Category: Reviews

Opening on Saturday, March 17th, 2018 at 12:00 noon at the Paris Metro Art Gallery is Winter of Enchantment, a selection of (largely) winter-themed avatar studies and images by the legendary Skip Staheli.

For the exhibition, the gallery has undergone slight remodelling to make three level available, the upper two mezzanine like galleries level reached via two spiral staircases. The centre area of the ground level has been modelled to give the feeling of being outdoors – appropriate to the idea of winter – with flower boxes, a fountain, circling butterflies and the occasional gust of snow.

Some 29 images are on display across the three levels, two mounted on easels (and possibly intended as information givers, although neither was set-up as such when I slipped in to preview the exhibit), the rest mounted on the walls of the gallery. All are undeniably Skip, bringing forth his innate ability to capture mood and emotion, and in presenting erotically sensuous couples. Some nudity is displayed, but hardly enough to mark this exhibition as NSFW.

A number of the images very much focus directly on the idea of winter through subject / imagery – notably Brunella~No more sad winters…, Miranda~Such a blue blue Winter… and Draakje~Ice Queens Magic… along one of the ground floor walls, together which Dee~Through Winter, which faces them from across the gallery, together with Skip~I want you to come, and walk this world with me…., Skip~Not feeling the cold… and Julian and Aleriah~ Feeling safe and warm…. Others evoke winter more indirectly, such as Hannah~It’s a new Year….,  and Dee Mighty…, where tone and or title along suggests wintertime.

Some, like Breezy~All my senses, Dee~Little Red Ridinghood, and Bridget~FurrrrPurrrr…, lean more towards the erotic, although one might say their use of red evokes echoes of winter – or at least midwinter and Christmas. Still others, Long Canvas, Cuddles~Leader of the pack…, lean more towards the sensual or the personal, as with Caleb and Lillbirdee~Drifting away with you…

But whatever the suggestion / emotion each invokes, there is no denying the life these images present to us as we examine them in turn. Each is an exquisite narrative, and story fully formed, waiting to capture and hold us. And for those that feel a hint of chilliness emanating from the more wintry pictures, the fireplaces with their blazing logs offer an opportunity to warm hands and hearts – and to sit awhile and admire the art.

SLurl Details

• Winter of Enchantment, Paris Metro Art Gallery (Paris Couture, rated: Moderate)

Opening on Thursday, March 15th at La Maison d’Aneli, curated by Aneli Abeyante, are two new exhibitions by three well-known Second Life artists: one by Nino Vichan, and the second by Tutsy Navarathna and JadeYu Fang. They are two very different exhibitions, but they are drawn together through each of them having literary foundations. Both are reached via an initial arrival point, and can be reached via either the teleport disks or by clicking on the artist’s names on the main board (which will also deliver note cards). There’s also a direct drop down to one of the installations.

In Hamlet 5 Scenes, Nino Vichan presents his interpretation of five key scenes from Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. As Nino points out in his opening notes, we know of three versions of the play have survived through to modern times: the 1623 First Folio edition, considered to be the “definitive” version of the play; and the “First Quarto” (1603, aka “Hamlet Q1”) and “Second Quarto” (1604, aka “Hamlet Q2”).

The former of these two Quartos is now widely regarded as the “bad Quarto”, possibly written by an actor who participated in a production of Hamlet. While the Second Quarto is now regarded as an attempt by Shakespeare to published the “full” version of the play (it is some 1600 lines longer than the First Quarto) to set the record straight. In support of this, historian point to the title page of the Second Quarto stating that it is “Newly imprinted and enlarged to almost as much againe as it was, according to the true and perfect coppie.”

For his part, Nino takes these three versions as the leaping-off point for imaging Shakespeare within his study, struggling over the play, writing and revising it. For the purposes of the piece, we are Shakespeare, invited to take a seat – in turn – in each of the five chairs ranged around a central table. Each chair represents a specific element of the play, which we see through the playwright’s eyes, as it were, as he contemplates each.

