Tag: Monocle Man

Alsatian Kidd is perhaps best known as a region landscaper; his Green Acres Homestead region has been a regular destination for me for several years, as reported in these pages, and he also provides services to those who would like their regions and parcels landscaped. But in addition to this, he is also an accomplished photographer, as indicated by his Flickr stream and  – for the next couple of weeks – through an exhibition within the Sky Gallery at Monocle Man Galleries, the arts centre operated by Lynx Luga and Kit Boyd.

I often talk about art in terms of the narrative and the story it contains; be it within an individual image and / or through the the overall theme for an exhibition. Sometimes the narrative is offered through the image itself, sometimes through the title it has been given, and sometimes the mix of title and subject. With Nihongo-Ka – which translates best as “turning Japanese” – Alsatian offer a 4-chapter series of images which – thanks to the accompanying word panels – offer a story of one man’s travels through feudal Japan and the adventures / trials he faces.

Starting on the ground floor hall immediately on the right of the entry hall, the story unfolds in a clockwise direction through all four halls of the gallery space. In the first hall, we are introduced to the protagonist – Rokudenashi – and his white wolf, whilst setting the scene for his travels. From here, each chapter takes us, hall by hall, through the pair’s journey, at times introducing us to companions who might aid them, or those who might try to thwart them in achieving their goal.

Within each hall, the chapters (presented as scrolls with illustrations from both classical Japanese art and also captured from within Second Life) are mounted with images created by Alsatian that more fully illustrate the unfolding tale. Taken at Japanese-themed locations in Second Life, the images present elements of each chapter in a clear-cut manner with a light touch of post-processing that gives each image as sense of being illustrative to the story without dropping them into the realm of comic / graphic novel, instead leaving each as a piece that can be appreciated in its own right as well as in being part o the unfolding story.

As well as offering the final chapter of the story, the fourth hall of the exhibition space also presents what might have initially served as the inspiration for this artistic tale – the lyrics from Turning Japanese, the  single by British New Wave band The Vapors. Released on the group’s first album, New Clear Days, the song reached number 3 in the UK singles chart in 1980 and remains popular with fans since the band re-formed in 2016.

A simple but engaging artistic tale, Nihongo-Ka will remain open to the public through until the end of October 30th, 2022. And Star Trek fans might what to keep an eye open for the subtle reference to the original series tucked away within one of the panels!

SLurl Details

• Monocle Man Sky Gallery (Flying Fortress, rated Adult)

Currently open through until the end of August at the Monocle Man sky studio is an untitled exhibition by European artist Duraya which is simply captivating in its content.

I first encountered Duraya’s work earlier in 2022 and was immediately struck by her technique. Starting with a foundation of an image captured or framed / posed within Second Life, Duraya uses a skilled application of post-processing to create images which are genuinely breath-taking in their beauty and narrative strength.

Within this exhibition, Duraya takes this a step further, adding animated elements – both 2D and 3D – to some of the 27 images within the selection presented across the gallery’s two floors, supported by 3D elements Duraya has either created or added in order to provide further depth to the exhibition.

Avatar focused, some of the images might be said to lean towards nightmare, others towards joy, and some appear to be statements on the state of Earth and life. Each can be appreciated in its own right; however, there is a broader sweep of interpretation here, one that is likely personal to Duraya – the images potentially being reflections of her state of mind within her journey through life.

The clue to this comes in the form of selected lines from Our Deepest Fear, a passage by Marianne Williamson which first appeared in her 1992 bestseller A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of A Course in Miracles, and which has often been (mistakenly) attributed to Nelson Mandela. It’s a passage (found in chapter 7 of the book) which has gone on to be used as an inspirational poem, the first stanza of which reads:

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light, not our darkness
That most frightens us.

– Marianne Williamson

In her selection of Williamson’s words, Duraya offers a clear framing to her works at Monocle Man: a recognition of the power (and creativity) of self when one is at ease with who one is, together with the liberty that brings (including through self-expressive mediums such as art) to oneself – and to others one encounters.

Rich in content and metaphor, this is a richly layered selection of art in which the pieces can be appreciated both in and of themselves as single-frame stories, beautifully presented (and animated in some cases), or as a whole and as an exploratory selection.

SLurl Details

• Monocle Man (Flying Fortress, rated Adult)

Open through until the end of June 2022 at the Monocle Man sky gallery curated by Lynx Luga and Kit Boyd, is A Splash of Friendship, an artistic celebration of the Second Life friendship shared by Bethany H (bethanyharris21) and Foxy McAllister (FoxiBrown30).

Spread across the two floors of the gallery space is a collection of images by both Bethany and Foxy, both of whom have been involved in SL photography for the last four years (ish). It is a bright, careful selection of pieces interspersed with texts offering thoughts on the nature of having a genuine friend and on friendship itself.

A good friend is like a four-leaf clover, hard to find and lucky to have.

Set against backdrops that feature recognisable settings around the grid, as well as more personal spaces, these are images that tell stories of companionship that exude joy in the company of another, and the intimacy of simply being able to be one’s true self without concern of being judged or disapproved.

Within them are also framed images that we might take in unexpected moments in the physical world – catching a friend on camera when that are unaware, capturing a memory for them of contemplation or joy or playfulness; something that can be shared and used to bring times past back to the mind’s eye with freshness and a smile.

Posed they may well be; post-processed they clearly are – but neither of these aspects diminishes the framed stories each of these pictures tell.

