Category: Reviews

In Art is Protest, open now at Rubin Mayo’s Trésor de l’Art, we are invited to view exhibits by SL artist Nino Vichan and RL artist Basu Kshitiz.

Nino’s installation, reached via a large entryway to one side of the landing area, entitled Staten Island, July 17th 2014, is an examination of the events of July 17th, 2014, in which African American Eric Garner met his death at the hands of officers from the New York City Police Department, and the events which followed in the wake of his death.

The installation is presented in a 3-part narrative. I Can’t Breathe (a reference to a phrase repeatedly uttered by Eric Garner), presents  the events of July 17th, 2014, and the death of Mr. Garner. Black Lives Matter recalls the widespread civil unrest which occurred across the United States in late 2014 after a grand jury decided not to indict Daniel Pantaleo, the officer perhaps most directly involved in Mr. Garner’s death. Finally, Violence Begets Violence causes us to reflect upon the events of December 20th, 2014,  when Ismaaiyl Abdullah Brinsley shot and killed Brooklyn police officers Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Lui as a direct response to Mr, Garner’s death and the Ferguson, Missouri, police shooting of Michael Brown on August 9th, 2014. Brinsley himself then committed suicide.

This is perhaps not the most comfortable of installations to visit – but that’s precisely the point; in marking the anniversary of an event which still has repercussions today, Nino is challenging us not only to revisit and consider the matters of Mr. Garner’s death and the events which then followed, but also to question the issue of violence as a whole.

The route through the three scenes of Staten Island, July 17th 2014 will return you to the landing area, which features a display of work by artist and political commentator Basu Kshitiz.

Nepal is a country riven not only by earthquakes, as we so recently witnessed, but also by extreme poverty (it is 145th of 187 countries on the Human Development Index) and much more besides. Since the end of the decade-long civil war in 2008, the country has also been in a state of political turmoil, with rampant corruption in both government and business.

Basu’s work, which appears in annapurapost.com, the on-line portal for the Annapura Post, a daily newspaper in Nepali language, seeks to drawn attention to political corruption and social injustices which continue to deny many in his country with the basic essentials of water, healthcare, education and energy.

Art is Protest will remain open through to September.

SLurl Details

• Art is Protest, Trésor de l’Art (Rated: Moderate)

Running through until July 23rd at Solodonna Land, operated by Sniper Siemens and Elettra Beardmore, is an exhibition featuring the work of a personal favourite of mine in Second Life: Mistero Hifeng.

Art on Roofs is precisely that: a display of Mistero’s work imaginatively placed across a series of tiled rooftops, complete with courtyards and narrow streets below. These are overlooked from a terraced landing point, giving visitors the impression they standing on a hillside terrace looking out across the packed rooftops of an old Mediterranean town or village.

The overall effect, beautifully framed by Annan Adored’s Dusty windlight setting, is visually impressive. The feeling of looking out over a small town is complete, and Mistero’s art, reached via wooden board walks which guide the visitor around the roofs, has been integrated into the scene with both flair and care.

Anyone familiar with Mistero’s work will instantly recognise many of the 3D pieces displayed here: E rubero’ per te la Luna, floating over the town, the bubbles of Una vita quasi Umana rising slowly from a courtyard, the figures of Volare once again playing out their quite deadly game of chess..

I was particularly drawn to the placement of Siamo ciechi…io…e…te and Il tempo Perfetto. (seen below). The two figures in the  former make a magnificent statement about love, the blindness it can bring. The couple are beautifully framed by the four pocket watches of Il tempo Perfetto ticking quietly behind them, perhaps counting away the time the lovers have – and to which they may also be blind.

While Mistero’s 3D work can be widely seen across Second Life in a variety of settings, his 2D artwork may not be so familiar to some; so its good to see a number of his paintings included here.

I’ve always found Mistero’s art to be a powerful draw (indeed, his beautifully evocative Per te is displayed in my garden). The imagery and emotion evident in some of his pieces may be discomfiting to some – but this doesn’t deny either the beauty or power of his work, all of which can be seen at his own gallery space at Cammino e Vivo Capovolto.