For this to work. make sure your camera is not free-flying when sitting in a chair (hit ESC before sitting in each one). This will allow the act of sitting to take control of your camera and focus it on each scene. The chairs should be occupied in numerical order (each has a number visible on its upholstery), so that the scenes can be seen chronologically in reference to the play.

These scenes start with the sightings of the ghost of Hamlet’s father which set the events of the tragedy in motion, and conclude with Hamlet’s encounter with the skull of a jester he knew in his childhood (“Alas, poor Yorick. I knew him, Horatio: a fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy; he hath borne me on his back a thousand times.” Between there sit the famous soliloquy, the murder of Polonius and the death of Ophelia. Modelled in 3D , using a mix of mesh and particles to achieve their effect, each offers unique view on the aspects of the play it represents, while the liner notes accompanying the installation offer further context, should it be needed.

For Bring Me Your Love, Tutsy and JadeYu present a tribute to the German-American poet, novelist, and short story writer Henry Charles Bukowski (born Heinrich Karl Bukowski; August 16th, 1920 – March 9th, 1994). The title of the installation is taken from Bukowski’s 1983 short story of the same name, illustrated by Robert Crumb.

This installation brings together images taken from around Second Life together with quotes from Bukowski and excerpts from his writing – poetry and stories. Blunt, at times aggressive in his use of language, Bukowski was forthright in his writings and views, and this is very much reflected in this installation, which is presented as a single piece – art and quotes making up walls and floors. To one side there is an area set aside for sitting and contemplation, complete with a  television set playing a loop of clips of television shows and films for the later decades of Bukoski’s life.  This area is also home to what might be regarded as the bric-a-brac of Bukowski’s life.

As noted above, these are two very different exhibitions, drawn together through each of them having a literary foundation. Each is individually fascinating, their core subject matter being very different, thus they make an ideal complimentary visit.

Slurl Details

• La Maison d’Aneli land point (Virtual Holland, rated: Moderate)

Currently open on the mezzanine floor of Club LA and Gallery, curated by Fuyuko ‘冬子’ Amano (Wintergeist), is an exhibition of art based on Second Life photographs, by artist La Baroque.

Hailing from Italy, La Baroque entered Second Life in August 2007. Already keenly interested in photography, she quickly found Second Life photography as engaging as that of the physical world. However, what makes her work particularly fascinating is not only the subject matter of her images, but the manner in which she uses post-processing techniques to make her images look – and feel – as much like paintings as possible, often with an other-worldly feel.

All of this is very much in evidence in the exhibition at Club LA and Gallery. Placed within a beach-like setting, complete with sand and camp fire, are nineteen pieces from La Baroque’s portfolio, all richly diverse in subject, framing, composition and finish. Some are suggestive of watercolour landscapes and settings, others suggest they are oil paintings, rich in colour and texture to the point where it’s easy to imagine reaching out and feeling the uneven surface of the paint on canvas. At least one – Chairs – offers a suggestion of the abstract, while that feeling of other-worldliness is also to be found throughout many of the pieces on display.

In terms of subject matter, the images offer very personal takes on Second Life landscapes, some of which might be familiar to Second Life travellers, such as Orcadi Island (which you can read about here) and Sarawak (which I wrote about here). Others are composed avatar studies offering a narrative flow – such as with Nothing on the Horizon and Breathe the Scent of the Sea, two pieces I found particularly strong in story within this series of narrative images.

Another piece I found particularly evocative – although singling out pieces within this selection really isn’t fair – is Memories of a Dragon, which is perhaps the most powerfully expressive of La Baroque’s ability to create an expression of a parallel world.

As well as producing 2D art, La Baroque also produces 3D art, but notes she doesn’t do it too often as she claims she is “much too lazy” and lacks the patience to build. Given the depth of creativity and care  shown within the pieces on display at Club LA and Gallery, I beg to differ with La Baroque’s assessment; she is far from “lazy” and her patience with the creative process is abundantly clear.

SL Details

• Club LA and Gallery (Amano rated: Moderate)