Tag: Art 2017

Elo’s Ray of Light in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Ray of Light
Ray of Light

I first encountered the art of Elo (Elorac Paule) at the Nitroglobus Roof Gallery in an intriguing and key-catching display entitled Always Closer (see here for more). I was therefore delighted to learn from friend (and arts) Owl Dragonash, that Elo would be exhibiting Ray of Light, a selection of her work at Commune Utopia.

For those not familiar with it, Commune Utopia is a Bohemian community within Second Life with over 1800 group members. Founded by Sedi (Seductive Dreamscape), the commune celebrates creativity, passion, laughter, music and art, and fosters a caring, inclusive environment all are welcome to visit and enjoy – and join, if they wish. Owl handles a lot of the music aspects of the commune, and details on events can be found both on her blog, and on the official Commune Utopia blog.

Ray of Light
Ray of Light

With Ray of Light, Elo presents fourteen of her captivating studies, most of which should be considered NSFW, and all of which contain considerable expression. One or two among them may be familiar from Elo’s other exhibitions, but this doesn’t in any way reduce them experience of seeing them here. These are emotive, seductive and physical pieces, rich in their allure and perfectly suited to being displayed together.

Offered in a large format and in an outdoor environment, these are very much personal studies, focused on Elo herself. As such they reveal a number of facets of her personality, and dip into some of her explorations of sensuality in Second Life. Coupled with the fact many of the images have nudity (hence the NSFW note), this personal, sensual aspect to the pieces might be taken to mean the visitor is perhaps cast into the role of voyeur.

Ray of Light
Ray of Light

However, I’d suggest this is not the case. For the majority of the pieces, whether colour or monochrome there is far more of an invitation for us to become partners within the  scenes set by the pictures, rather than the suggestion that we are furtive observers. This adds a layer of emotional response: the desire to reach into these pictures, caress and share is powerful.

Ray of Light is an excellent exhibition, offered in a setting which invites wider exploration as well – be it the small art studios perched around the exhibition area, or the rest of the region as a whole.  Recommended.

SLurl Details

Illogism at MetaLES in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
MetaLES: Illogism
MetaLES: Illogism

Now open at MetaLES, curated by Ux Hax and Romy Nayar, is Illogism (from the French Illogisme, or illogicality), an exhibition of 55 images by Chimkami. These are presented in large format within a bizarre environment visualised by Romy Nayar, designed to represent disproportionate, or diform, doll’s houses of enormous size, and which are themselves contained within a large doll’s house.

“At all heights, outside as inside the houses, “Chimkami notes in her introduction to the setting, “you can discover the photos in this universe freed from any constraint, exposed with [the] nonsensical. Each corner and nook will reveal photos and rest places. Will you have nerves to find them ? Walk, fly, use your camera, relax, laugh, observe, discuss, as you want. Only one thing matters: take pleasure in it!”

MetaLES: Illogism
MetaLES: Illogism

It is a curious, bewildering environment where gravity plays no part: a dance floor is located on a ceiling, objects occupy roof tops and floors, images hang from walls or occupy the clefts and cuts through objects. Houses stand and float or sit at the end of disembodied stairs and plank-like walks, their shapes twisted, squeezed or bent, the photos in them, on them and around them.

The best way to get around is to join the MetaLES group at the installation’s landing point. This will give you local rezzing rights, so you can grab a Walker from the neighbouring board, rez it, and then sit on it. This will allow you to freely explore the space – use the standard WASD keys of arrow keys for navigation – and will also allow your to walk up walls, cross ceilings and along the various twisted paths through the exhibition. Along the way, there are various points where you might also enjoy rides, take a seat, and so on.

MetaLES: Illogism
MetaLES: Illogism

The images themselves are an eclectic mix, focusing on avatar studies, but not exclusive human in nature. Some are stylised, others more direct, others lean towards monochrome, others in bright, bold colours. All are subject to individual interpretation and appreciation. Such is the size of things, that getting around to everything can take time.

Illogism is an interesting piece. Quirky, a little out of the ordinary, a space where we are presented as tiny explorers, and where everything is being close examined from “outside” – look out for the eyes staring through the windows of the enclosing doll’s house. It will remain open through until February 28th, 2017.

SLurl Details

A dream within a dream: celebrating Poe in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
DaphneArts: Edgar Allan Poe Tribute
DaphneArts: Edgar Allan Poe Tribute

January 19th, 2017 marks the 208th anniversary of Edgar Allan Poe’s birth. A literary critic, writer and poet, Poe is perhaps best remembered for his tales and poems of the macabre, although he is seen as the creator of detective fiction, and a leading figure of the Romantic movement in the United States.

