Tag: Art 2017

Currently on display at the TerpsiCorps ARTWerks gallery is an ensemble exhibition featuring the art of Luly Boop (Lulyboop), Bamboo Barnes, Isadora Alaya (Otcoc), Sabbian Paine and Myra Wildmist. Located in the former Dionysus Workshop Pavilion area, which has been converted into five individual exhibition spaces very much in keeping with the rest of the TerpsiCorps environment.

“My biggest passion in Second Life is photography,” Luly states of her work. “For the last two years, the photography has allowed me to communicate my thoughts, my emotions, to tell histories. SL gives me the ideal setting to do all this.” This is certainly true of the pieces she offers here. Self studies, each has its own story to tell, with three in particular depicting Luly’s relationship with her art.

“In the last year Photoshop has allowed me to expand my ability to express myself through pictures,” she continues, “I intend to learn more about this tool because it allows me to capture SL not always as it is, but use virtual world to give space to my imagination.” Thus, My Thoughts…, My Goal… and My Dreams… – while perhaps NSFW – are beautifully rendered and processed through Photoshop to reflect the beauty of Luly’s relationship with her art – a woman and her camera.

Bamboo Barnes is a self-taught artist who first started capturing images in 2012. “Very soon Second Life art installations became my biggest favourite theme, and they are a reason I continue to log-in to Second Life. I don’t deal with change well in the real world, but with my art, I don’t like to express myself the same way for too long; that is boring.”

Again, the seven images she offers at TerpsiCorps richly reflect this drive to see her work change – to evolve. Focusing on the art installations of others, each piece is richly evocative and richly presented. Each is very different from the last – although something of an abstract theme is present in several of them.

Sabbian Paine has been capturing the world of Second Life through his lens since early 2009 when he was introduced to the world of Second Life photography. What started out as a hobby quickly became a passion, offering him a freedom to create images of depth and beauty, reflections of an environment he sees as a immersive 3D world filled with art. The seven images Sabbian presents here stand as a magnificent testimony to both his work and viewpoint.

With four pieces offered in monochrome and three in soft tones, there really are marvellous images, each one deeply evocative and rich in narrative.

Isadora Alaya (Otcoc) is a name from SL photography I had not been familiar with prior to visiting TerpsiCorps gallery, where she is exhibiting the largest number of pieces among the first four artists, with nine pictures on display. seven of these are essentially black and white / monochrome studies covering a range of subjects, with two richly coloured and in strong contrast to the others. all are beautifully executed pieces, which comprise pictures of locations within Second Life and studies of art displays  – notably by Haveit Neox – which present a diverse series of statements on our virtual world, each one fully capable of capturing and holding the eye.

The last exhibit on offer is a small installation by Myra Wildmist entitled Your Vagina is Art, a seemingly self-explanatory title, although the installation is far more subtle than the name implies. With images, quotes, observations and new items, complete with an interactive element, this appears to be an installation designed to combine art and a degree of social / sexual commentary. I leave it to you, should you visit, to determine whether it speaks to you or not.

All five exhibitions have been available at TerpsiCorps for the last couple of months. As such, and while I’m not clear on when they might close / be changed, I do suggest that if you plan visiting, you do so sooner rather than later, just in case.

SLurl Details

• TerpsiCorp ARTWerks (TerpsiCorps Isle, rated: Adult)

Now open at the Club LA and Gallery, curated by Fuyuko ‘冬子’ Amano (Wintergeist), is Behind the Avatar, an exhibition of images by Panteleimon Aeon. On display are eleven pictures (one of which forms a free gift to visitors) by Pan, which present Second Life as it might be seen through the eyes of an avatar, and in which we’re being allowed to share.

Each picture features a setting and a solitary avatar – mainly Pan himself, although Like Dreaming of Angels  and …Through both clearly feature a female avatar, and  Isoldes Remorse might feature a woman under the hat and coat.

The avatars are mainly presented from the rear or in a three-quarters profile from the rear. In this way, they are not necessarily the central focus of each piece – although our eyes are obviously drawn to them. Rather then become come a part of the image, blending, if you will, with their surroundings whilst also offering a glimpse of what they might be reflecting upon whilst looking at the scene themselves.

