Tag: Art 2014

Ferrisquito: the early works of Bryn Oh

Posted on by Inara Pey
Ferrisquito (l) displays one of the pieces of Bryn's art
Ferrisquito (l) displays one of the pieces of Bryn’s art

Opening in Second Life at the Rift Horizon Gallery on Wednesday September 3rd at 08:00 SLT is an exhibit by Chance Acoustic entitled A Room for Ferrisquito, featuring elements of  Bryn Oh’s work from the period 2008 through 2011, and which will be marked by a special presentation by Art Blue.

The room is situated over the gallery, so if you arrive at ground level, use the teleport sign to reach it. The oval room offers an intimate display space, with images of Bryn’s work, as photographed by Chance, framed around the curved walls, and The Consumerist Sherpa sitting on one side of the floor. Overhead, the Beetlebot presides from a high perch, watching everything.

Ferrisquito: image by Chance Acustic
A Room for Ferrisquito

However, the focal-point for the exhibit is Ferrisquito, an angelic-appearing character, who can be summoned via a wall panel close to the “door” into the room. When summoned, he’ll acknowledge in chat, then duly arrive and stand on a pose ball. Once there, he’ll rez elements of Bryn’s work, displaying them on the floor space around him and sometimes overhead in the upper gallery area which can be reached via the staircase, allowing them to be viewed and examined by visitors.

In all, there are 25 3D pieces of Bryn’s work to be seen, comprising: Under the Poumbrella [poembrella], Mayfly machinima, Downloading …, The Violinist, Run like a fawn, Run Rabbit Run, Mother, Feed me, Steamdragon, Wee little Steamclock, Standby, Carriage, Consume, Poumbrella, Pouncing Fox, Confused eyes, Bryn Oh´s bicycle, The Rabbicorn, 26 Tines, Cerulean, Willow, Angler Girl, The Violinist and Nightmare. Ferrisquito himself is a reference to the icon representing the robot theme park featured in Immersiva, while the room in which the pieces are displayed is seen by the Art Blue and Chance as a time capsule, designed to keep the pieces forever safe and available for display for as along as Second Life exists.

Ferrisquito
A Room for Ferrisquito

In keeping with this idea of time, the exhibit’s opening will feature a short play by Art Blue entitled Knowing. Lasting 20 minutes, it involves a story of time travel, an attempt to uncover the secrets of life, and the discovery of Bryn’s work; all of which is narrated by an owl, Nervual.  Following this, visitors will be invited to enjoy Chance’s images of Bryn’s work, and witness the arrival of Ferrisquito, ready to reveal the 3D pieces he carries with him. Visitors will also be invited to collect a special book of images and text from the exhibition as a keepsake of their visit.

Following the opening of Ferrisquito in Second Life, Art Blue will also be hosting an exhibition on Metropolis grid featuring the room, together with two of Bryn’s 3D pieces – the Beetlebot and the The Consumerist Sherpa, – for which he has had special permission to transfer to Metropolis grid. The exhibit will form part of his Vulcanicus OpenSim art time capsule.

This opening on Metropolis grid will be marked by a special event in which Art Blue will call the room and its surroundings into existence before his audience, the artist giving form to a new “world”. Those wishing to attend the event should contact Thirza Ember via the HG Safari Facebook group, as sitting is limited for the performance.

Ferrisquito
A Room for Ferrisquito

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Melusina Parkin: Closer Looks

Posted on by Inara Pey
Closer Looks, Melusina Parkin
Closer Looks, Melusina Parkin

I received an invitation to preview Closer Looks, a new exhibition of photography by Melusina Parkin, which officially opens on Monday July 28th at 15:00 SLT at La Sociedad de los Poetas Dementes gallery on Mexico MX.

I last reviewed one of Melusina’s exhibitions in May 2014, when she was exhibiting Themes, which featured 42 of her pieces on display at the The Nite’s Place Red Line Exposition Area. Closer Looks presents around 45 of her photographs, taken of various locations around Second Life and which, as the name of the exhibition suggests, presents them in close-up, focusing down on a specific element within each image, encouraging the observer to similarly focus their attention.

Closer looks, Melusina Parkin
Closer Looks, Melusina Parkin

“Watching things from close-up is an amazing practice,” Melusina says in the liner notes accompanying the exhibition. “Isolating an element or detail in a scene, focusing on it, is like when you repeat a word in your mind until it does lose its meaning; it starts then revealing unexpected associations suggesting unusual relationships, showing unforeseen details in it.”

As with Themes, many of these images in this exhibition appear to be drawn from certain thematic elements: cars, structures, ships, skylines, which at first appear to suggest associations between them. However, each picture in fact works on a far more subtle level than that, encouraging the observer to consider the associations which lie not so much between them, but in what is within each of them, and what they start to suggest to the observer’s own mind. It’s an effect Melusina intended to achieve within each of the pictures.

Closer Looks, Melusina Parkin
Closer Looks, Melusina Parkin

“When photographed, the most trivial object, thanks to framing, light, shadows and colours handling, can acquire a completely different than its own actual or usual one,” Melusina notes. “This is what I tried to do in each of these photos. Enhancing the evocative power of daily life objects and landscapes, showing them out of their context or catching their hidden fascination by camera framing and lighting.”

In this, this exhibition stands as something of a comment on Second Life, where the incredible diversity of creative expression can so easily become trivialized or marginalised by the incredible scope and beauty evident is seeing whole regions and estates, where houses, trees, vehicles, and everything else can so easily blur together that we can miss so much. It is only when we pause, when we take the time to focus down on things, that we can really see just how amazing things in this digital world really are and how incredibly different things really are, even when seemingly alike – and how they can so often challenge our own creative perceptions, encouraging us to think of ways and means of doing things, and so further adding to the creative diversity others can see and learn from.

Closer Looks, Melusina Parkin
Closer Looks, Melusina Parkin

All told, another thought-provoking and visually stylish exhibition from Melusina, with each of the images on display on sale for anyone who would like to take a piece home with them.

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Of art and artists

Posted on by Inara Pey
Holtwaye ArtSpace: Art of the Artists - Fuschia Nightfire
Holtwaye ArtSpace: Art of the Artists – Fuschia Nightfire

Holtwaye ArtSpace is  a new gallery space which opened towards the end of June. Located on the adult-rated region of Holtwaye, the gallery is co-managed by Waynenz, who is also responsible for the beautiful Toru, the Enchanted Forest (and now apparently closed), which I last visited in February 2014, and Holter, who took charge of  curating the gallery’s inaugural exhibition.

Holtwaye ArtSpace: Chuckmatrix Clip (foreground) and Waynenz (rear)
Holtwaye ArtSpace: Chuckmatrix Clip (foreground) and Waynenz (rear)

This opening exhibition features a mix of art, sculpture and media pieces by Tomais Ashdene, Chuckmatrix Clip, Awesome Fallen, Fordis Flores, JJ Goodman, Fuschia Nightfire, Bryn Oh and Wanenz himself, presented in a gallery space which is itself a modern statement of art, designed by WayneNZ.

Holtwaye ArtSpace: Byn Oh's Imogen
Holtwaye ArtSpace: Byn Oh’s Imogen

Fuschia Nightfire’s Art of the Artists perhaps sits as the centrepiece to the exhibition, and requires media streaming to be enabled. Doing so will initiate a machinima created by Nina Chaplin featuring a montage of ever-changing scenes of paintings by Nina of SL art installations featured at the UWA by Claudia222 Jewell, Cherry Manga, Nish Map, Sledge Roffo and Fuschia herself, all of which are played on and through a set built by Fuschia, and set to the music of Obisdia.

