Category: Reviews

Art and themes at Art Care Gallery in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
ArtCare Gallery, August 2020: Eva Burroughs

Currently open at ArtCare Gallery, curated by Carelyna, is an ensemble exhibition featuring Black Rose, Juidlynn India, Eva Burroughs, Ladmilla and Eli, and Patrick Ireland, all of whom are presenting theme selects of their art.

For States of Mind, Lamilla and Eli present 24 of their image / poem combinations focused on reflections on life, love, relationships, some of which can lean towards darker, more regretful thoughts, all of which are richly evocative in both form and words – as is always the case with this unique pairing. Rounding out the exhibition is a thirteenth piece sans words, that offers a slide show of images that are again intended to poke at the grey matter.

ArtCare Gallery, August 2020: Ladmilla and Eli

With Flowers and Sea, Black Rose offers two selections of her physical world paintings which, as the title of her exhibit indicate, focus on flowers and on the sea. The former total seven pieces that are rich in colour, reflective of the vitality and life of their subject matter – which in this case includes butterflies as well as plants.

In the neighbouring bay art eight pieces representing the sea that again use colour to reflect the changing nature of both the ocean and our relationship with it. Some are offered in lighter, paler colours or given predominantly in blue, suggestive of the colder nature of the sea, or the way in which oceans and weather can so often quickly change their moods. Other offer warmer tones – yellows, oranges and reds, with the Sun sitting low over the waters and / or lighting the bellies of clouds. With their softer, warmer shades they remind us of our more romantic views of the sea.

ArtCare Gallery, 2020: Black Rose

Warmth might also be an adjective that could be applied to Judilynn’s selection of art, presented under the title Texture and Tone, given the deeper colours on offer in these paintings. Another might be tactile, because  – and again in reflection of the title of the collection – these are pieces that are visually physical in their layering on paint and colour.

Most of the pieces are richly abstract in form – and thus powerfully evocative (just look at The Lighthouse, for example, and the richness of colour and narrative it contains). Two perhaps lean more to a suggestion of neo-impressionism with a modern edge.

ArtCare Gallery, August 2020: Judilynn India

Eva Burrough’s Visus Aquam (the sight of water) returns to an aquatic theme, the focal point of which is a stunning rendering of water bordered on either side by two sets of superb images of tropical and semi-tropical fish. beyond these, on the wall separating this collection from that of Judilynn are three abstracted images of coral that are as captivating as the six fish paintings, and which offer something of sense of flow between the two exhibits, given their abstracted style. Facing them, and rounding-out the collection are images of ships and lighthouses captured from within Second Life, and two intriguing monochrome studies of coral.

In Carnival, Patrick Ireland offers an unusual trip through his art, and I mean that in a literal sense: re a bumper car, take a seat and get up close and personal with Patrick’s remarkable avatar studies, all of which are powerfully expressive and rich in narrative.

ArtCare Gallery, August 2020: Patrick Ireland

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A Distant Edge in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Distant Edge, August 2020 – click any image for full size

Distant Edge is a Homestead region designed by Remuera Seetan as “a quiet and serene place where you can reconnect with nature”, and inspired by the rugged islands of northern latitudes – although which side of the Atlantic those islands might be is up to the visitor.

A rugged setting offering a sense of the magnificent desolation only nature can create, Distant Edge is also a place where music has helped to form it, be it through the pub / club nestling within the shoulders of the western hills, or through the presence on a lone piano overlooking a windswept southern shore.

Distant Edge, August 2020

The pub is by far the largest building on the island, although the high cliffs and peaks to the west keep this fact hidden from view from the rest of the island.

Instead, when first arriving on the deck of the landing point, sitting on the edge of the bay that cuts deeply into the island, at treated to views across the water to a cottage and windmill occupying the north-eastern headland, and of the lighthouse further along the southern headland.

Distant Edge, August 2020

Finding the pub is a matter of following a sandy path through the grass, or cheating and using the teleport board at the landing point – which means potentially missing a lot of what else the island has to offer. The latter includes the aforementioned piano within its netted pavilion, a cosy summer house, numerous places to relax on the beach or on the water or the shrine tucked away on the northern coast.

Some of the paths are marked by old railway sleepers set out across the ground while others, such as the path up to the highlands – also worth following – are far more natural in nature. The coastal areas offer a mix of beaches to walk, sloping hills and low-slung cliffs.