Personal in their depth, yet open for all to appreciate, rich and style, tone and presentation, the pictures spread across the four rooms of the gallery allow us to share in the times Foxy and Bethany have shared, and understand precisely what they mean in the words:

One million memories, one thousand inside jokes, one hundred shared secrets, one reason, Best Friends.

A genuinely happy, relaxing and enjoyable exhibition.

SLurl Details

• Monocle Man Gallery (Flying Fortress, rated Adult)

Open through until May 1st at Monocle Man’s Café Gallery (and beyond!) is a selection of art by Danish photographer-artist Prins (Skylog) entitled Celebrations of Life.

I say “and beyond”, because as well as presenting Prins’s work within the two levels of the gallery building, the exhibition offers a number of larger format pieces to be appreciated through the rest of the Monocle Man parcel, allowing visitors to explore what is and engaging setting that might otherwise pass unnoticed when focused on the main gallery spaces.

This outdoor display commences in the courtyard before the gallery building and continues down the steps under the Welcome sign to where a slightly industrial-looking waterfront area sits with solid buildings facing a high wall across a further cobbled square in which sits an outdoor seating area and a vendor selling drinks and ice creams. One of the buildings is home to Lynx Luga’s gallery space – Lynx runs Monocle Man along with Kit Boyd – whilst through the the arch of a red-bricked gatehouse on the far side of the square, a final piece by Prins points the way to a cosy garden, home to a little summer house.

Celebrations of Life is a vibrant, bright selection of pieces primarily focused on landscapes and buildings. They are pictures in which colour is used to bring a sense of vitality to the fore, drawing the observer into each, with the use of angle and focus emphasising points of contact  – delicate red flowers caught in a sea of sun-dried grass here, a stone figure apparently directly addressing the observer there; the graffiti painted across the hulk of a rusting car that makes it as much a part of the landscape as the blooms bursting forth before it or the over-saturation of light that speaks to bright summer days – or colder winter evenings -, and more.

Some of the pieces offer a departure from the rest. Business as Usual, for example, offers a poke at so-called Victorian values; Universal Whales touches on the surreal as a garden-laden whale swims through a pink sky dominated by a full Jupiter.

And then there is the dark beauty of Candles In A Deep Blue World, an utterly captivating piece seen at the top of this article. It stands in sharp contrast to the rest of Prins’s work shown here not just because it presents a – literally – much dark use of colour and tone, but because of the entire combination of colour, composition, angle and narrative make it an utterly magisterial piece in the manner it demands attention. For me, as much as I enjoyed the rest of Prins’s art, stands as the piece that made me particularly want to see more of his work and add his gallery space to my list of places to visit.

As noted, Celebrations of Life will remain in place through until Sunday May 1st, and offers visitors a rich selection of art and an opportunity to explore Monocle Man. Those wishing to extend their visit might also try the teleport station to reach places such as the sky galleries over head, and the exhibitions they may be hosting.

SLurl Details

• Monocle Man Gallery (Flying Fortress, rated Adult)

Now open within the sky gallery spaces at Monocle Man Galleries, operated by curated by Kit Boyd and Lynx Iuga, The Song of the Selkie is a collaborative exhibition featuring six visual artists and the voice of Electric Monday (perhaps best known in art review circles for formerly running the excellent Sim Quarterly region and its immersive installations) that is, I gather, the first under to be opened under the umbrella title of Voice and Art.

The idea – as indicated by the umbrella title – is to bring together images and voice / music in a combined experience married to a story. However, the twist is that while each of the participating artists knows the theme of the exhibition, they are unaware of the other images being produced for the exhibition.

For The Song of the Selkie, the exhibition takes as its theme the legend of the selkie,  as brought to us through the words and music for Dutch alternative metal-gothic rock group Blackbriar, and featured on their first album The Cause of Shipwreck (April 2021). For those unfamiliar with them, selkies are mythological beings capable of Therianthropy (shape-shifting). In this case from seal to human and back by shedding / re-wearing their pelt, whilst tales of selkie often focus on female selkies being coerced into relationships with men by the latter stealing their pelts whilst they are in human form, thus trapping them.

This is the tale presented in the exhibition, with the six artists – Hilaire Beaumont, Kit Boyd, John Garrison, Lynx Iuga, Tresore Prada and Evie Ravens – each presenting what is a single frame of the story, from a man discovering a selkie in her human form through his theft of her pelt to the eventual tragedy that arises from stolen / lost love. Each image is accompanied by a giver in the form of an electronic tablet that provides a biography of the artist when touched.

A HUD offered to visitors as they enter the hall from the landing point teleport disk provides the voice element of the exhibition – lines from the Blackbriar song read by Electric Monday. Use of the HUD is simple: attach it from inventory, then view the first image in the exhibition (Lynx Iuga) before click “image 1” on the HUD. After a pause, a recording to Electric reading lines from the song will be played back; when you have heard them and finished studying the first image, click the HUD image again to turn off the recording before moving to the next image in the gallery, and repeat with the HUD, this time clicking “image 2”, then repeat through the remaining images / recordings.

The final touches to the exhibition come in the hall in which it is being staged. Within its wood interior and heavy beams, the hall carries with it a sense of it having a Celtic / Norse edge, in keeping with the origin of selkie mythology. This is increased by the mail box (inviting artists to participate in the next story to drop their details into it) that rises from the middle of the floor, appearing to be some latter-day Mjölnir awaiting the return of its wielder. Finally, at the far end of the hall relative to the landing point, a large board will offer visitors to hear Blackbriar’s song via You Tube.

Small and engaging, Song of the Selkie presents an interesting audio-visual exhibition.

SLurl Details

• Monocle Man Galleries (Flying Fortress, rated Adult)