Tag: Art 2019

I confess that Vibes Gallery, curated (I believe) by Eviana Robbiani, is a place that I’d not come across until I received an invite from Storie’s Helendale (GlitterPrincess Destiny) to attend her latest exhibition there – one of three that can be experienced within the somewhat grunge-like gallery setting that offers an appeal of its own.

Storie’s often tends to take the more unusual / thought provoking as the theme for her exhibitions, and this – although brief in some respects – is no different. Entitled Athazagoraphobia, it takes its title from what is perhaps one of the least talked about human phobias: fear of being forgotten or of forgetting others.  It is often associated with the families / loved ones of Alzheimer’s/dementia patients, who fear their loved ones will forget them eventually, but can be encountered elsewhere, and in the form of a fear of being forgotten by those we love after we have passed.

In this, athazagoraphobia has a role to play in our digital lives. What happens if we leave SL, will those we have known be remembered? How long will our work / activities here help hold us in the minds of others? Even if our work remains, will it help people to recall us, as the people responsible for that work? What happens if someone we know decides to leave Second Life? will they continue to think of us, to recall our friendship, our company? Will we live on in their thoughts?

Through words and images, this appears to be the element of athazagoraphobia Storie’s explores in this small, but evocative exhibition. In it, she uses images to offer the suggestion of fading memories and words to question how we might be recalled, to bring in the focus the desire to be remembered, to be more than a fading memory or the name assigned to an image or object. It’s a dark subject – emphasised by Storie’s request that a dark windlight setting is used when visiting – but it is also one hauntingly brought to life through her images.

I retained the same windlight setting – Phototools No Light, although Midnight will also work – to view Evolution, an exhibition by Lexia Kohime. In difference to many avatar study exhibitions, the focus of this exhibition is the male portrait: close-in head studies present in a range of finishes: colour, monochrome and sepia finishes, these are fascinating pieces, each rich with its own life, a capturing and framing of the nature of the subjects.

The exceptions to the pieces sit to one end of the gallery space, where a smaller selection of female avatar head studies can be found. I confess that, as engaging as the male studies are, I found several of these to be more coptivating. Not because they are of female avatars (I have no bias either way when it comes to avatar studies), but because I found four of them to be rich in the kind of narrative I love to discover within images.

The final exhibition – which commenced in mid-May 2019, and so might not have much longer to run – is an ensemble selection featuring Aurora Donner, Zoota Manota, Petra Messioptra, Meilo Minotaur, Marina Munter, Armand Parks, Erika Xaron, Patrick of Ireland and Rodnoc.

Again entirely focused on avatars, perhaps the best way to describe the theme of this selection is “colour”; each piece contains a colour palette and / or tone that immediately draws the visitor into it.

With three engaging exhibitions offering a richness of art and avatar studies for May / June, I look forward to returning to Vibes Gallery to witness future exhibitions.

SLurl Details

• Vibes Gallery (Wanderers Retreat, rated: Adult)

Currently on display at the Vision of Beauty Art Complex is an exhibition of art by -Jolie- (JolieElle Parfort). Spread across two levels of the gallery space, each connected to the other via a teleport system, this is a fabulous introduction to Jolie’s landscape paintings for those who may not have previously encountered her work.

Jolie describing her art as post-impressionism. This school of painting tends to be denoted through the use of heavy brush-strokes and an eschewing of impressionism’s accurate depiction of light, opting instead for the use of vivid and sometimes unnatural colours and tones, whilst often including a degree of geometric form and / or a distortion of form for visual effect.

Much of this is very much present in Jolie’s work, as demonstrated in the selection she offers in this exhibition. Her flamingos strikingly bold in colour, which also saturates the vegetation behind them, for example (see above right), while geometry and the passage of strong, firm brush strokes are also clearly in evidence through several of the pieces.

So too are pieces that feel much closer to the work of the great impressionists. For example, Gulf Afternoon and Morning Rushes, which can both be seen in the banner image for this review each off a sense of light, motion and the passage of time which leans them towards impressionism, the heavy brushwork evidenced in the former notwithstanding. Similarly, other pieces such as Hurricane Frolic have about them a wonderfully subtle tone of abstract.

Thus, to offer a single encompassing descriptive style to this exhibition is – to me – doing the pieces offered within it something of as disservice. While Jolie’s art may well have a focus on post-impressionism, it encompasses so much more, and quite marvellously so, with a depth and richness that is completely captivating to the eye.

