Tag: Art 2020

I first visited Love & Love Art Gallery, curated by Lylaya Love (lylaya), back in June 2020. Since then, it has relocated, and earlier in August, two new exhibitions opened, featuring the work of Kerupa Flow and Norton Lykin respectively.

Kerupa Flow presents another series of her truly remarkable tablet-and-pen creations, the majority of which are monochrome in nature. There is a richness of diversity present in these pieces, suggestive of multiple roots for Kerupa’s work. To take just a handful: When it Rain, for example has an ink wash style about it, whilst Hug and Curious Walker hint at pen-and-ink drawings whilst Lurking Now is surreal in nature and the landscape of Indelible Night carries an abstracted element within it.

I admit to finding Kerupa’s work quite fascinating since first encountering it in 2015; her work is always rich in the narrative it contains, and all of the pieces offered here carry that same strength and depth – perhaps most notably her 3D piece, I’ll be sure to find you.

Across the hall, Norton’s work tends towards the striking, with bold, strong colours, and this exhibition is no exception. Twelve pieces of a somewhat abstract nature with a twist of futurism are presented here, offering reflections on love, life, art and the cosmos.

Several of the pieces reflect the art of others – Mario2 Helstein and Giovanna Cerise, as re-imagined through Norton’s eyes. These are particularly striking, while Sunrise with Shadows and Red Moon present unique views of the most recognisable occupiers of our solar system (outside of Earth).

When visiting, be sure to take the teleport mat to the gallery’s lower floor where, at the time of my visit, Patrick Moya’s iconic art was still on display, nicely balanced by a display by Oblomov (Jos Bookmite) I reviewed back in June 2020.

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• Love & Love Art Gallery (Incanto, rated Adult)

Currently open at ArtCare Gallery, curated by Carelyna, is an ensemble exhibition featuring Black Rose, Juidlynn India, Eva Burroughs, Ladmilla and Eli, and Patrick Ireland, all of whom are presenting theme selects of their art.

For States of Mind, Lamilla and Eli present 24 of their image / poem combinations focused on reflections on life, love, relationships, some of which can lean towards darker, more regretful thoughts, all of which are richly evocative in both form and words – as is always the case with this unique pairing. Rounding out the exhibition is a thirteenth piece sans words, that offers a slide show of images that are again intended to poke at the grey matter.

With Flowers and Sea, Black Rose offers two selections of her physical world paintings which, as the title of her exhibit indicate, focus on flowers and on the sea. The former total seven pieces that are rich in colour, reflective of the vitality and life of their subject matter – which in this case includes butterflies as well as plants.

In the neighbouring bay art eight pieces representing the sea that again use colour to reflect the changing nature of both the ocean and our relationship with it. Some are offered in lighter, paler colours or given predominantly in blue, suggestive of the colder nature of the sea, or the way in which oceans and weather can so often quickly change their moods. Other offer warmer tones – yellows, oranges and reds, with the Sun sitting low over the waters and / or lighting the bellies of clouds. With their softer, warmer shades they remind us of our more romantic views of the sea.

Warmth might also be an adjective that could be applied to Judilynn’s selection of art, presented under the title Texture and Tone, given the deeper colours on offer in these paintings. Another might be tactile, because  – and again in reflection of the title of the collection – these are pieces that are visually physical in their layering on paint and colour.

Most of the pieces are richly abstract in form – and thus powerfully evocative (just look at The Lighthouse, for example, and the richness of colour and narrative it contains). Two perhaps lean more to a suggestion of neo-impressionism with a modern edge.

Eva Burrough’s Visus Aquam (the sight of water) returns to an aquatic theme, the focal point of which is a stunning rendering of water bordered on either side by two sets of superb images of tropical and semi-tropical fish. beyond these, on the wall separating this collection from that of Judilynn are three abstracted images of coral that are as captivating as the six fish paintings, and which offer something of sense of flow between the two exhibits, given their abstracted style. Facing them, and rounding-out the collection are images of ships and lighthouses captured from within Second Life, and two intriguing monochrome studies of coral.

In Carnival, Patrick Ireland offers an unusual trip through his art, and I mean that in a literal sense: re a bumper car, take a seat and get up close and personal with Patrick’s remarkable avatar studies, all of which are powerfully expressive and rich in narrative.

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• ArtCare Gallery (Prychek, rated Moderate)

Currently on display at Konect Art Gallery, operated and curated by Gonzalo Osuna (Jon Rain), head of Konecta Radio, are exhibitions by two artists, one of whom I’m a confirmed admirer – Sisi Biedermann – together with a Second Life photographer who is new to me: Dann Haefnir.

