy grail. We evolved the individual to the highest goal, and now we see the result.

Millions of confused minds are searching for a hold. Entangled in political and economical strategies. The American dream, or the possibility of being a important person on the world wide web has given us a tenuous hold, a fragile rope that can easily be severed…

…The soul… a character in a context… equal to others… seem to be forgotten. but it is there… it suffers… and it tries to be seen.

– Artist’s statement, Memories Of A Foreign Reality

This description leads into a set of 13 monochrome pieces which I understand have been produced through a collaborative effort between the artists, passing images back and forth , allowing it to evolve in accordance with their individual perceptions. This in itself gives the pieces a unique reflection of the concept of individualism and the merging of ideas and thoughts can be positivity received.

These are pieces that offer multiple aspects. Some are almost abstracted in form and despite being monochrome, bring to mind ideas of the 60’s counter-culture and flower power, and carry suggestions of psychedelics and dream states, the rainbow swirls and bright colours represented by the use of grey and white (vis: Reflected Into The Ether, Hypnotic, 3 Faces of Eve).  Others are a lot darker in imagery and tone, that are both chaotic and oft depicting scenes edged with violence.

However, taken as a whole, all 13 images convey the element of soul (inner self), struggling to be seen / heard. The monochrome nature of the pieces helps to further emphasise this idea of of an inner voice struggling to be heard, as it gives the images the look and feel of photographic negatives, yet to be developed (as in seen and heard).

As such, these are provocative, compelling images, make no mistake; and they do marry to the final part of the artists’ statement as quoted above. So why then my sense of being at odds with that central tenet?

It’s a minor point, but for me (admittedly through the lens of history books rather than personal recollection) while the 1960’s and 1970’s did see a dramatic shift in emphasis in our understanding of “individualism”, given it encompassed the likes of changing in ideas of equality and our understanding of the environment,  together with a broadening of our technical and scientific understandings, this shift was of a broadly positive impact, collectively and individually. Thus, for me, it appears that the disconnect of “self” (/ soul) to which the artists’ refer, didn’t really commence with the rise of the Me Generation, and the coming of utterly partisan socio-political (/religious) drives that occurred at the same time.

But this is is subjective differing of viewpoints, one that might well encourage discussion and debate – but which ultimately doesn’t impact on one’s ability to appreciate Memories Of A Forgotten Reality, or from exploring its concepts and message.

SLurl Details

• Memories Of a Forgotten Reality (Itakos Project, ATL, rated moderate)

Unveiled is the title that has been given to the opening of a new art experience in Second Life that has been developed by Chuck Clip with the support of several notable artists and curators of art.

Located on Chuck’s Full region of Sinful Retreat, the experience is intended to be a rolling series of exhibitions and installations that represent Chuck’s desire to turn the region into a centre for art.

This is it! This is the day I’ve been planning since I decided a few months ago to turn Sinful Retreat into an art region. Back at the end of July/the beginning of August, I started contacting artists offering up sections of my region to do with as they would, to create a cohesive environment out of incongruent styles of art. What we celebrate now is the first iteration of that vision. Currently represented are 10 different artists including myself. More are waiting in the wings to take sections over in the coming months to begin the process of evolution. From here on out, the region will continue to slowly change and develop in new directions.

– Chuck Clip

For the opening, the region features pieces and installations by Aequitas Nirvana, Chica Ghost, Ciottolina Xue, Eupalinos Ugajin, Livio Korobase, London Junkers, Pixels Sideways, Thoth Jantzen, Toysoldier Thor and Chuck himself. Presented as individual pieces or grouped installations throughout the region. This is an eclectic and electric group of artists who between them present a fascinating series of installations and pieces that offer reflections on human emotions, life and death, ecology, politics, the environment, and more.

In addition to these, Mariposa Upshaw and Tayzia Abattoir, two veteran curators  of art in Second Life will be managing a rotating exhibition of the art they’ve been collecting since 2004 in a dedicated part of the region.

For the opening, the title of Unveiled serves a dual purpose. Not only does it reflect the opening of the region’s full artistic breadth, but it also refers to the physical unveiling of the centrepiece for the region. Entitled The Exquisite Corpse, it is a new work of art by Bryn Oh, Cica Ghost and Walton F. Wainwright, and it will be revealed over the course of the 6-hour opening event.

The latter kicks-off at 12:00 noon SLT on Saturday, October 24th, and runs through until 18:00 SLT. It will feature music by Semina, Jovan Buchsbaum, Oblee, and Skye Galaxy from 12:00 noon through until 16:00, with DJ IllSkillz taking over from 16:00 for a two-hour set.

The opening will take place on the region’s elevated main street, where Bryn Oh’s Lady Carmagnolle Theatre has been set-up to host the performers.  bookended by the Janus I and Janus II galleries, the main street location also presents visitors with the opportunity to visit both galleries and view Judilynn India’s Mindscapes exhibition (which I reviewed in JudiLynn’s Mindscapes in Second Life) and Jennifer Steele’s Something for Everyone, which officially opens on Sunday, October 25th.