Down through the decades, his work has been the inspiration for many in literature, art, radio, film and television. To mark his anniversary, DaphneArts Gallery curated by  Angelika Corral and SheldonBR, is mounting a special exhibition entitled, appropriately enough, Edgar Allan Poe Tribute.

DaphneArts: Edgar Allan Poe Tribute
DaphneArts: Edgar Allan Poe Tribute

A mixed media event, the exhibition features images eight photographers: Edie Horngold, Kate Bergdorf, Mi, Nevereux, Noirran Marx, Jason (fitFanatic), Dr. Strangelove and Sunset Teas. These can be found in two halls of the DaphneArts Gallery 1 space, whilst accompanying them in the remaining two halls is an installation by Angelika and Sheldon. In the first of these rooms visitors can hear Angelika reciting A Dream Within A Dream and in the second stands a micro universe based on the story of the Fall of the house of Usher.

“Our main interest here is in the bizarre and surreal, and Poe has always been one of our favourites,” Sheldon told me, when I dropped in on him and Angelika as they were finalising set-up for the exhibition. “We have always wanted to do something inspired by his works, and decided that being part of the celebration of his 208th birthday would be a good chance to do it.”

DaphneArts: Edgar Allan Poe Tribute - Fall of the House of Usher display
DaphneArts: Edgar Allan Poe Tribute – Fall of the House of Usher display

“His dark, Gothic style is really inspiring,” Angelika added. “It seems our invited photographers like it as well, because their photos came out really strong.”

This is certainly true. Each of the images on display (some of which are seen in the top two images of this article) carries a resonance of Poe’s writing. Some of them do so directly, bearing clear motifs associated with his work, such as the presence of a raven. Others more subtle in their approach – such as with Berenice by Mi.

A Dream Within A Dream offers an immersive environment featuring visual elements and music, together with Angelika’s recital of the poem. In a dark room, dust motes swirl gently on an unfelt twist of air; gentle music and vocals slowly fill the space as Angelika reads this, one of Poe’s most famous poems, in which he laments our inability to prevent the passage of time and asking if can we really distinguish between reality and fantasy?

DaphneArts: Edgar Allan Poe Tribute - Sheldon and Angelika show me Dream Within A Dream
DaphneArts: Edgar Allan Poe Tribute – Sheldon and Angelika show me Dream Within A Dream

“Angelika and I have been working with this idea of 3D exhibitions,” Sheldon said, aftar we had listened to Angelika’s recital. “We like to explore all the possibilities that SL offers us, so we added our contribution to the exhibition in this way.”

It’s an approach that certainly works, the scripts geared to synchronize music and voice as the matching words appear floating in the darkness. What’s more, the poem is a fitting piece for this exhibition, staged as it is in the “unreal” world of bits, bytes, pixels and and packets. Alongside of of the recital space, the model of the House of Usher stands as tribute to another of Poe’s enduring works.

The official opening for Edgar Allan Poe Tribute will take place at 12:00 noon SLT on Thursday, January 19th. Thereafter, the exhibition will remain open for around two months.

SLurl Details

Cica’s Burning and poetic musings in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Cica Ghost: Burning
Cica Ghost: Burning

Burning is the title of Cica Ghost’s latest region-wide build, which opened on Sunday, January 15th. It is a piece which stands in contrast to several of her recent builds in that it is of a darker tone and style. Under a lowering, cloud-heavy sky, lit by a distant sunset, a town burns. The land around it is scorched and aflame, ashen tree trunks, bereft of branches and leaves, point to the heavy sky like gnarled, accusative fingers.

Within the town, the tall buildings are charred, their pain blistered and blackened as flames lick doorways and windows. Some walls carry some of Cica’s usually light and happy stick figures, which here are cast in a new role as poignant reminders that this was once a happier place. A single bridge spans what might be the parched bed of a vanished body of water, offering a way into – or perhaps an escape route out of – the conflagration.

Cica Ghost: Burning
Cica Ghost: Burning

The who, what, how and why of the fire’s origin are not revealed. The burning landscape and buildings are an open page on which we can write our own view of what has occurred. However, with all that is going on in the physical world, coupled with the general presentation of Burning, it tends to cause the name Aleppo to spring to mind. So is Burning perhaps a political commentary?