Distant Edge, August 2020

Reached by passing through a rocky arch, the pub offers a large deck for dancing, while the interior – a converted fish warehouse by the looks of things – offers alcohol, pool and a place to relax. Music is provided three nights a week, although I couldn’t find a schedule at the time of our visits.

Distant Edge is one of those places that doesn’t require a lot of description – it genuinely speaks for itself. Caught under a cloud-laden sky that in places is releasing rain, rounded out by a local sound scape, it offers a rewarding opportunity to explore and take photographs. Those who do take photos are welcome to submit them to the region’s Flickr group.

Distant Edge, August 2020

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Sisi Biedermann and Dann Haefnir at Konect ART

Posted on by Inara Pey
Konect Art: Sisi Biedermann

Currently on display at Konect Art Gallery, operated and curated by Gonzalo Osuna (Jon Rain), head of Konecta Radio, are exhibitions by two artists, one of whom I’m a confirmed admirer – Sisi Biedermann – together with a Second Life photographer who is new to me: Dann Haefnir.

As I’ve noted in past reviews of Sisi’s work, she is one of the most engaging digital mixed-media artists in Second Life; her work is utterly unique and completely captivating, offering a richness of imagination, style and colour. Her subject matter tends to be wide-ranging, covering everything from the natural world through in-world settings to the fantastical and even touching on the abstract and the near-surreal.

Konect Art: Sisi Biedermann

For this exhibition, the focus is very much on nature and the natural world, with one or two motifs from classical art (take Reaching Out, for example that offers a hint of Michelangelo’s The Creation of Adam in the form of the two hands within the flowers), and gentle hints of her love of northern islands such as the Faroes (see Wild Beach, with its surrounding of thistles).

What is particularly captivating about many of Sisi’s pieces is the manner in which she creates them: beautifully layered pieces that appear to start with an oil or watercolour, apparently carefully built up to give them a marvellous sense of texture that is genuinely tactile in its depth.

Konect Art: Dann Haefnir

On the ground floor, Dann Haefnir presents a ranging of landscape photographs, interspersed with plant studies. The former are largely from the physical world, although a couple originate in Second Life. All are images that are ideally composed and framed, and quite evocative in the settings they offer, causing the eye and heart to perhaps yearn to walk the rich forests, feel the sands under bare feet or witness what lies beyond the bend in the track.

As noted, this is my first encounter with Dann’s work, but on the strength of the pieces displayed at Konect Art, I look forward to witnessing more exhibitions of his work.

Konect Art: Dann Haefnir

I believe both of these exhibitions run through until the end of August, 2020.

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A return to Broken in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Broken, August 2020 – click any image for full size

Shawn Shakespeare recently indirectly reminded me that it has been a year since I last wrote about Natalia Corvale’s Broken, the homestead region she has long dedicated to anyone who has lost someone they loved, offering setting that are rich in natural beauty and offering places to escape the madness of the world.

For the current iteration, Natalia offers strands of previous themes to the region design, as well as offering something entirely new with a touch of south of the border, down Mexico way.

Broken, August 2020

Surrounded by the high sandstone mesas of an off-region surround, and ringed at it edge by a slightly broken circle of rocks and plateaus that, from ground level appear to blend with the surround, the majority of the region sits as flat grasslands, dried and risking a turn towards yellow under the Sun. Joshua and Junipers with a mix of cacti give a further sense that the region sits on the edge of an arid region – one perhaps just beyond the surrounding rocks and mesas – although it is kept from drying out completely courtesy of the rive that sluggishly cuts though it.

The landing point sits offset somewhat from its centre, sitting close to a little adobe village built around a fountained-topped plaza. painted in different colours from yellow to a dour brown.

Broken, August 2020

The little houses may only be shells, but this is intentional, as they are really there to provide places to sit – and such places are one of the familiar elements found within Natalia’s designs. The majority of this seating in on the roofs, although a courtyard between three of the houses offers ground-level seating, while tables and chairs on the stone slabs of the little square are set with tables and chairs, an a outdoor tequila bar to one side offers refreshments.

Just beyond the incomplete wall of the village and across the other side of the landing point, sits a little church. Flat-topped, it may still have a row of bells strung from a metal frame, but this chapel is unlikely to be a place of worship now. The pews have all long gone, and the old upright piano that may have once accompanied hymns is now left with only a rusting lamp and crates of empty, ageing beer bottles for company.

Broken, August 2020

Horses are another motif from past Broken designs, and they can again be found here, out on the grasslands, brazen drinking from the village fountain and even keeping watch from up on a high peak, a couple of chairs close by for those wishing to do the same.

