Category: Reviews

I recently had the opportunity to visiting a couple of galleries within Second Life  which are owned and operated by two talented individuals who use them to display their own unique artwork.

The Shifting Waves Gallery is operated by Masquerade Snowbear, and comprises two linked skyboxes. The first of these presents Masquerade’s work over two levels – the lower “ground” level, and an upper mezzanine reached by a single open frame wooden stair case; the second is a large single level space around the walls of which Masquerade’s more recent work is displayed.

“I make my art for everyone, not a particular age or clique,” Masquerade says of his work, “I want everyone to enjoy some aspect of my art and hope its seen by everyone.”

His art very much reflects this view, covering as it does a wide range of subjects and styles, rather than focusing on one or two particular areas. This means that as you wander through the gallery, you’ll come across landscapes, portraits, still life pieces, ocean front pictures, indoor studies, and so on, each one of them beautifully finished and presented in a way that not only catches the eye, but draws the observer right into it.

Post-processing features large in Masquerade’s work, and to good effect. The pictures here have all be variously worked on such that each one is truly unique; some retain much of the look and feel of a photograph – in some cases perhaps an ageing photo – while others have the look and feel of a painting, be it watercolour or oil. All of them are enticing, and some are quite haunting in their beauty; during my visit, I found it hard to pull myself away from Shadopan Monastery, such is the ethereal beauty within it.

All of the pieces in the gallery are available to buy, and are very modestly priced; any one of them would be sure to grace any home.

Spiral Silverstar’s art is altogether of a different kind, although no less captivating than Masquerades, and he presents it within his own art space, The Spiral Art Gallery. A long-term Second Life resident, Spiral’s work encompasses 2D and 3 D art and machinima, and he often participates in art competitions and challenges in all three mediums.

For those who, like me, enjoy fractal art, his gallery space offers a special treat, as within it one can find traditional fractal art, fractal kaleidoscope art, moving, layered fractal art, 3D fractals and more, all presented in a light, airy space, utilising a building design by Yumok Latte which is popular among gallery owners.

All of the pieces on display here have their individual beauty, and most feature some form of motion, be it pattern-based, layered, or both. Unsurprisingly, but nonetheless quite beautifully, some of the pieces take you deep into traditional Mandelbrot forms, their patterns at times taking a hypnotic hold over the observer. Other pieces offer Droste effects which are again quite amazing in their complexity and execution, while still others offer quite marvellous scenes which verge on the surreal or the abstract in the most amazing ways.

Spiral offers his pieces for sale, again at very modest prices; so much so that those with a deep passion for fractal art could well find themselves repeatedly dipping into their account balances!

In addition, just across the plaza from the main gallery, Spiral has his “Freebies and Bargains” gallery. This offers a number of Spiral’s fractal pieces for sale at – as the name suggests – bargain prices, and a series of animated GIFs which are free to people wishing to take one home.

All told, both Shifting Waves Gallery and The Spiral Art Gallery offer visitors the opportunity to see (and purchase) pieces by two of SL’s finest artists, and both made for an enjoyable and eye-catching visit, so be sure to add them to your list!

Related Links

• Shifting Waves Gallery SLurl (Rated: Moderate)
• The Spiral Art Gallery SLurl (Rated: Moderate)

Now open through until the end of the month at Max Butoh’s wonderful Dathúil gallery, is an exhibition by Yannick Whoa entitled My Way of Beauty. Featuring a collection of 29  images of people from within Second Life (including a self-portrait just inside the entrance to the gallery), My Way of Beauty presents a series of images that are both a captivating and enigmatic in nature.

The easiest way to explain the exhibition is to quote Yannick directly:

What  you see here is how I see my world. I look into people’s faces and find beauty. As a photographer I’m trying to capture this beauty. Often the mystery of that beauty is in the eyes of the model…

For me someone’s beauty is always just a mirroring effect of the way someone thinks or feels. So when I see someone beautiful maybe I just see something that touches me and makes me feel for a person.

 

It is this idea that someone’s beauty can reflect something within them and lead us towards an empathic response (rather than – for want of a better term – a purely hormonal reaction) which is the first thing to make this exhibition  captivating.

Many of us work hard to refine our avatars, sculpting them, creating a desired look, and so on, that in doing so we’re actually defining ourselves through them. Thus, their beauty, how they are or can be perceived may well resonate with others in ways that might not consciously occur us during that process of creation and refinement; so you might say they become the digital windows to our souls – and it is this which almost hauntingly forms the essence of Yannick’s images.

Each image is beautifully crafted in terms of the camera angle, lighting, and so on; I’ve no idea how many may have been posed or how many might be the result of “genuine” on-the-fly moments – the happenstance turning of the camera to find a subject poised in the frame and then capturing the moment before it is lost. I suspect all of them are more the former than the latter, but this is hardly important. What is captured in each of the pictures is more than a moment in time or a choreographed image; it is a story.

And that’s the enigma also present in each these pictures; we have no idea who any of the subjects are (unless we have happened upon them ourselves and thus recognise them through friendship or acquaintanceship). Nor do we have any description or title to any of the framed images which might otherwise guide our thinking around them.

Thus, each will speak differently to each person who studies it (something, one might say, is also a reflection of the old adage, “beauty is in the eye of the beholder”); the story it tells will be unique for each of us. Nevertheless, it is there; a narrative which seems to start most often with the eyes – themselves often the focal point for Yannick when framing an image – and permeates the entire image, drawing us in and eliciting that empathic response.

Yannick notes that we all have a different measure by which to assess beauty, and he’s right – again, the old adage about eyes, beauty and beholders returns to mind. But looking at the images displayed at Dathúil, it is hard not to see the many layers of beauty in each of them. In this respect, I’d venture to suggest that his observation that some might feel him “shallow” for focusing on beauty over inner qualities is unfounded; rather, it is hard not to see the depth of perception and revelation his images both contain and evoke.

As noted at the top of this article, My Way of Beauty is open through until the end of the month, and should not be missed.

Related Links

• Dathúil gallery SLurl (Rated: Adult)
• Yannick Whoa’s Flickr stream