Possibly. But before we decide or judge, Cica provides a possible clue to interpreting the work. It comes in the form of a quote: time is the fire in which we burn. It’s part of a line from  a 1938 poem by Delmore Schwartz entitled, Calmly We Walk Through This April’s Day (also sometimes called For Rhoda), which is by coincidence, a poem I know quite well. In it, Schwartz records how we go about our daily lives largely unaware of the uncontrollable passage of time and the fact that, with every moment, we are closer to our own deaths and the deaths of those we love. From childhood through adulthood, we are so often caught within the minutiae of our lives that we lose track of all that is really important – or should be; only in our closing years do we realise what has happened – by which time all may lie burnt by time.

Cica Ghost: Burning
Cica Ghost: Burning

So is Cica presenting us with a philosophical piece with Burning? “I didn’t know about the poem,” she told me, “But I came across the line while searching for quotes about fire, and it fitted what I wanted to say.”

The quote in question attributed the line as coming from a character in the movie Star Trek Generations, hence why Cica didn’t make the connection. However, she has perfectly captured the tone and meaning of Schwartz’s poem as a whole, from the melancholy through to the way in which we do hurry through our lives – as exemplified by the visitors Caitlyn and I sat and watched from one of several perches in the installation (hover your mouse around to find them) as they hurried back and forth through the buildings and trees before vanishing.

Cica Ghost: Burning
Cica Ghost: Burning

That Cica has captured all of the nuance within Calmly We Walk…. may have been serendipitous, spinning outward from that one line from the poem, but that doesn’t matter. Serendipity is often the cousin to artistic expression, and the pairing of the installation with the entire poem broadens our understanding and appreciation of Burning. It also perhaps sits with that image of Aleppo which pops into the mind when first arriving. Schwartz wrote his poem shortly before the outbreak of World War 2, a time when towns and cities burned and lives  – and generations – were shattered; thus another layer of poignancy is added to the installation.

SLurl Details

  • Burning (Aggramar, rated:  Moderate)

Mistero and William: dimensions in art in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
DiXmiX Gallery: Mistero Hifeng
DiXmiX Gallery: Mistero Hifeng

One display at DiXmiX Gallery for approximately a month, are two new exhibitions of art, one by Mistero Hifeng, and the second by William “Paperwork” Weaver.

Perhaps best known for his evocative 3D sculptures, which have become very much a feature of many regions across Second Life over the last few years, Mistero is no stranger to the gallery. Since it opened in September 2016, pieces from Megan Prumier’s personal collection of his work have been integrated into the overall design of the gallery as conceived by Megan, and Mistero has used her approach as the launchpad for his exhibition.

DiXmiX Gallery: Mistero Hifeng
DiXmiX Gallery: Mistero Hifeng

Located on the ground and mezzanine floors of the Grey Gallery at DiXmiX is a selection of some of Mistero’s more recent pieces mixed with some with which those familiar with his work may be familiar. But in addition to these is a display of his photography (which was his original reason for creating his first sculptures), offered in a large format, presenting visitors with a unique opportunity to see and appreciate Mistero’s artistry in both 2D and 3D.

Building on Megan’s idea of integrating his sculptures with the gallery structure, Mistero has a couple of pieces appearing to extrude themselves from pillar and ceiling, whilst throughout the hall, many of the other pieces make their presence felt almost peripherally. Rather than occupying the central floor spaces, they stand close to pillars, against guard rails. Thus, the visitor is made aware of their presence in the most subtle of ways as they allow Mistero’s 2D are to dominate the display spaces, naturally drawing attention to them before it naturally turns to the sculptures. Thus we are encouraged to appreciate both in turn, rather having 3D and 2D art vie for attention.

DiXmiX Gallery: William Weaver's The Paperwork Shows
DiXmiX Gallery: William Weaver’s The Paperwork Shows

Ensconced in the White Gallery at DiXmiX, which has been given something of a make-over for the event, is The Paperwork Shows, William Weaver’s exhibition, which officially opened on Saturday, January 14th, 2017.

An accomplished Second Life and physical world photographer, William is also responsible for the original Phototools for the Firestorm viewer, which expose the many and various photography and machinima related capabilities within the viewer, bringing them together within a neatly tabulated floater. Originally provided by William as a set of optional XML additions to Firestorm, were originally offered as a bolt-on option, Phototools were later fully integrated into Firestorm.

DiXmiX Gallery: William Weaver's The Paperwork Shows
DiXmiX Gallery: William Weaver’s The Paperwork Shows

With The Paperwork Shows, William offers a section of his 2D Second Life Art (some of which should be considered NSFW), and some of his 3D pieces. All of these are exhibited alongside two interactive elements; William’s own Photo Ring, and another featuring  a sculpture by Dolores Olivieri, both of which visitors to the exhibition can use to pose themselves and take their own photos.