Indeed, such is the lie of the land that those who have a wearable horse might be tempted to slip it on and take to the hoof to explore. This is something this iteration of Broken has in common with the the August 2019 version, and is a manner of exploration that I can again recommend this time around, offering as it does a way of discovering all the various seating points in the region in a manner entirely in keeping with the setting – although admittedly, there are a couple of seating areas not well suited to horseback access!

Broken, August 2020

As is always the case with Broken, this is another engaging design from Natalia, one worth spending time exploring and enjoying, although for photography, you might want to experiment with environment settings.

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  • Broken (Farron, rated: Moderate)

Consolidating PAC: 52 studios, 2 galleries, 1 shattered builder!

Posted on by Inara Pey
Cherished Melody: the waterside walk and Featured Artist gallery beyond, with one of the new studios just visible to the left

A week ago I wrote about one of the things that is keeping be busy – the consolidation work to unify the Phoenix Artists Collaboration (PAC) into a single location.

Well, a week is a long time in Second Life 🙂 , and it finally looks as if the major work is over and I’ll be getting back to more regularly scheduled blogging. The core of the building / landscaping is now done, and the work of transitioning artists from Holly Kai Park to Cherished Melody can shortly begin.

The view from the events space outside the PAC Gallery

It’s been an interesting project; with some 31 artists at Holly Kai Park, and 22 at Cherished Melody within an established setting, it was important we try to bring things together in a way the maintained the look and feel of what Audie had already established, whilst acknowledging we would also need to find space for at least one gallery for group exhibitions, and provide an events space for openings, etc.

Overall, and if I say so myself – and allowing for the fact a little bit of squeezing had to be carried out – thing seem to have turned out pretty well.

In all, Cherished Melody now has 52 indoor studios and two outdoor display areas for our 3D artists. In addition, we’ve actually managed to fit not one, but two gallery spaces into the location. One of these will be the PAC group gallery for exhibitions featuring group members, the second a Featured Artist / special exhibitions gallery (although the space can potentially be re-purposed to provide additional indoor / outdoor studio space, if that becomes a requirement). I’ve also bee able to work in a garden area for pop-up art displays by group members and their friends – although again, the current layout of this area is subject to revision, as it needs a little more brainstorming!

The revised Cherished Melody layout from the air

Most importantly, the work has allowed the water aspects of the setting to be maintained, particularly to the west, but also on the east side as well, with the two bodies of water connected through the water around the landing point that I hope adds to the sense of space within the setting. Admittedly, some of the new studios had to be places somewhat closer together – such is the nature of things – and this can be seen on the south side, where I took a courtyard design Audie used as my lead, but even in these spaces, incoming artists from Holly Kai Park should have a greater sense of space than their former home.

If you are a PAC member at Holly Kai Park, you’re welcome to hop over an take a look – but please, not we’re not quite ready for artists to start claiming spaces, so don’t lay down prims or anyone or start setting up just yet: we’ll let all of you know once we’re ready. Those who are curious about what’s been going on at Cherished Melody are also welcome to come have a look around.

The PAC Gallery, which has an open-air event space before it

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Seiko Blessing and Raging Graphix in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Raging Graphix Gallery: Seiko Blessing

Raging Bellls opened the August exhibition at her Raging Graphix Gallery on August 13th, with a selection of art by Seiko Blessing (softandred), that will run through until Sunday, September 20th, 2020.

Seiko is a physical world artist and photographer, starting in the latter at the age of 14 and graduating to the role of her high School public relations photographer whilst still a student. In adult life, she has self-published two books of photography and has seen her work exhibited in museums, galleries and coffee houses.

Raging Graphix Gallery: Seiko Blessing

For this exhibition she offers a selection of her Second Life landscape photographs, many of which are linked by heavy, evocative skies, laden with cloud through which sunlight filters. This evens may of the pieces presented what at first glance might appear to be a dour look, but which actually emphasises the settings present within each piece, delineating houses,  trees, animals, boats and so on with a clarity that is captivating.

Others within the selection make rich use of depth of field to offer richly evocative images, each offering a story that easily captures the eye – so much so that I found it a little sad they were relegated to the stairwell area of the exhibit space, and they might easily be overlooked.

Raging Graphix Gallery: Seiko Blessing

Considered in their composition, tone and finish, sometimes framed with in-world props for a little extra depth, Seiko’s exhibit at Raging Graphix serves as an excellent portfolio of, and introduction to (for those unfamiliar with her photography) her work.

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