Category: Reviews

FionaFei’s Impostor: reflections on art and heritage in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
The Sim Quarterly: Impostor by FionaFei

Now open at The Sim Quarterly is Impostor, an installation by FionaFei that explores both her art and her heritage – and makes for a thoroughly engaging exploration of self and creativity.

A relative newcomer to Second Life and its art world, Fiona is nevertheless one of the most engaging and visually impressive artists active within the platform, her work being truly unique. I’ve personally had the delight in discovering it and in writing about it on two occasions thus far (see: Captivated by FionaFei’s art in Second Life (May 2019) and FionaFei’s shuǐmò Reflection in Second Life from November 2019), and she was recently featured in one of the Lab’s Made in SL videos, being the first film in a series that will be examining art in Second Life as a part of the Lab’s ongoing work to market and promote Second Life.

The Sim Quarterly: Impostor by FionaFei

Fiona specialises in reproducing shuǐmò ink wash paintings as 3D sculptures. Also called shuǐmòhuà (suiboku-ga in Japanese) shuǐmò, uses different concentrations of black ink to create an image. Found throughout East Asia, it first emerged in Tang dynasty China (618–907), before spreading to Japan (14th century), Korea and to India. Beside the use of black ink in place of colours, it is also marked by the emphasis of the brushwork being on the perceived spirit or essence of the subject, rather than directly imitating its appearance.

Through her installations, Fiona marvellously brings the entire essence of shuǐmò to virtual life. However, as she notes in writing about Impostor, something that causes her a certain amount of introspection about her own heritage, her art and expressionism, and her feelings of  – for want of a better word – displacement.

The inspiration behind this exhibit comes from my cultural background as a Chinese American immigrant and my technical background as an oil painter. While I am Chinese by descent, I have spent the majority of my life in the West. I have a fascination with Chinese history and culture, but I often feel like I’m viewing my ancestry through a filter of Americanized information and experiences. Furthermore, my artistic background has been in charcoal and oil painting mediums, and I’ve had very little experience in actual ink-brush painting. For these reasons, “Impostor” is meant to be a self critique and reflection of my inexperience with the actual ink-brush medium, where I feel like I’m never “good enough,” but I’m embracing it.

The Sim Quarterly: Impostor by FionaFei

Given this, Impostor is a deeply personal piece, offering us insight into Fiona’s world, her feelings and the push-pull she experiences with regards to western upbringing and her Chinese heritage. It is also an installation that again brings forth her innate skill and artistry in presenting a modern-era form of shuǐmò, one that is both evocative and rich in symbolism throughout.

From the landing point, visitors embark on a journey along a set of wooden piers set out as a walkway amidst ink washed mountains, their charcoal outline an echo of Fiona’s artistic background. They lead the way on to a large paint brush – another reminder of her background – that in turn leads naturally into an ascent up through the ink wash mountains to where a pagoda-like temple.

The paint brush forms a physical and symbolic link between Fiona’s background in art and her desire / love of classical Chinese ink-ash art that forms her bridge to her Chinese heritage. More symbols are to be found throughout the installation, several of which Fiona notes herself – the red hands (her own, desperate to reach through her art and physically touch Chinese history and its ancient cultures), the black splashes of paint that splatter the landscape (again bridges between her training in oil and charcoal and the tradition of ink wash she wishes to embrace, red flowers and black trees (the contrasting colours that she uses to emphasise her work), and more.

The Sim Quarterly: Impostor by FionaFei

Most poignantly of all, the red forest of lines and swirls that actually form the Chinese Characters 你是谁 (Ni Shi Shei? – asks “Who are you?”), a question that clearly occupies Fiona’s thoughts – and it is fair to say she is not alone in this; thus the words also touch us as we witness them. They stand as a tangled briar patch, a reflection of how thoughts of who we are can ensnare us. They also stands as a physical reminder of how easy it is to become captive to such thoughts, willingly or otherwise, depending on how our thoughts flow: touch them, and you can be set floating within their midst.  In this, they are one of several sit points that are to be found within the installation, so be sure to mouse around carefully.

Fiona views herself as an inexperienced “impostor” when it comes to ink wash painting. I beg to differ; her work both richly embraces this most ancient form of art and also lifts in to a new and evocative form of expression and storytelling, with Imposter itself a captivating installation that will remain at The Sim Quarterly until the end of May.