Holtwaye ArtSpace: Awesome Fallen's
Holtwaye ArtSpace: El Principio,Awesome Fallen

Bryn Oh presents a mix of images and sculptures from her own installations, and Chuckmatrix Clip also presents a number of his sculptures (do note that some of the works by Chuckmatrix and Bryn are also displayed outside of the gallery building). Awesome Fallen and Tomais Ashdene present two exhibits of images entitled El Principio and Olio respectively. Waynenz has both a display of his own, a selection of digital art using typeface entitled Unleashed, and also teams-up with Fordis Flores and JJ Goodman to present a collaborative digital comic using SL-based photography.

Holtwaye ArtSpace: collaborative digital comic, Fordis, JJ Goodman and Waynenz
Holtwaye ArtSpace: collaborative digital comic, Fordis Floris, JJ Goodman and Waynenz

This is a fascinating inaugural exhibition for what is, as I’ve mentioned, a very stylish and engaging gallery which makes fabulous use of space to present series of exhibit areas suited to a variety of uses. I look forward to further visits in the future.

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Contemplating an Absence of Colour

Posted on by Inara Pey
Absence of Colour
Absence of Colour, Timamoon Arts

Art Blue recommended I make time to see a new exhibition which has just opened at the Timamoon Gallery, and which features as it subject … fractal art. Needless to say, I was immediately curious, so when an unexpected free 60 minutes popped-up I hopped over to take a look.

Absence of Colour is a joint exhibit by Milly Sharple and Ranadeep. As the name suggests, this is a presentation of monochrome and greyscale fractal art by the two artists and is, I have to say, stunning; even the setting is a continuance of the overall theme, albeit it with a slight hint of colour.

Absence of Colour, Timamoon Gallery
Absence of Colour, Timamoon Gallery

Spread across three levels, the exhibition space comprises 24 large cubes arranged eight to a level in a square around a communal area. Four cubes open onto this central communal area, and are linked to the remaining four cubes by short tunnels. All of the cubes has at least one element of art displayed within it. The interiors of the cube further reflect the title of the exhibition, alternating between white and black as you walk through them.

The entire arrangement means it as possible to wander between the cubes, crossing back and forth over the communal areas, or to enter one cube and then proceed through each of them in turn to see the displayed pieces before returning to your start point. Teleporters provide the means to move between the three levels.

Absence of Colour, Timamoon Arts
Absence of Colour, Timamoon Arts

The central level forms the landing point. The cubes here combine pieces by Milly and Ranadeep, while the upper level is devoted to Milly’s work, and the lower to Ranadeep’s. While both artists have used similar software for their work, both employing  Apophysis (although Ranadeep also uses Ultra Fractal and Incendia), their individual styles are apparent in many of the pieces. Ranadeep’s work often features bold lines and linear forms (although not exclusively so), while Milly’s often display more cursive elements and softer lines (although again, these are not exclusive to her pieces).

That all of the pieces have been rendered in black-and-white gives them a remarkable depth; some of the images in the cubes with a black interior have a particular perspective that makes the observer feel they are looking into them, rather than at them, as if they are not pieces of two-dimensional art, but actual constructs located in front of the observer and into which one might climb – or fall. The effect is both captivating and mesmerizing. It is also, while not unexpected given the nature of the art, perhaps far more heady in impact than might be the case had the pieces been rendered in colour.

Absence of Colour, Timamoon Arts
Absence of Colour, Timamoon Arts

Within each cube, as well, stand figures, male and / or female, apparently studying the pieces on display. These are as much a part of the exhibit as pieces on the walls, seeming to represent each of us as we explore and study, the subtle tones, swirls and lines on their bodies reflective of the impact the art on display has on our own thinking and perception.

This is a quite stunning exhibit, in terms of both the art on display and the manner in which it is presented. It’s not often that one encounters an exhibition where the very space in which it is presented actually forms a part of the overall work, but such appears to be the case here. Even the very subtle use of colour in some of the sofa and seats and on certain walls of the cubes, carries a meaning of their own which adds to the whole.