As noted, Art on Roofs will be open through to July 23rd, and my apologies to Sniper, Elettra and curator Terrygold for not covering the exhibition sooner.  When visiting, do please consider donating to the venue via the tip jar. Also, keep an eye out for some sculptures by CioTToLiNa Xue, which are also present on the rooftop board walks. She is someone else who most certainly deserves exhibition space of her own.

SLurl Details

• Art on Roofs, Solodonna Land (Rated Moderate)

Opening at 13:30 SLT on Wednesday, July 15th at ItalianVerse, is Giovanna Cerise’s latest installation, Tristan und Isolde. Based on Richard Wagner’s 3-act opera of the same name, the installation is, like the opera itself, a remarkable piece.

Premièred in 1865, after a difficult gestation, Tristan und Isolde is acknowledged as one of the peaks of the operatic repertoire, and one of the most influential works in the development of western romantic music, providing direct inspiration to the likes of Gustav Mahler, Richard Strauss and Benjamin Britten, as well as spurring composers such a Claude Debussy, Maurice Ravel and Igor Stravinsky to develop their styles of romantic music as a sharp and lasting contrast to Wagner’s more tonal approach.

The core of the story is based on a medieval tale of love between the titular Tristan, a knight of Cornwall, loyal to King Mark(e), and Isolde, an Irish Princess. Within it are the classic themes of murder, love, betrayal and forgiveness played out on three sets, all of which are reproduced in Giovanna’s remarkable installation.

The arrival point, which might be said to be fashioned after the foyer of an opera house, is filled with images of Wagner, Mathilde Wesendonck (with whom Wagner was infatuated at the time Tristan und Isolde was written), promotional images from and 1859 production, and elements of the musical score, gives a hint of what is in store for the visitor.

From here, stairs ascend upwards, leading one to a balcony overlooking the opera’s first act: the ship commanded by Tristan that is bringing Isolde, somewhat by force, from Ireland to Cornwall, where she is to be married to Tristan’s uncle, King Mark(e). On and over the deck of the ship we see symbols representing the unfolding drama.

Above it sits a net about to enclose two pairs of hands coming together in a clasp, indicating both the love between Tristan and Isolde (itself not entirely the product of the potion they both unwittingly drink) and the events that are enfolding them. Then there is the little box of potions – poison and love – which play pivotal roles in the unfolding story.

Finally, lying on the deck and almost transparent, is a sword – a symbol of so much within the tale: Tristan’s role as a knight loyal to his king; his murder of Isolde’s fiancé, and the fact that Isolde once held Tristan’s own life at the point of his own sword, only to spare his life out of her own growing love for him, the result of having saved him from his own mortal wound prior to realising he was the one responsible for her fiancé’s death.

More stairs lead the way upwards to the scene of the second act. Here we find a tree, representing the night-time hunt led by King Mark(e), now wedded to Isolde, which departs the kings hall and leaves the two lovers free to meet. The figures with the net are clearly Tristan and Isolde, their pose reminiscent of the one used in the 1859 promotional material seen in the foyer.

Then there is the net itself; symbolic of so much: the love that binds Tristan and Isolde together; the way in which that love will betray them before the king; the truth behind Tristan’s declaration that only in the long night of death will they ever be truly united; and even Melot’s growing suspicions about the two of them, which also plays a role in their fate.

And so it is that the stairs bring use to a final set of balconies, these again lined by silhouettes of knights, as with the last, once again suggesting a courtly environment. But this is not representative of King Mark(e)’s halls; rather it represents Tristan’s own castle in Brittany. Here the final act is played out; one involving death, forgiveness and ascension, all of which is again beautifully encapsulated in the set of figures rising into he air over a dark shroud.

Opera is often said to be drama on a grand scale, and Giovanna’s installation is very much a reflection of this. It captures an influential piece of opera in the most beautiful and dramatic of ways, a magnificent reflection of Wagner’s work, exquisite in its detail and tone, right down to the selected windlight and the incorporation of musical spheres containing extracts from the opera itself (don’t have the local audio stream running when visiting!).

Truly an installation not to be missed.

SLurl Details

• Tristan und Isolde, ItalianVerse (Rated: Moderate)