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The closing of a Storybook in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Storybook Forest, March 2020

If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be very intelligent, read them more fairy tales.

– Albert Einstein

I opened my 2018 travelogue for Nessa Zamora’s (Noralie78) Storybook Forest back in September 2018 following our visits to the Lost Unicorn regions (read more in Opening a Storybook in Second Life). Part of this quote is also used as an introduction to the region, so given news has come that the the Forest is shortly to close to make way for a new design, it seemed a fitting piece with which to open this piece.

Storybook Forest, March 2020

Designed by Noralie78, Storybook Forest is an utterly bewitching place that, if you’ve not visited before, you really, really, should before the end of day on March 3rd, 2020 (I’d have given more warning, but only got word myself following the Lost Unicorn post giving notice of the closure being published on March 1st). The design stands as a marvellous homage to fairy stories and a delight to all who still love the fables and tales they may have heard in childhood days or have enjoyed reading to their own children – or who simply like reading; while for photographers and explorers, it offers something to smile at around every corner.

This is a place where ornate, rounded castle towers rise from the surrounding trees while paths wind between tree trunks and under a canopy of wide-spread boughs; where exotic plants grow and sunlight dapples the glades and falls across the waters of a small lake. From the outset, it’s clear the is is a place where the imagination can be set free and the magic of books and tales has been given leave to run as they will – and we can run with them.

Storybook Forest

So it is through this winding path, passing from castle to castle, from glade to tower, that visitors may find Peter Pan pointing the way forward, Mary Darling standing below, even as Captain Hook, Mr. Smee and Tiger Lily row past on the nearby waters, a certain crocodile inevitably in tow. Deeper still are opportunities to gather with a group of dwarves, as Snow White lies under glass, the victim of the Wicked Queen’s apple, or to sit with Alice, a white rabbit and chap with an affinity for hats to partake of afternoon tea, while a lost boy wades the shallow waters of the little lake, gazing in wonder at the pile of books that rise from is midst.

Nor is this all; every turn in the path awaits the opportunity to offer a new childhood memory: Bambi and his mother, Cinderella, Snow White… the list goes on, and I’m not going to spoil things by mentioning all who are given a role within this forest.  And as well as these glimpses of childhood tales, Storybook Forest offers many places where visitors can sit and allow memories wash over them or have their imagination take flight – or rest their avatars while their camera roams through the woods, seeking out details that might otherwise be missed.

Storybook Forest, March 2020

And details there are indeed, from dedications to read through quotes from stories to places where a little interaction can be enjoyed, such as at the harpsichord sitting atop Cinderella’s tower. Even some of the characters have some unique aspects too them – take a look at the seven dwarves gathered around Snow White’s glass casket, for example! All of this is offered with a special dedication from Noralie, offered to all that wander Storybook Forest’s enchanted paths:

To the boy or girl who reads by flashlight
Who sees dragons in the clouds
Who feels most alive in worlds that never were
Who knows magic is real
Who dreams.

This is for you.

Storybook Forest, March 2020

As noted, Storybook Forest will be around until the end of of March 3rd, so make sure you capture any memories you wish to have of it before then. I confess, I will miss it once it is gone; it is a magical place. However, while it may soon pass into memory, so too are we given the promise of something new to follow – and so I look forward to returning and seen what new fruit has come forth to replace it.

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An Emergent centre of art in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Emergent Gallery, with Ilrya Chardin’s Art of War, foreground

Emergent is the name Ilrya Chardin has given to her latest gallery space in Second Life. Occupying a 1/4 full region minimally landscaped to present an setting pleasing to the eye and without overwhelming the viewer, the gallery presents a mix of indoor and outdoor spaces for the display of 2D and 3D art, and through until March 7th, 2020 (so I am getting to it on the late side), Ilyra is joined by four of Second Life’s more established and recognised artists: Sisi Beidermann, Eli Medier and Ladmilla, and PatrickofIreland.

When I first  encountered Ilyra Chardin’s art a good few years ago now, she was very much focused Second Life landscape images, capturing the places she has visited and offering considered reflections on their looks. Since then, she has considerably broadened her scope, up to and including a move to 3D art.

