Currently on display on the ground floor of Club LA and Gallery, curated by Fuyuko ‘冬子’ Amano (Wintergeist) is a modest exhibition of landscape photography by Myf McMahon, a Second Life photographer whose work had previously escaped me.
With 12 images on offer, this is a small but comfortable exhibition featuring pictures of some of Second Life’s more popular public regions such as Ukivok, Author’s Point, :nostos deer:, Wild Edge and (I believe) Cold Ash. Each image is intended to evoke a feeling or sentiment – as indicated by their titles – And the end of all our exploring, That missing part that we are always searching for, etc., and each of them succeed in achieving this.
These are elegant images, showing the minimum of required post-processing to bring them to life. And while none of them feature avatars and few feature animals or birds, they are nevertheless rich in life: the toss of waves, the pressure of wind and breeze as signified by the bent backs of trees or the billowing of a windsock – even the casual leaning of a bicycle against a railing.
I understand from the notice outside the gallery that Club LA and Gallery may be under some renovation, and given I’ve not dropped in for a while, I’m not sure how long this little exhibition will remain, so a visit in the short term might be advised.
This review might be coming a little late in the day – so my apologies to all, especially the artist. However, May 20th saw the opening of an exhibition at Diotima Art Gallery curated by Redi (Red Bikcin) featuring the remarkable work of artist ViktorSavior.
Viktor is a mixed-media artist whose work spans both the physical world and Second Life. I first encountered it at the start of the year (see here for more), witnessing his paintings and – particularly – his drawings, which immediately captivated me. Since then I’ve been to several exhibitions featuring his work, and have continued to admire it.
With Dancing Beauties, the title of his display at Diotima Gallery, Viktor once again presents a selection of his monochrome drawings in an exhibition that can be broadly split into two parts. In the front part of the gallery, and mounted on the walls, are fifteen studies of avatar couples enjoying moments of intimacy – which do involve female nudity, and thus might be considered NSFW.
In the rear hall of the gallery, these gently give way to 11 studies of individual avatars in motion.
What makes Viktor’s art so attractive is the fact that his drawings are not merely snapshots that have been captured in the viewer and then post-processed to resemble line drawings – they are all executed by hand, and quite wonderfully so.This gives them a depth of life far greater than would otherwise be the case, a fact amply demonstrated in the selection of images here.
Those to the front of the gallery that feature couples – with no small degree of nudity that might make them NSFW – are wonderfully drawn. In them we see genuinely intimate moments that are in no way voyeuristic; rather, they are moving in the way they visualise the tender dance of love and devotion between two people.
Similarly, the 11 images on individual avatars are extraordinary in the manner in which they capture the life within their avatar subjects, containing as they do a what can be the subconscious dance on life. Rich in motion and energy, these are also captivating in their richness and strength, their monochrome form bringing this to the fore perhaps far more than had they been rendered in colour.
This is a genuinely engaging exhibition which might not have too much longer to run, so I do recommend hopping over to Diotima Gallery sooner rather than later in order to catch it.
Update, June 24th: due to low visitor numbers, Cica ha opted to replace Luna Park with a new dynamic installation called Cubes, which you can read about in Cica’s Cubism in Second Life.
Cica Ghost opened her latest installation on Saturday, June 15th. Called Luna Park, it is once again a whimsical trip into the fantastic.
As usual with her pieces, Cica offers a quote to go with the installation, this one from Walt Disney:
It’s a part of a wider quote from the famous animator and film producer that reflected his entire philosophy towards films and entertainment – and why so many of us find his animated films so endearing: “You’re dead if you aim only for kids. Adults are only kids grown up, anyway.”
This approach is why Disney films can be touchstone to our childhood, a reminder of a time when we were able to forget the world around us and let our imaginations run wild, even if only for an hour or so.
And so it is with Luna Park. It’s an opportunity for us to let go of the adult sensibilities and embrace our inner child; to put aside worries and concerns and simply immerse ourselves in fun, frivolity and lightness. It offers a marvellous landscape filled with curios and strangeness intended to raise a smile.
From a strange horn-like machine that will dump odd metal shapes on you if you stand at the landing point, to tall funnels and box-like stages and boot / funnel-like structures, this is an interactive theme park where visitors are invited to wander, dance, sit, observe and have fun. There’s a lot to see and do throughout – make sure you take the time to hover the mouse over as much as you can, there are dances and poses throughout; make sure as well, that you climb all the ladders to climb into the boxes and funnels where steps are offered – you might find a few surprises!
It’s a place with many reminders of Cica’s past builds – such as her Frogs, a new take on her cats, her delightful flowers and stick figures and crow – even some of the structures present echoes of previous works, making Luna Park somewhat evocative as well.
But, when all is said and done, this is an installation that should be experienced, rather than written about, so I urge you to pay a visit and let your inner child out to play. Luna Park will be only be around for a month – and do please consider making a donation towards the cost of the region and Cica’s future art in SL.
I recently received a couple of invitations to visit the new Focus Magazine Gallery, one from CybeleMoon, who is their inaugural Featured Artist exhibiting in the main gallery, and also from Angela Thespian, Editor of Focus Magazine.
The main gallery occupies the upper floor of one wing of a multi-purpose building located within a sky platform designed to resemble a city-space. With the use of projected lighting, it is an ideal environment for displaying 2D – and is especially finely suited to CybeleMoon’s (Hana Hoobinoo) marvellous art-as-stories, the bright, modern lines of the gallery with the muted cream tones perfectly compliment the dark tones and depth of light of Cybele’s art.