This beauty is enhanced particularly by the rooftop setting for part of the exhibition. With its wooden deck and piers, and wind-rippled water, this part of the exhibition draws the visitor into the rooftop display – and I would suggest perhaps flicking you viewer over to a midnight setting as well as viewing them in the ambient daylight; this again brings forth their depth and richness quite marvellously.

SLurl Details

• JolieElle Parfort at Visions of Beauty Art Complex (Whinlatter, rated Moderate)

Update: due to illness in Sophie’s family, and as per Fuyuko’s comment below, the opening has been postponed until 14:00 on Wednesday, June 5th.

HippiMagic Art Studio and Gallery opens its doors for its first public exhibition at 12:00 noon SLT on Sunday, June 2nd, 2019, featuring the art of TaraAers and Fuyuko ‘冬子’ Amano (Wintergeist), supported with art by the gallery’s curator, Sophie Dunn (Sophie72 Congrejo) and a pair of fractal pieces by Raytracer (rinomon).

Occupying a 4096 sq m parcel, the gallery is split between in-door and out-door spaces in which the art is displayed, the landing point area neatly linking the two, and acting as an information point.

Within the gallery building is the display of Fuyuko’s art, which shares the gallery’s two levels with Sophie’s work (you might need to right-click on some of the images to determine the art through the Edit / Build floater, as the placement of the art is deliberately mixed). The upper level of the gallery also features a study space reserved for staff / invitees.

Fuyuko is well-known for her landscape art captured from within Second Life, and this is encompassed within the selection on offer here – but it is also mixed with some of her physical world photography to further demonstrate the breadth of her work. And in this, I confess to being constantly drawn to her photograph Past is Prologue, which has a beautiful melding of light, reflection, colour, symmetry (with the candle bowls), and the subtle hint of standing on the cusp between old and new years, all of which builds within it a wonderful sense of story.

Out in the garden (although with a couple of pieces tucked into the gallery building as well), Tara presents a selection of her art with each piece paired with a verse by Olean (Oleanhorok). This makes the selection something of a partner to her selection of images paired with Olean’s words for the May 2019 Visual Poems exhibition at The Edge Gallery (see: The magic of images and words in Second Life).

Each image  – captured from within Second Life – is rendered as a painting, with the  images displayed in the garden split between a version framed as a picture, and an unframed version that has been paired with Olean’s words. Both versions of each piece are offered for sale (as are Fuyuko’s pieces inside the gallery), offering those interested in the art a choice of potential purchases. There is a softest of colour and tone that makes Tara’s work attractive in its own right, and there is something captivating about the blending of her images with Olean’s verses.

A short wander in the garden in the direction of the 1960’s decorated VW camper van will reveal Raytracer’s fractal pieces neatly tucked into a candlelit corner, while indoors, Sophie’s work mixes will with Fuyuko’s to complete the exhibition.

The opening event for the gallery will feature both the key artists and music by DJ Phee Wonder. It will run through until 14:00 SLT.

SLurl Details

• HippiMagic Art Studio and Gallery (Glenshire, rated: Adult)

Officially opening on Tuesday, May 28th, 2019 with a special celebration starting at 18:00 SLT, is La Galerie D’angle, curated by Mary Zimmer. On display is a exhibition of art by Donna Giordano (Ohsoleomio), and it’s an intriguing exhibition for an inaugural event.

An abstract artist in the physical world, Donna presents almost 30 pieces of her art, the majority of which offer rich rich palettes of colour and wonderfully abstract images that offer suggestions of a sunset on water, fields in the breeze, coastal landscapes and what might be storm-struck rocks – or lightning-split clouds, sailing ships on the ocean, and more.

Mixed with these are pieces that have a wonderful geometric look and feel to them and mosaics with a depth of colour within them that makes their texture almost tactile in its richness.

As some who appreciates abstract art, these are pictures which hold a strong appeal; but while the colour images have a marvellous attraction, I admit to being deeply drawn to the monochrome images there is a depth and rawness that is stunning. In this I would particularly single out Perfect Storm, the aforementioned piece depicting what might be lightning and storm clouds or foam-topped waves crashing against rocks.

This is a superb exhibition with which to open a new gallery, pieces that invite the imagination to take flight. I wish Mary every success with her venture. Those wishing to celebrate the opening with her can do so from 18:00 SLT on May 28th, with music from Bill Tigerpaw, who will be followed a 19:00 by Djembe Dragonfire before DJ Skip takes over from 20:00.

SLurl Details

• La Galerie D’angle (Jacksonville Island, rated: Moderate)