I was first introduced to Pan’s work by Sorcha Tyles. At the time I commented, “Pan’s work is visually striking, combining a sense of posed set piece with natural flavour. The result is that while each may well have been composed, so to could each have been easily caught as a moment from the subject’s life; a frozen instant of an unfolding story, the subject unaware they have been so captured.”

This is again very much the case with the images in this selection, offering as they do a wonderful sense of depth, emotion, and feelings. Each very much carries a story within it, combining avatar and setting into a whole – whilst also allowing us to more metaphorical see from behind the avatar – and through the eyes of the artist himself.

As such, this is an expressive display, and a superb means to gain familiarity with Pan’s work for those who have not previously encountered it. Behind the Avatar can be found on the mezzanine area to the right of the main gallery entrance, with stair leading up to it from the garden end of the hall.

While visiting, be sure to check Transitions by Myra Wildmist, which I reviewed at the end of October, and Visions by Kimeu Korg.

The latter is another set of studies of Second Life, often featuring and avatar or avatars, some of which are beautifully humorous, while others weave a story in the observer’s mind. All are beautifully executed and the exhibition as a whole should not be missed.

SLurl Details

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

Now open at CKB Art Gallery curated by Ceakay (CK) Ballyhoo is The Haze. It is the latest installation in a series of living stories featuring art and focused on the adventures of a principal character, whose journey we are invited to follow in words, images and settings. For The Haze, CK returns to her own character of Ellie, who featured in A Watercolour Wander (read here for more) and The Forest Beyond (read here for more) in a collaborative story developed with 2D and 3D artist Silas Merlin.

“It was an offer I couldn’t refuse,” CK says of the installation. “An offer from Silas to use his new builds and sketches to form a story. Using Silas’s new digital sketches and the ruins and creatures he has created, a world started to form, darker than anything we’ve either done before, the story turned into a nightmare: Ellie’s nightmare.”

The result is a full region installation far removed from the green and pleasant lands of the first two instalments of Ellie’s dreamworld adventures. Instead, visitors find themselves in a desert-like, ghostly landscape, heavy with a dusty haze (I recommend exploring using the default windlight). Instructions on following the story can be found at the landing point – and should be read. In short, look for the little illuminated STORY stones set on the ground along the way, each one presents a chapter in the unfolding nightmare.

Another difference between this and Ellie’s previous adventures is that not only are the chapters presented in note card form when the stones are clicked, but approach a stone will trigger it being read to you – just have local sounds enabled (*not* the audio stream) to hear the readings. These readings can actually overlap one another, depending on how many are playing when you visit, and where you are in relation to the different stones. This might annoy some; for me, they actually added extra ambience: whispering ghostly voices, overlapping but each telling a story – if you listen carefully and focus on just one of the voices.

The setting, with its deserting buildings, twisted trees, creatures and ruins, presents an eerie landscape, barren despite the trees – which appear a sickly yellow-green, rather than the usual robust green of fir-trees.  It’s a haunting place in which scenes loom up at you. They can seem disjointed, sudden – and very nightmare-like for doing so. Amidst all the rocks and fir-trees, seemingly dead trees also sit, their branches denuded of leaves, left to form easels on which groups of Silas’ drawings sit. These also have little STORY stones alongside of them which, when touched, will deliver background notes on a scene to you in note card form, adding further depth the the story.

Silas’ art is as captivating as ever – and there is a lot to see from buildings to gnomes to creatures to rocks (someone them resembling creatures) to people awaiting discovery. The 2D art forming the background stories is cleverly presented and offers an illustrative style reminiscent of a storybook – so thoroughly in keeping with the setting. He and CK have created an immersive tale, one which invites exploration  – and be sure to keep an eye out for the Boogeyman and also the dragon rezzer – the latter will allow you to fly up to the higher reaches of the setting, unreachable by foot, and essential to the story.

Also when visiting, don’t miss the UP teleport at the landing point – it will take you to a sky gallery where you can find CK’s own art, more from Silas as well as from other artists, all taken from CK’s personal collection.

Related Links

• The Haze (Storybrooke, rated: Adult)
• Ceakay’s blog