The rest of the installation / exhibit spaces are one the ground level of the region, which can be reached via a path winding down to it from the south side of the Janus Gallery, for those who fancy the walk. Also on the ground level is the Janus III Gallery, currently hosting an exhibition of art by John Huntsman – I’ll be covering both this and Jennifer’s exhibit in an upcoming review.

With the focus on changing and evolving exhibits (both outdoors and within the gallery spaces), Sinful Retreat promises to be an outstanding art experience that will offer something to everyone in SL whenever they visit. I admit to being stunned by the way Chuck and his team have already brought together a group who represent some of the artists in Second Life I most admire – including a couple (London and Pixel), whose work I haven’t seen in a while.

This is very much a labour of love for Chuck, and as such, I’ll leave the final comments for this piece to him:

I’d just like to thank my wife and our polypartner, all of the artists, patrons, bloggers, musicians, etc. for their support in this mad idea of mine. The response from the outset has been far better than I ever expected. People keep thanking me for doing this, but I should be the one thanking all of them. I just had an idea. None of it would have happened with out all of them.

– Chuck Clip

Catch the opening of Unveiled from 12:00 noon onwards on Saturday, October 24th, and be sure to give yourself time to explore the region – several visits over the course of several days are recommended to fully appreciate everything.

SLurl Details

• Unveiled (Sinful Retreat, rated Adult)

Gem Preiz is a master of fractal art, as I’ve oft commented on in these pages. His work is always fascinating, encompassing as it does many interlinked themes and ideas – time, space, the future, the past, the rise and fall of civilisations and more, much of which is framed in terms of fractal images with a distinct architectural heritage. And while fractals are not part of his newest installation, architecture is very much its beating heart, fleshed with the use of physical space and a rich layering of time.

Arcadia presents a marvellous architectural fantasy – to use Gem’s words, what he refers to as a capriccio, a whimsy – although this actually does the installation no justice.

To encapsulate Arcadia as simply as possible might be to describe it as a neo-classical city, rich in Greco-Roman influence through the use of Renaissance Palladian architectural styles, whilst obelisks and some of the more tiered rectangular structures offer a hint of ancient Egypt within their forms.

This is a place of perfectly conceived design, where buildings, their shapes, placement and immediate surrounds have clearly been given special consideration such that while there is no deliberate mirroring of structural symmetry (e.g a Coliseum-like amphitheatre in one corner mirrored by a round building in an opposite corner) there is nevertheless a sense of symmetry in the way a line can be drawn through the city from the southern gates to the doors of the northern temple. passing through the arches of triumphal gates to cut this city neatly in two, or the east-west line that splits the city between low-lying precincts and raised palaces and temples (although this admittedly cuts through one of the raised elements).

This planned layout speaks to the ideal of cities being of a more harmonious design than we see today; places where architecture is considered to be both an art form and a reflection of a civilisation’s relationship with the natural world (as well as the familiar projection of power). Within his notes, Gem refers to Arcadia as a utopia in the form of a haven of peace and grandeur, protected from the rest of the world, to which I would add that were the concept of Elysium to ever be embodied in architectural form, that somewhere like Arcadia is very much how I would imagine it.

Somewhat extending from his Skycrapers installation, Acadia allows Gem to present an ideal, one that brings together past a future in a design of the present. By this I mean that while the overall look to the individual structures lie within classical architectural forms, the presentation of the installation – the lighting (I strongly recommend using the suggested TOR NIGHT Under a Yellow Moon windlight (or EEP setting) if you have it available / have imported it as an EEP setting) and use of orange glow give the installation a futuristic / otherworldly look.

Most of all, however, Arcadia is a marvellous celebration of architecture and geometry,  both in terms of the entirely layout of the city, the individual styles of structure and building, the layout of courtyards, quads and terraces – even the very grassy elevations to the north side of the city – and the placement of trees and fountains, all form a part of the whole.

This celebration of architecture and reflection on great civilisations that spawned it can also be found within a number of the central buildings. Signified by glowing orange doors, these contain reproductions of works by some of the great masters who so often celebrated the beauty of architecture. They are: Giovanni Canal (Canaletto), Hubert Robert, Giovanni Panini (himself also an architect), and two  of my personal favourites, the first being French neo-classical architect and visionary Étienne-Louis Boullée (whose proposed cenotaph for Sir Issac Newton was sadly never built, but does form one of a number of visualisation within Sansar created by John Fillwalk from the Institute for Digital Intermedia Arts at Ball State university), and Thomas Cole’s quintet of paintings known under the common title of The Course of Empire, charting the rise and fall of an imaginary city.

This latter collection could also be said to be the spiritual forebear of Arcadia (although the influence of the other artists can also be witnessed throughout the installation), with the exception that while Cole’s city eventually collapsed in destruction, Arcadia is perhaps eternal.

When visiting the instillation, due ensure you following the local instructions for the greatest visual benefit (although I would suggest a draw distance of 300 metres should more than suffice for most visitors), and keep an eye out for the balloon ride close to the landing point and the horse and carriage ride within the city (where the balloon ride will drop passengers).

Arcadia officially opens at 13:00 SLT on Friday, October 23rd with a particle show in a special arena above the installation, followed by an opening party within the installation itself.

SLurl Details

• Arcadia (Akimitsu, rated Moderate)