As I’ve noted in past reviews of Sisi’s work, she is one of the most engaging digital mixed-media artists in Second Life; her work is utterly unique and completely captivating, offering a richness of imagination, style and colour. Her subject matter tends to be wide-ranging, covering everything from the natural world through in-world settings to the fantastical and even touching on the abstract and the near-surreal.

For this exhibition, the focus is very much on nature and the natural world, with one or two motifs from classical art (take Reaching Out, for example that offers a hint of Michelangelo’s The Creation of Adam in the form of the two hands within the flowers), and gentle hints of her love of northern islands such as the Faroes (see Wild Beach, with its surrounding of thistles).

What is particularly captivating about many of Sisi’s pieces is the manner in which she creates them: beautifully layered pieces that appear to start with an oil or watercolour, apparently carefully built up to give them a marvellous sense of texture that is genuinely tactile in its depth.

On the ground floor, Dann Haefnir presents a ranging of landscape photographs, interspersed with plant studies. The former are largely from the physical world, although a couple originate in Second Life. All are images that are ideally composed and framed, and quite evocative in the settings they offer, causing the eye and heart to perhaps yearn to walk the rich forests, feel the sands under bare feet or witness what lies beyond the bend in the track.

As noted, this is my first encounter with Dann’s work, but on the strength of the pieces displayed at Konect Art, I look forward to witnessing more exhibitions of his work.

I believe both of these exhibitions run through until the end of August, 2020.

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• Konecta Art Gallery (Carpathian Island, rated Moderate)

Raging Bellls opened the August exhibition at her Raging Graphix Gallery on August 13th, with a selection of art by Seiko Blessing (softandred), that will run through until Sunday, September 20th, 2020.

Seiko is a physical world artist and photographer, starting in the latter at the age of 14 and graduating to the role of her high School public relations photographer whilst still a student. In adult life, she has self-published two books of photography and has seen her work exhibited in museums, galleries and coffee houses.

For this exhibition she offers a selection of her Second Life landscape photographs, many of which are linked by heavy, evocative skies, laden with cloud through which sunlight filters. This evens may of the pieces presented what at first glance might appear to be a dour look, but which actually emphasises the settings present within each piece, delineating houses,  trees, animals, boats and so on with a clarity that is captivating.

Others within the selection make rich use of depth of field to offer richly evocative images, each offering a story that easily captures the eye – so much so that I found it a little sad they were relegated to the stairwell area of the exhibit space, and they might easily be overlooked.

Considered in their composition, tone and finish, sometimes framed with in-world props for a little extra depth, Seiko’s exhibit at Raging Graphix serves as an excellent portfolio of, and introduction to (for those unfamiliar with her photography) her work.

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• Raging Graphix Gallery (Heatherwood, rated Moderate)

Etamae opened her first 3D art installation on August 15th, 2020, with Little Boxes at the Hannington Endowment for the Arts (HEA).

Little Boxes. A simple little song or a political satire about the creation of suburbia and associated conformist middle class attitudes and a reminder to us all how easy it is to lose one’s individuality to ‘fit in’.

– Etamae’s introduction to Little Boxes

Little Boxes was written in 1962 by Malvina Reynolds, an American folk/blues singer-songwriter and political activist and initially became a hit for Pete Seeger in 1963. It was written in response to Reynolds witnessing the birth of suburbia in California through the development of tract housing like that seen in Daly City, San Francisco.

It’s a song that can easily be listened to as a little bit of fun or as a genuine satirical warning against the loss of genuine individuality in the face of the marching drive of middle-class idealism, where everyone attends the same schools and universities, seeks the same class of careers, lives among peers with the same backgrounds and careers and wanting the same precisely the same education / career path for their children.

All of this is perfectly reflected in Eta’s installation, presenting as it does five gaily-coloured little house boxes visitors are invited to enter, each one reflecting within it as specific element of the song’s lyrics (with more on the walls outside) that can be read or – with a click on them – listened to. This makes it something of a simple, light-hearted visit, or a piece to give us pause to reflect on the whole question of individually vs. conformity, which has become perhaps even more prevalent in the decades since the song was first recorded – and in far more than just middle-class suburbia.

Whether you opt to look at Eta’s little Boxes as a tongue-in-cheek installation, or an underscoring of Reyonold’s song, it’s worth hopping over to HEA and taking a look at it and the other installations on offer there. In the meantime here’s the song.

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• Hannington Endowment for the Arts ( Xeltentat Enterprises, rated Moderate)