Emergent Gallery, Ilrya Chardin

The latter, in the form of Mesh sculptures, is very much displayed in the grounds and courtyards of the gallery, It ranges from quirky characters, each with a story to tell, through more brain-poking pieces, by way of abstract elements. I admit to being particularly drawn to The Art of War, which as well as cleverly drawing on Sun Tzu’s most famous (and oft-quoted) work, also reminds us that chess isn’t the only game of strategy that uses an 8×8 chequered board as its field of combat (although draughts doesn’t have quite such an astronomical number of potential game variations).

Sharing some of the walls of the outdoor spaces and present in the first of the gallery’s indoor spaces as a number of Ilrya’s 2D digital art pieces that are both worthy of examination and – in the case of those in the hall – point the way to her the larger hall, where her guests art displaying their art, commencing with Sisi Biedermann.

Emergent Gallery: Sisi Biedermann

I confess to being and admirer of Sisi’s digital art – as I’ve mentioned numerous times in these pages. She has become a master in the art of digital composition, presenting original pieces beautiful and most subtly layered, to present art that is instantly captures the eye, carrying us to marvellous worlds born of her imagination. This is instantly discovered in the first three images, sitting to the left as you enter the main hall. The Maid, The Boy on the Scooter and Ancient Beauty all offer black-and-white portraits from a bygone era, each carefully composited with soft-toned digital overlays to present three wonderfully evocative pieces. With her drawings, paintings and layered fantasy pieces also on offer, Sisi offers visitors a tempting look into her work.

Eli Medlier and Ladmilla are also no strangers to these pages. Describing himself as an “occasional poet in Second Life”, Eli has a gift with words he tends to share with images produced by his SL partner, Ladmilla, although looking at his website, it is clear he is no slouch when it comes to visual art, his photographs and images there as captivating as his poetry.

Emergent Gallery: Eli and Ladmilla

For this exhibition, he once again shares he words with photographs by the equally talented Ladmilla, an artist who has a unique and captivating way with visual artistry, and so makes an ideal partner to illustrate Eli’s words. In fact, so entwined are their imaginations that when viewing their work, it is possible to imagine each being inspired by the other, such that both words may have given rise to image, and equally, image may have given rise to image.

Similarly, PatrickofIreland’s art never fails to capture attention. Often thematic in presentation, his work is broad in style and frequently enmeshes narrative and social commentary.

Here, both indoors and out on the upper terrace, he offers a truly engaging mix of art that illustrates all of this, with images bordering on the abstract (Dawn of a New Era) and social commentary (Socially Connected) to fabulous fantasy pieces that stand entirely on their own to others that hint at possible hidden layering – looking at Empty Nest, for example, I found my imagination poking me with several narratives up to and including a play on the fall of Lucifer from grace – the fingers exhibiting claw like extensions as he is transformed into the devil, his angelic wings similarly transformed into what appears to be the fragments of a broken nest, symbolising all he has lost, sliding from his shoulders and down his plummeting back, more shards caught in the air through which he is falling…

Emergent: PatrickofIreland

An engaging, rich exhibition which, as noted, will remain open through until Saturday, March 7th, 2020.

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F L Y’s “Stories” in music: supporting Australia’s wildlife

Posted on by Inara Pey
White Mask: F L Y in concert, February 29th, 2020

On Saturday, February 29th, 2020 the Phoenix Arts Collaboration, in association with The White Mask Project, will be hosting a special concert event in support of WIRES – Wildlife Information Rescue and Education Service, located in New South Wales, Australia, and which is currently particularly focused on rescuing and caring for animals displaced or injured by the wildfires in Australia.

This very special event will comprise a concert by violinist F L Y and her guests. The event will open at 08:45 SLT, with a short opening ceremony, with the concert proper running for two hours from 09:00 through until 11:00 SLT.

F L Y (FlyQueen)

F L Y (FlyQueen) is a professional violinist who has been performing in the physical world since 2007. Based in Istanbul, Turkey, start has performed with rocks bands and jazz groups at concerts and events, and has appeared at events in Washington State, USA, performing American rock, jazz and blues music on stage at events in Redmond, Kirkland, West Seattle and Portland.

She joined Second Life in July of 2015, and has been streaming her music into Second Life as a performer since June 2019. The White Mask project was started in January 2020 as a means for  F L Y to use her talent as a professional musician to provide a realistic concert type atmosphere to listeners in Second Life, in support of causes close to her heart. Her repertoire is broad, covering jazz, rock and pop from different periods, as well as more classical music and film themes. You can find out more about her – and hear a sample of her playing the violin – on her website.

Joining F L Y for this special event will be her guests Mimi Carpenter, Zachh Cale and Maximillion Kleenem who will be playing with her in dual-stream, after her solo presentation.

Please note that this is a formal concert with seating, not a dance event. However, having heard F L Y play, I can vouch that it is an event that is not to be missed, and donations to WIRES can be made via the Koala bears located in front of the stage.

White Mask: F L Y in concert, February 29th, 2020

About WIRES

WIRES was formed in 1985 with the mission to actively rehabilitate and preserve Australian wildlife and to inspire others to do the same. The organisation’s main activities are to respond to individual public reports of sick, injured or orphaned native wildlife. If necessary, trained WIRES volunteers will rescue, foster, provide and treatment and care for an animal and release it back into the wild once it is healthy. WIRES operates under an authority from the Australian National Parks and Wildlife Service (NSW), allowing it to rescue and rehabilitate native animals, a practice which is generally forbidden by law in Australia.

In addition to the rehabilitation of individual animals, WIRES aims to improve native animal welfare generally through:

  • Raising awareness in the community and government of threats to native wildlife.
  • Educating the public about habitat requirements, and encouraging preservation of the natural environment.
  • Encouraging and undertaking research relevant to the conservation of wildlife and habitat.

A statement from WIRES on the impact of the Australian wildfires:

In WIRES history we have never seen a concurrent series of emergencies events like those that began in November. Hundreds of fires over weeks have burnt over 5 million hectares of land in NSW alone. Many animals were already struggling with a lack of water and food due to the drought. With the fires destroying unprecedented amounts of habitat, food shortages have increased and lack of suitable habitat will be a significant long-term challenge for surviving wildlife.

It is impossible to know how many animals have perished and it will be many months before the impact on wild populations can be better understood but ecologists at Sydney University have estimated over 800 million animals have been affected in NSW and over 1 billion animals in Australia since September.

Summer is a frantically busy time for wildlife rescue and there are still burning in NSW. In January alone there were over 28,000 calls to WIRES … and volunteers accepted over 3,800 rescues. 

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An abandoned vacation spot in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Dya’s Abandoned Vacation Spot, February 2020 – click any image for full size

An Abandoned Vacation Spot in the 30s. Sometimes you can still see the glamour of the past….

So reads a part of the description for Dya’s Abandoned Vacation Spot, a location we were drawn to courtesy of Maddy Gynoid. Designed by Dya OHare, this Homestead region presents a fabulous setting, an island sitting somewhere – possibly just off the coast or within the estuary of a broad river – that was once a place for holidays and fishing, but which has now faded well past its prime, the holiday makers long since departed, the water front now little more than moorings for fishing boats, but not a base of operations.

To say this is a beautiful setting would, frankly, be an understatement. The island has obviously been carefully considered and designed to present a setting that really could exist as much in the physical world as in the virtual. It’s made all the more natural through its single-track road which, just as might be expected of a vacation setting, neatly loops its way around the landscape, linking all the points of interest, and thus providing a natural means of exploration.

Dya’s Abandoned Vacation Spot – February 2020

The landing point sits in one of these aged waterfront buildings, one that is in slightly better overall condition than the rest, and home to Dya’s Gacha resale store.  From here, visitors have a choice: proceed on foot, take a bicycle from the rezzer a little further along the waterfront, or take the the steps down to the the piers where a motor boat rezzer awaits anyone who fancies pootling around the island by water.

The road runs both north along the the shore, and east. The former route fully brings home the faded nature of the island’s heritage, passing between water to the one side and buildings that are falling apart on the other, their signs and façades harking back to when the the paved street was alive with visitors – although a couple of folk appear not to have realised the bar is no longer serving customers!

Dya’s Abandoned Vacation Spot, – February 2020

To the north, through a local rain shower, sits a more business-like wharf and buildings, where also sits the carved hull of a submarine whose shape looks born more of the Cold War era than from the 1930s. It sits as a single incongruity in the region’s overall design – and yet it still fits the setting, suggesting that while this was a holiday centre in the 1930s, time has indeed moved on, and the island has seen other uses.

Two beaches mark the south and east side of the the island, separated from one another by a rocky headland dominated by an old wooden lighthouse.  Both of the beaches reflect the island’s long-passed heyday; flotsam is scattered along sands that have a tired feel to them under the overcast sky, the trees along them apparently dead, marker buoys just offshore warning passing fishing boats not to get too close to the shore where they might run aground (and also mark the region’s boundary for those using the local motor boats to get around).

Dya’s Abandoned Vacation Spot, February 2020

Both of the beaches are also overlooked by a ruins of an ancient church, a place that looks older than than the rest of the island’s structures. Neon signs hand from one end of this old building, advertising it as a hotel, but whether it ever served this purpose or not is open to question; there’s barely the space for individual rooms, so perhaps the signs – still flickering, and so under power, are meant as a joke by whomever still uses the island.

This ruin can be reached by following the loop of the islands-road, which also provides access to the beaches by means of board walks and steps. The road also runs past what is perhaps the last standing holiday home overlooking the sands and sea. It’s a modest place, the deck bigger than the house, but it is still in use, simply furnished and offering a sense of life within a place mostly given to the past.

Dya’s Abandoned Vacation Spot, February 2020

While it has no obvious connection other than the period in which the island had its heyday being close to that of the book, where exploring, I couldn’t help but feel it sits as some kind of seaward Valley of Ashes from The Great Gatsby, albeit with strong differences; a place that, rather than being a place of run-down businesses, secrets and eventual tragedy, through which the rich of East Egg and West Egg pass under sufferance, the island sits as a place to be passed by and occasionally used by fishing as they travel to and from richer ports of call whilst plying their trade.

Why my mind should jump to such a connection, I’ve no idea; but it just seems to fit. What I can say is that with its wildlife and horses, sound scape and cloud-heavy skies, Dya’s Abandoned Vacation Spot is a captivating place to visit, rich in its own romance and utterly photogenic.

Dya’s Abandoned Vacation Spot, Februay 2020

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Art and idioms in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Vegetal Planet: State of Mind

Currently open at Vegetal Planet is an impressive 2D / 3D interactive installation led by Cherry Manga, made with the support of JadeYu Flang, that makes for a fun, and also thought provoking visit.

State of Mind is a journey through 20 popular idioms and expressions, taken without the need to move that far. It’s a journey that requires visitors to enable Advanced Lighting Model (Preferences → Graphics), although you do not require shadows to be enabled as well, if you’re concerned about viewer performance.  With ALM set, touch the sculpture at the landing point to deliver you to the main exhibition space.

Vegetal Planet: State of Mind

Located in a skybox, this is an environment that is in a state of flux, the scene within it changing periodically, gently paging through the 20 idioms. Visitors can either stand and watch the show or, by touching the east wall, can become a part of it, floating serenely as the scenes change around and below them.

Each idiom  / expression is presented as a complete scene, with the expression written in French or English and French against the wall that can set you floating. While is it easy to look at this and translate what is written, it’s more intriguing to observe the scenes as they appear and decrypt what is being illustrated. Sometimes this is easy – as with Head in the Clouds, Walking on Eggshells, Stars in (Your) Eyes, others may take a little time to figure out, and some may not have an literal translation from French / English, so may not always be familiar to everyone.

Vegetal Planet: State of Mind

All of the pieces are, however, cleverly presented, often inviting the observer not just to try to identify the idiom being presented, but also consider how it came about – particularly with those that border on cliché. Take Thinking Outside the Box as an example – where did it originate, and how did it descend into a management consultancy cliché? Turns out it may well have originated with management consultants in the 1970s as a result of the “nine dots” puzzle, only to circle back to them through wider use to become a common training cliché.

Consideration of the derivation each saying is encouraged by the lack of any explanation for each setting beyond the expression appearing on the wall. Thus, in looking at the passing scenes, the grey matter is naturally stirred into questioning just why such expressions have become so recognised, that nine times out of ten we’ll happily use any one of them without otherwise considering where and how it might have be born and then enter into common usage.

Vegetal Planet: State of Mind

Fascinating, intricate and engaging, State of Mind will, I believe, be open for at least the next month.

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