Category: Reviews

Opening on Monday, June 5th at Dathúil Gallery, curated and operated by Max Butoh and Lυcy (LucyDiam0nd), is Her and Him, the second in a two-part exhibition, featuring images by Hillany Scofield. The first part of this series, entitled Me_You, by Moon Edenbaum, which you can read about here.

The focus of the two exhibitions is the relationship between a man and woman, whose story arc runs from initial meeting through getting to know one another and intimacy, to drifting apart, and following on from Moon Edenbaum’s take on the man’s perspective on the relationship, June presents Hillany’s take on the woman’s view of things. “On a day like any other she walks into that little café on the corner. She knows it`s never crowded at this time of day. when she grabs a coffee and her favourite lemon pie on her way home,” she explains. “But this day is unlike the other days and this man is unlike any other she had seen around here.  And his presence felt different to all the others….”

Through the 18 images on display, we’re invited to follow their relationship – which rapidly develops to one of intimacy – to the first hints of drifting apart. The lines of the story closely follows the overall narrative, but the perspective is a little different.

In both exhibitions, there is a focus on sexuality which suggests this is a relationship based more on physical attraction, of sating desires and pushing boundaries, than it is of emotional deep and sharing. Thus, perhaps it is one doomed from the start; after all, and to borrow somewhat from a classic film: “the passion that burns twice as brightly burns half as long”.

Within Her and Him, this physical element is perhaps given even greater prominence that with Me_You, particularly as evidenced by the images suspended from the ceiling of the gallery and on the upper floor. Again, the narrative is much the same as Me_You, but the greater prominence of images with a clear-cut sexual content perhaps underlines the fact that this is a relations with shallows foundations, and so doomed from that first moment of flirting in the café. Nevertheless, there is also a sense of regret presented here, in what I take to be the final image in the series, located above the entrance to the gallery.

In it, she appears to be slowly walking away from a café table – perhaps one outside the place where they first met – while he keeps his back resolutely towards her. There is an air of regret contained within it, her hand raised to brush fingers along chin as if in a physical response to thoughts of how it might have been different; his hunched pose suggestive of one resigned to the fact passions have run their course, his words would be unable to span the chasm now sitting between them.

There is perhaps a certain “sameness” between the two sets of images in these two exhibitions. In some respects, this is down to both portraying the same narrative arc; but it is also perhaps something more. By focusing on the same points in time, the same events, Hilly and Moon are perhaps gently underlining the inevitable run of this relationship, gently directing our thoughts on each series to the same closing words of the story.

Her and Him will remain open through until the end of June.

SLurl Details

• Dathúil Gallery (Rated: Adult)

One of the reasons I like the small, more boutique-style galleries scattered across Second Life is that they are most often the places I encounter artists and photographer with whom I’m less than familiar in terms of their work. While larger galleries are oft tempts to stick with “established” names, these smaller venues tend to cast their nets much wiser.

Such gallery is Club LA and Gallery, curated by Fuyuko ‘冬子’ Amano (Wintergeist), which for June presents a selection of images from the portfolio of Peeter Tamerlane. A photographer / artist whose work encompasses both avatar studies and landscape images, Peeter’s art is new to me, and I’m delighted to have come across it.

Twenty pieces are offered in the exhibition, and they clearly demonstrate his passion for photography and art, offering evocative, eye-catching and – in places – sensual images which all have a story to tell in one way or another. They are presented in a range of formats, large and small, and set out in such a way as to suggest a working studio as much as a galleried exhibition, with pictures both on the walls and leaning against them, sometimes overlapping slightly, all of which adds to the cosiness of the display.

In terms of the larger format pictures, these are dominated by landscapes which instantly attract the eye – not just because of their panoramic format, but because of their overall composition. Gulls, facing the gallery entrance, for example, is quite magnificent for its framing of a coastal scene; the lighting is exquisite, the camera position beautifully suggestive of the picture having been taken by someone wading through the ebb and flow of waves along the sand. Equally, on the other side of the wall on which Gulls is mounted sits Cold, a piece more evocative of a painting than a photo, in which the title is beautifully brought forth through the use of colour.