The exhibition accompanies a feature article on Cybele in the June issue of Focus Magazine that makes for excellent reading for those not familiar with Cybele herself, offering rich insight into the influences on her life and art. It goes a long was to explaining why I am a confirmed admirer of Cybele’s work; while her art far outstrips anything I could hope to achieve, we nevertheless share common themes of interest: Celtic mythology, the attraction of certain landscapes: misty glens, high moorland fens, remote tors and the beauty of light caught between the branches of trees; the muse of music – notably Ennio Morricone (perhaps the single most gifted composer of the 20th century), James Newton Howard and Klaus Badlet.
But it is her art, first and foremost that attracts me; the richness of tone, the mixing and balance of light and shade, the symbolism and – most poignantly – the depth of narrative. As such – and as I’ve often said, her art is not to be missed, and at Focus, she presents a broad portfolio of her work that offers a superb introduction for those not familiar with her work, and an engaging makes a visit more than worthwhile.
Tucked into a corner across the central area of the platform (which was in a state of flux when I visited, being a green park the first couple of times I dropped in earlier in the week, then sprouting a drive-in movie theatre when I dropped in on Saturday – a sign that this is an evolving setting) is the FAIR gallery – for Focus Artists In Residence programme. Split between two floors, this offers four exhibition spaces which for June feature the art of Naema (mojosb5c), Red Fire (RobinLeia), Tig (tigggg) and Angela herself.
All four present art focused on avatar studies, but the work is so richly various in style and approach that the visitor doesn’t feel overwhelmed by the volume of pieces on offer. These are four artists who individually have a depth of style that is attractive to the eye, and I found it somewhat refreshing to see a gallery featuring male self-portraits as an Artist In Residence exhibit; not that this doesn’t happen – just that it seems at times to be rare.
But I confess it was perhaps Red Fire’s work that most deeply attracted me. Incorporating that subtle balance of light and dark, often carrying a fantasy / fantastical theme, and with that all-important narrative subtext, I found Red’s art utterly captivating.
With strong roots in the arts community through the magazine and it sin-world group – Too Sexy For This Group (TSFTG) -, and with the perspective of using the main gallery space to offer additional focus on their featured artist for each issue, of the magazine, Focus Magazine Gallery promises to make for a fascinating – no pun intended – focus for future visits.
Currently open at Galerie des Machines, curated by Olympe (OLYMPES Rhode), is an immersive, interactive exhibition entitled Poetical Revolt (with a play on “love” in the title), an ensemble installation by Yoon (Onyxxe), along with Mi-Angie (Angie Abraham), Tutsy Navarathna, and ChimKami Resident.
The installation is an interesting concept, taking as its basis a poem by Jean Nicolas Arthur Rimbaud (1854-1891), often regarded as a “revolutionary” French poet known for his influence on modern literature and arts, which prefigured surrealism. The poem in question is Vowels, which linked the vowels of the alphabet with colours: A = black; E = white; I = red; O = green; U = blue, and the thoughts they bring to mind.
Viewing the installation requires you have the viewer’s Advanced Lighting Model (ALM) enabled (Preference > Graphics), and should have the time of day set to midnight (or, if you have it available, set your local windlight to Phototools No Light). Locals sounds should also be enabled. Those wishing to more fully immerse themselves can also use the free colour avatars offered at various points in the installation.
The installation is split into a series of rooms representative of the vowels, and each tending to focus on at least one of the named artists. Interactive elements are to be found within them: animations, links to You Tube videos.
However, how this installation might be interpreted is down to individual insight; I confess, I found the potential of a message to be mixed. On the one hand, the introduction speaks of celebrating change, and one of the artists frames the installation as being a “battle” focused on injustice, climate and pollution. However, on the other, I found the reflection of this within the installation – or choice of figures within it – to be somewhat narrow: Joplin, Smith, Morrison, Cobain, and the Sex Pistols have certainly been influential in shaping modern music and music genres – but instruments of change in matters of injustice, climate and pollution? I’m not entirely convinced.
Nevertheless, there is enough within this installation to catch the eye, so my confusion should not be seen as a reason not to visit it; Poetical Revolt may speak more powerfully to you.
Now open at the Lin C Art Gallery, curated by Lin Carlucci, is an exhibition of physical world paintings by Xirana (Xirana Oximoxi).
An artist from Catalan, Xirana notes of her art:
My works reflect my concerns and my different moods. They are based on my experiences and express a personal sensitivity nourished by impressions from the external world and my internal world. In this latter sense, I like to call them abstractions or ‘mental landscapes’. The works reflect the influences of impressionism, expressionism, abstract expressionism of artists like Jackson Pollock and the informalism among many others.
For this exhibition, Xirana demonstrates this breadth of approach by offering pieces that range from landscapes, to impressionist pieces through to the more abstract.
The majority of the latter are located on the ground floor of the gallery. These are very tonal pieces carrying with them a strong geometric form within them, while the lines and colour offer a sense of informalism to which Xirana alludes in her biography.
The mezzanine level of the gallery contains a range of Xirana’s watercolour landscapes, most of which have a focus on water. Within some there is a hint of abstractionism, whilst one bridges the other six with five pieces that move more towards impressionism in their style, even as they maintain that hint of abstractionism.
Once again, an engaging exhibition presented by Lin that allows us to again share the work of a physical world artist whose work might otherwise remain beyond the reach of many of us.
Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld 