Tag: Nitroglobus

“I am grabbing things that appear in front of me, moments and sensations. I keep them as treasures, which are open in moments when I want to colour the silence,” Natalia Seranade says in introducing her work. “When my imagination and fantasies are flying, I mix the collected stuff with new things that appear in the moment, I never know what can appear, and I never know what will be the result. I am in another world where I am able to find what was unknown to my eyes.”

It’s a description which encapsulates her work perfectly: moments captured in time, filtered through a lens of imagination and the inspiration which occurs in the very instant of creativity to produce a striking image, often rich in emotion and subtext. And it is a description which in turn is perfectly framed by Awakening, an exhibition of Natalia’s work on display at Nitroglobus Hall, curated by Dido Haas, during September / October 2016.

Awakening is a visual interpretation of the philosophical / psychological idea that everything we see in the world, all the encounters we have, intimate, friendly, happy, unhappy, and so on, in whatever we do, are in fact a reflection of ourselves. As Natalia notes, it is perhaps best embodied on a personal level through our interactions and relationships by the saying your perception of me Is a reflection of you, my reaction to you is an awareness of me.

Within Awakening, we have an exploration of this concept. In viewing the images, colourful, striking, blended through considered use of PhotoShop, we are directly challenged to consider what is it within ourselves that drives our reactions to them, and how does our perception of the art – the individual pieces and the collective whole of the exhibition – speak to our own nature?

It’s an intriguing approach; when witnessing art – or anything we find attractive or unattractive – it is easy to externalise our reaction, as to what is right / wrong about the art (or event or person, etc.). If we consider what might be within us that drives our reaction, it is generally only on a superficial level. We rarely delve deeply into our own psyche to determine what might be working within ourselves to generate that reaction, or what may have been at work to inform any perceptions we have about art, virtual or otherwise. Within Awakening, we’re being asked to do just that.

This may not be a comfortable subject for some – but it is an intriguing one, and something which perhaps gives us greater pause in visiting this exhibit than might otherwise be the case. But just because there is a deeper potential within Awakening for introspection and questions about ourselves shouldn’t be used as a reason to not visit. Jungian considerations aside, as noted towards the top of this article, the images within Awakening beautifully exemplify Natalia’s approach to her art. They are striking pieces, rich in colour, imagery and emotion, deserving to be witnessed and appreciated.

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• Nitroglobus Hall (Rated: Moderate)

Now open through July at Nitroglobus Hall, curated by Dido Haas, is ALL_MOST REAL, an exhibition by MM (myster). Comprising 18 monochrome nude and avatar studies, it is an extraordinary exhibit, demonstrating both the depth of mood, feeling and sheer realism which can be achieved through Second Life photography, whilst also highlighting the extraordinarily narrow boundary which exists in our perception of what might constitute “reality”.

“ALL_MOST REAL is a quest on reality and perception, and how they influence our emotions,” the artist states in introductory notes for the exhibition. “We know perceptions win over facts and reality so many times, conditioning our lives. In MM’s search for realism, could it be that the doll finally (like Pinocchio) transforms pixels into flesh?”

Of the 18 images presented here, with six from the physical world, the rest from the virtual. Together they offer a set of works not only of subtle, sensual beauty, each with its own story to tell, they also toy with our perceptions, and invite questions on the nature of reality and transformation. Where, exactly, does the avatar model cease and the human model start – and vice versa?

Which is not to say that any formal challenge is being made to visitors; there is no demand that we attempt to sort one from the other – although MM did tell me that she did ask several friends to examine the images to see if they could! Rather, as she notes in her introduction to the exhibition, it doesn’t matter if you solve the “puzzle” of which images might have been taken in which medium; it is on how they individually and collectively speak to you, and the journey they encourage you to take.

This challenge to our perceptions of the avatar / human “divide” also resonates deeper, touching on matters such as our own level of investment in our avatars; the way in which we can project our living essence into the digital through them. Thus the journey offered in studying the pictures becomes uniquely personal.

Some three months in the making, All_MOST REAL is a stunning and captivating exhibition; one which really should not be missed. Whether depicting a physical model or an avatar, the beauty and life permeating each of the images is as undeniable as it is breathtaking. Take All_Most Real 15, for example (below). Such is the natural depth and tone to the picture, it is hard to escape the feeling – the desire – that if we look long enough, the subject’s eyes will open and her lips will soften into a loving smile at us.

Highly recommended  – an  exhibition which should not be missed.

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• Nitroglobus Hall (Rated: Moderate)

Currently open at Nitroglobus Hall, curated by Dido Haas, is Postcards from the Subconscious, a series of 15 images by Maloe Vansant and Burk Bode. Offered in the familiar large format seen at Nitroglobus, the pictures have a distinctly dark edge to them, which is not entirely what the artists intended.

“This exhibition is like a child. It was planned friendly and glamorous,” Maloe and Burk say of the works on display. “But as always our unconsciousness send us postcards. Feelings like bubbles coming up that told us we had to make just this picture and no other.”

The result is a series of images which, if not the stuff of nightmares, are certainly the kind thing which might creep into our dreams at three o’clock in the morning to poke at us as we sleep. At the same time, some of them provoke an entirely different response.

Take, for example, Ha Ha Said the Clown and The Dolls, both by Burk Bode. Here we have the embodiment of the hidden menace some of us see within a clown’s make-up, or the suggestion of possession contained within some gaudily painted dolls. At the same time, and while their titles might carry a hint of darkness, we have  Maloe’s Crooked and Who’s That Voice Inside My Head? Two pieces which seem to present a more contemplative frame of mood, largely free of menace, prompting a similar response in the eyes of their beholder.

All of this adds up to a fascinating exhibit, even if the artists feel it’s not entirely what they originally had in mind. “At the end our child is not what we planned it to be,” they note. “It became somebody dark and nasty. Looking at us like a misbehaving child and telling us: ‘I don’t like you’.”

Be that as it may, it is hard for parents not to love their children, however they turn out, as Burk and Maloe admit in their introduction to the exhibition. It’s also very hard not to be captivated and drawn into these images, Dark might be the subject matter, but the artistry is beautifully evocative and marvellously executed. Open through until June.

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• Nitroglobus Hall (Rated: Moderate)

Shadows of a Dream is the title of the latest exhibition at Nitroglobus Hall, curated by Dido Haas,  which has a soft opening on Friday, February 19th, and a formal opening on Sunday, February 21st at 12:30 SLT.

The exhibition features the work of two artists, Angelika Corral and SheldonBr, who together present a series of mostly nude, black-and-white avatar studies. These are offered in two contrasting styles, charcoal sketches (by Sheldonbr) and digital images (by Angelika), all of which are presented the very large format familiar to Nitroglobus exhibitions.

“Charcoal drawings can be seen in the earliest primitive caves of early humans. Digital images are a clear sign of the evolution of the species – the use of computers,” the artists note of the exhibition. They continue, “However, art remains the same; an idea, an attitude; the vital expression of oneself and art isn’t dependent on a specific medium.”

The result is a stunning sequence of images around the walls of the hall which invite the observer, “to question the value of the arts in its more pure essence; the art of representation, using only light and dark,” as they embark on “a poetic journey through the depiction of the figure gesture. It is a representation of the duality between real life and the digital world (the artists prefer this term instead of second life), and the contrast between light and shadow.”

To try to describe the images with dry words is something of a futile effort; they all speak eloquently and clearly for themselves. Each one, whether charcoal or digital, has its own vital essence which is best experienced first-hand.

The gallery space itself also adds significantly to the pieces, further encouraging the need to see them first-hand. Divided in to two distinct spaces by a translucent awash in an animated mist or smoke, the gallery space allows the images on display to be “reflected” in the floor by the use of duplicate images mounted in the space below. This, coupled with the presence of sculptures by the late Nitro Fireguard which are not similarly “reflected” in the floor, adds to the dream-like aspect of the exhibit in keeping with its title.

Shadows of a Dream is a superb offering from two talented artists, and an exhibition not to be missed. Should you wish to attend the formal opening, please be advised that attendees are asked to wear something black and/or white, in keeping with the theme of the exhibition.

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• Nitroglobus Hall (Rated: Moderate)

Tutsy Navarathna is perhaps best known for his brilliant and evocative videos. However, he is also an accomplished photographer, demonstrating the same flair and eye for scenes and story-telling in his images that is so clearly evident in his machinima.

His latest exhibition of photography recently opened at the Nitroglobus Gallery, operated and curated by the partnership of Nitro Fireguard and Dido Haas. And it is a must-see.

Série Noire is an homage (I’m using the French pronunciation intentionally), to the publishing imprint of the same name, founded in 1945 by French screenwriter and actor Marcel Duhamel. It’s a title which became – and still is – synonymous with detective fiction; so much so, that in 1946 it led to the coining of the term film noir to describe those stylish Hollywood detective dramas of the 1940s / 1950s.

The exhibition offers a series of large format images featuring scenes which might easily have been drawn from any of the stories to be found in Serie Noir during its 70-year history. Thus it is that we have images alive with sensual femme fatales and fedora-hatted detectives mixed with those hinting at outright sexuality and bordered by the suggestion of the harder, more edged violence we expect from our detective thrillers today. although that said, I have to admit to liking the picture that is so suggestive of a more genteel era of detective fiction, complete with a bowler-hatted, monocled detective, a walking cane held in one hand and a faint air of the Hercule Poirots about him.

Also forming a part of the exhibition is a series of sculptures by Nitro Fireguard. These present further scenes so often found in crime and detective fiction, and each is framed under the light of a street lamp. Most are static, but one features an animated couple caught in the moment of a shooting. But is in premeditated murder or a case of crime passionnel?

I have long been a fan of Tutsy’s video work, and each time I see his photography, I become more enamoured of it as well; Série Noire further cements that feeling, and I recommend it to anyone with a love of detective fiction and films. When visiting, do take the opportunity to explore the other gallery areas, which feature more works by Dido and Nitro.

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• Série Noire, Nitroglobus Gallery (Rated: Adult)