Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld

Back in 2015 I first encountered the 3D of Ciottolina Xue, a gifted, self-taught sculptress working in blender (and who also has an excellent eye and hand for producing 2D art pieces). The encounter was entirely by chance: I was attending an exhibition of Mistero Hifeng’s work with a rooftop garden setting when I came across two small pieces that, whilst as skilfully crafted as Mistero’s pieces, did not have the familiar feel of his work – and closer examination revealed their actual creator.

Following that encounter, I wanted to see more of Ciottolina’s work, and started talking to her about exhibiting her sculptures. When I was asked to fill-in at short notice with an installation at LEA after an artist had been forced to drop out due to illness, I could think of no-one more with whom I wanted to share the space – and thankfully, she accepted, adding incredible depth to my garden / house / 2D art exhibition.

Since that time, Ciottolina has gone from strength to strength,  exhibiting her work at galleries and events across SL, often folding into her work social and political commentary that is often powerful and evocative, as well as producing many lighter pieces that can be enjoyed in any environment (we have a number of her pieces that always form a part of our gardens wherever we set-up home).

Officially opening on November 14th, but currently available for people to enjoy is one of her smaller exhibitions, Of  Bots and Blossoms, that is taking place at The 22 Art Space in Bellisseria.  This is another boutique gallery that offers an alternative use for Linden Homes within the Bellisseria continent, and is curated by Rico Saenz and Randy Firebrand.  It is a setting that is ideally suited to Ciottolina’s work, offering two environments – indoors and garden – in which to display the two parts of her exhibition.

The Blossoms aspect of the exhibition is to be found, appropriately enough, in the garden – which is where I’d recommend a visit starts. There, scattered across the lawn are a series of sculpted rose blossoms in which can be found scenes evoking all the joys of birth and the raising of babies and very young children. Playfully and light, the five pieces on display share the garden with one of her thematic pieces Hope, which is a quite magnificent invocation of that emotion, and of love and protective caring.

The latter piece is overlooked by the first element of the Bots part of the exhibition: a quintet of little robots (which, for no Earthly reason I could fathom other than perhaps the sense of mischief they have about them, put me in mind of Despicable Me’s Minions), sitting on the porch roof.

The open door below them invites visitors into the house, where more of these charming automatons can be found appreciating art, reading the news paper, having a conversation with a most unusual fish and perhaps at risk of getting a little carried away with interior decorating (painting the walls is one thing, but it looks as if someone is considering whether the sofa also needs a lick of fresh colour!). With a vignette in each room, this is again a delightful presentation of Ciottolina’s work, while indoors and out, the two elements – blossoms and bots – work well together as a complete exhibit.

Open through until February 14th, 2021, Of Bots and Blossoms is an engaging and delightful visit.

SLurl Details

• The 22 Art Space in Bellisseria (Grenouille, rated Moderate)

Currently on display at Attention Gallery owned, managed and curated by Isle Biedermann and Mirabelle Sweetwater (Biedermann), is a new pairing of exhibitions by artists whose work I’ve not previously witness in Second Life: Justice Pedroɨa (XJustinTimeX) and Chase Parthicus (Chase Ezarael). Both present sets of avatar studies, but of two very different kinds – although they might be said to be linked by a common intention: to stir the imagination.

Hailing from the United States, Justice is an amateur photographer and art lover in tin the physical world. She started into Second Life photography some two years ago, and while not tied to a particular medium for her work, she defines her passion as being in creating pictures that reflect what she is feeling at the time.

This is evident is her selection for her Attention Gallery exhibit, which she has called Conveyed Desires. Incorporating some nudity, which can make this selection NSFW. It is a collection of  richly evocative self-studies which, just by going on the title  alone, might be mistakenly thought of as perhaps a series of images that are focused on the sensual  / erotic.  However, this would be a mistake; for sure, there are pictures here that do have a sensual / erotic edge to them – but so too are there images that reflect other desires – the need for self-expression; to feel a sense of freedom – and the desire to offer a sense of self through our avatar. All of which make this an appealing collection.

For Zodiac, Chase Parthicus presents  – in something of a balance to Justice’s female studies – twelve pieces featuring male studies. As the title of the collection suggests, the central theme of the collection is that of the Zodiac, and chase presents 12 vivid portraits representative of the twelve common zodiacal signs (Ophiuchus having been abandoned by the Babylonians 2,500 years ago as one of the several compromises that mark astrology as a pseudo-science).

These are remarkable images both for their representation of the zodiac as we know it today and for their richness of colour. They are also noteworthy for the often subtle means by which the constellations to which they allude is presented: a curl of horn, the flow of golden hair, the curve of articulated tail; together with the symbols of some of the signs: scales, bow and arrow, water pitcher. Set against the backdrop of starfields and nebulae, these are images that capture the eye and the imagination; evocative personifications of the signs they represent.

And the link via the imagination that joins these two exhibits? The very fact the each of them in turn invites us to use our imaginations and see beyond their frames to see the stories they each tell.

SLurl Details

• Attention Gallery (Hastara, rated Moderate)