Among the smaller pieces are studies of sensuality (Last Kiss To…)  and sexuality (the Vea series), which again show a skilled artist’s eye in bringing forth the emotional content of the pictures. Last Kiss To… is rich in soft colours, perfectly reflecting the love between the couple. The Vea series, meanwhile, are presented in monochrome, which brings to the fore their naked sexuality. Then there are the more introspective pieces – Horizons, The Love Is…, Is Missing, Whenever, etc.,  each of which captures us within the spell of a story fragment caught in time, drawing us into them.

This is another delightful exhibition of an artist’s craft, and one well worth visiting throughout June.

SLurl Details

•   Club LA and Gallery (Amaro, rated: Moderate)

Open from Monday, May 29th through until Monday, July 31st, 2017 at Split Screen’s temporary home*, is Giovanna Cerise’s newest installation, Flash Back / Flash Forward. This is a complex piece, rooted in both the artist’s own perceptions of creativity and in the notion  – or perhaps that should be the temporal nature – of time as we generally tend to perceive it.

The core of the installation is a large, fractured structure. This seems to rise in multi-faceted tiers into the sky, but contains only a single level, reached via teleport – the large daisy at the base of the structure and a short walk from the landing point.  This level is divided into disparate rooms and corridors to present something of a maze in which none of the spaces are connected to its neighbours but must be reached by passing through the walls themselves. within some of the spaces can be found certain artefacts  –   a suitcase and oversized key, an easel, a hat and rose, images –  which we are left to interpret for ourselves.

There is no set root through these spaces, although a list of SLurls those containing objects is supplied in the descriptive note card. Instead, visitors are encouraged to wander. In doing so, moving through the room and along the corridors becomes something of an optical experience. Scenes flicker in and out of our perception, colours flick and change – white, red, white – perspectives shift; self-awareness fluctuates as our avatars flips through different states. sometimes solid, other times an outline reflecting the shapes and images contained within walls, sometimes a shadow.

It’s a slightly confusing, perhaps disconcerting effect, heightened by the longer one walks through the installation, as images and colours and outlines flicker in and out of existence or flip from one to another before our eyes, become discrete moments in time revealed only to us in our passing. And time – as noted, is the core of things here.

Flash Back / Flash Forward is an examination of time at both the micro and the macro levels. On the micro, is an attempt to encapsulate the artist’s relationship with her work, from initial concept through development, to its completion, as seen trough the lens of time. The artist can only exist in the present, thus the development of a piece of art becomes an exercise in reflection and projection: the initial idea is reflected in the mirror of construction, which serves to project the work into the future, to its final state. There can be no viewpoint from outside the linear nature of time; no real ability of see the work as a fluid whole, from start to finish.

At the macro level, Flash Back / Flash Forward reminds us that our entire life is spent in “the present” – but “the present” is personal to each of us, an elusive, undefined space through which we each travel, sometimes overlapping with the space occupied by others. It is a space into which the past can intrude via memories which flicker, appear, vanish or even morph from point to point as our present is influenced by mood, desire, understanding, and so on. And always, the shifting nature of our present foreshadows what is yet to be, but never allows us to experience it until “the future” is our “present”.

And so everything might be said to be chaotic, hence the form of the build and the random tumble of sights as we move through it. But within the chaos of the present are oases of calm; moments forever caught in time – and thus, the rooms Giovanna presents for us to find: The Dream; The Point of View; The Desire; The Lighteness; The Bird; The Impossible Choice.

This is a fascinating, intriguing installation, one which may require a careful reading of the supplied nots to fully grasp, but which is nevertheless beautifully executed.

SLurl Details

• Flash Back / Flash Forward (Coppelia, rated: Moderate)

*For more on Split Screen’s situation, please read Split Screen Loses Its Home.