The majority of the 2D art is offered at slideshows in the central display area of the White Gallery, although there are some individual pieces also on display, while one of the 3D elements is a model William built expressly for the purpose of photographing. He also provides a number of models to photographers  – some of which are in turn based on paintings or photographs – free of charge via the SL Marketplace.

DiXmiX Gallery: Mistero Hifeng
DiXmiX Gallery: Mistero Hifeng

Taken individually or together, there are two fascinating exhibitions, and both should be open for around a month. When visiting the gallery, do please consider a donation towards its continued upkeep, and be sure to catch Miles Cantelou’s exhibit which you can read about here) and Megan’s delightful aviation-themed gallery lounge.

SLurl Details

No Frontiers in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
No Frontiers - Gem Preiz
No Frontiers – Gem Preiz

I’ve long been an admirer of Gem Preiz. His work in creating magnificent vistas using fractal art is simply astonishing. So it was a genuine pleasure to once again be offered an opportunity to previewing his latest installation, which opens on Thursday, January 12th, and runs through until the end of June.

No Frontiers is, in at least some ways, a sequel to his last two environments, Hertiage: Vestiges and Heritages: Wrecks (which you can respectively read about here and here). Within it, we are again asked to engage upon a journey through space and time. But where the Hertiage pieces were perhaps rooted in a dark vision of a future encompassing loss and departure, only brightening at the very end, No Frontiers presents something altogether more optimistic, a vision of a vast cosmos awaiting us, with opportunities unbounded, the potential for new encounters and a celebration of what we are, and what we may yet mature into.

No Frontiers - Gem Preiz
No Frontiers – Gem Preiz

As with is previous works, No Frontiers invites the visitor to travel through a series of vast halls, in which each of is placed a single, gigantic fractal image, each comprising around 18 individual elements. The halls are all interconnected by tubes, and are so vast, flying is the most practical way to see them. To assist in this, Gem provides two flying vehicles, a single-seater and a tandem two-seater (although visitors are welcome to free fly is they prefer). These are found in the “departure hall”, where instructions on how best to appreciate the installation can be found. I recommend the latter are read, and that in particular, particles are turned up and the music stream is enabled.

In addition to the massive, intricate and breath-taking fractal images, the halls include 3D elements designed by Gem which further enhance both the environment and add to the narrative suggested by each image. Some of these may be easily translatable, others may actually be more subtle, and require observation to pick up on their nuance.

No Frontiers - Gem Preiz
No Frontiers – Gem Preiz

For example, within one hall, two spirals of spheres slowly rotate, horizontal arms extending from the spheres. Each resembles a strand of DNA vertically split, and as they rotate, every so often they align to become the familiar double helix. But on either side of this joining, when they almost align, there are perhaps hints at other forms of DNA, suggesting life alien to ours, waiting to be discovered in our voyage out into the cosmos.

Suggestions of alien civilisations appear elsewhere as well. Take, as another example, the tiny spacecraft forming orderly lines of traffic heading towards a planet being orbited by a vast structure (the 2nd image in this article). Are these intergalactic commuters on their way to / from work? And what of the giant ringed sphere floating before a similar such object orbiting another world with one of Gem’s images? What tale of intelligences might they hold?

No Frontiers - Gem Preiz
No Frontiers – Gem Preiz

Meanwhile the connecting tubes themselves suggest two things. On the one hand, they are offered to us and connecting tunnels between environments, capped at either end by airlocks. On the other, they resemble wormholes we fly through, tunnels through the fabric of space and time, allowing us to travel the vast distances of the cosmos in mere seconds.

At the very end of the journey, visitors enter a vast space, surrounded by distant stars, and within which, as one rises through it, lay planets, spheres, the funnel of a black hole, the billion and billions of stars contained within an ever-spinning spiral galaxy. And, eventually, a landing platform / arrival point where they can safely lands and exit their craft.

No Frontiers - Gem Preiz
No Frontiers – Gem Preiz

Gem’s work is never less than awe-inspiring; and while he has used 3D elements in past installations no Frontiers offers something entirely new in how physical elements are images have been combined to add to our sense of voyage and immersion. Add to this the soundtrack he has provided, and No Frontiers makes for a stunning experience, visually, aurally and for the imagination. Not something to be missed. The official opening will be at 13:00 SLT on Thursday, January 12th and as noted, the installation will remain open until the end of June 2017.

SLurl Details