Absence of Colour, Timamoon Arts
Absence of Colour, Timamoon Arts

Definitely not one to miss. Highly recommended.

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Of art in hedges and sculptures under trees

Posted on by Inara Pey

ARTWALK2014_POSTER_BLOGSunday May 4th marked the start of the ninth annual Raglan Shire Artwalk.

Running through to May 25th, the Artwalk brings together over 140 artists from across Second Life in a display of 2D and 3D art ranged across four regions of Raglan Shire, providing visitors not only with the opportunity to see  photographs, artwork, and sculptures, but to also explore the Shire itself.

2D art of many kinds are exhibited along the hedgerows in the central area of Raglan Shire sim. SL sculpture works are exhibited among the trees and along the shores of the western half of Heron Forest in Heron Shire, in the park on Morning Shire and around the Athen Shire village.  TP kiosks to the display locations are throughout the grounds of the festival.

The Raglan Shire Artwalk is an excellent way to see art from a broad cross-section of SL painters, sculptors, photographers and artists, some of whom otherwise rarely exhibit their work, while others may well be very well-known. At the same time, the Walk brings with it the opportunity to discover more about the Tiny community of Raglan Shire.

Raglan Shire Artwalk 2014
Raglan Shire Artwalk 2014 (shown: art by Trinity Yazimoto)

From any of the starting points, one is free to wander the footpaths and glades of the Shire, admiring the art and perhaps meeting some of the local residents.  For those not that fond of walking,  but who nevertheless prefer not to teleport everywhere, there is also a tour guide system available as well. Simply click on one of the green spheres at an arrival point, and let the caterpillar take you on a ride around the exhibits!

The SLurls

Note that all regions are rated General.

Raglan Shire 2014 Artwalk: call for artists

Posted on by Inara Pey

The Raglan Shire Artwalk is  one of the staples of the SL art calendar. With 2014 marking the Walk’s ninth year, it will take place between Sunday May 4th and Sunday May 25, 2014  (inclusive).

Every year over 100 artists and residents in Second Life display 2D and 3D art across a number of exhibition spaces across all the regions of the Raglan Shire cluster. 2D art is displayed on hedgerows in and around the regions, offering visitors the chance to view pieces as they explore the Shire, while sculptures and 3D art is displayed in a number of designated areas across the regions.

Those wishing to exhibit their work at the 2014 Artwalk are invited to complete the  Artist Registration Form, which should be submitted for inclusion no later than 21:00 SLT on Sunday April 27th.

A part of the Raglan Shire Art Walk 2013
A part of the Raglan Shire Art Walk 2013

There is a full set of guidelines and requirements for participation in the event, but in brief:

  • The event is a non-juried show
  • Artists can display more than one piece if they wish
      • 2D (“flat” art pieces will be awarded a maximum of 15 prims, and individual pictures should be 1 prim, including the frame (a kit for 1-prim framing can be obtained at the Raglan Shire Welcome Centre)
      • 3D art (sculptures, etc.), will be awarded a maximum of 500 prims for up to three pieces of work. Artists are requested to state the number of prims per piece in their application
      • Sales of works are allowed
  • All the above art forms are welcome, but should be rated PG / G – so no nudity, please!
  • Group membership will be required in order to display work
  • Questions and enquiries should be forwarded via note card to Artwalk Director Karmagirl Avro, or Artwalk Assistants Dagmar Klaar & Liandras Jameson.
The arrival point for Art Walk 2012
The arrival point for Art Walk 2012

Key Dates

  • Sunday April 27th: Applications close at 21:00 SLT
  • Thursday, May 1st: Notification of exhibit space location issued to artists
  • Friday, May 2nd / Saturday May 3rd: Artist set-up days
  • Sunday, May 4th: ARTWALK OPENS
  • Sunday, May 25th: Artwalk closes
  • Sunday, May 25th (after 18:00 SLT) / Monday, May 26th: Takedown of works.

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