Tag: Nitroglobus

Miles Cantelou is an artist whom I have covered on numerous occasions in these pages, most recently in terms of Miles’ return to Second Life after time away, when I wrote about his Homestead gallery space Scirocco Art Galleries (see: The art of Miles Cantelou in Second Life).

But I’m not the only one appreciative of Miles’ work. Dido Haas, the operator / curator of Nitroglobus Roof Gallery also visited Scirocco and, like me, was struck by the intensity of Miles’ studies – particularly (I hope I’m correct in assuming) those found within the Galleria Polynesia. As a result, Dido invited Miles to exhibit at Nitroglobus, and on September 1st, 2025 they opened Shamanism.

Located with The Annex at Nitroglobus, this is a further richly engaging exhibition of paint-renderings by Miles, this one on the subject of Shamanism, with a focus on the (mainly female in this case) Shaman. Produced through a process of ink line sketches scanned into a PC and subjected to photographic and post camera blending, prior to being printed and painted, before an image of the finished piece is uploaded to Second Life.

Shamanism is a spiritual phenomenon centred on the shaman, a person believed to achieve various powers through trance or ecstatic religious experience – the Shaman, a person regarded in many cultures as intermediary between humans and the spirit realm, performing roles such as healing, divination, guiding souls, and maintaining spiritual balance within their communities. The term comes from the Manchu-Tungus word šaman, a noun formed from the verb ša- “to know”; so a shaman is literally “one who knows.”

Given this etymology, the terms apply in the strictest sense to the spiritual systems of the people of northern Asia. However, shamanism has played an important role among Australian Aborigines, some African groups, Arctic peoples and Native American Indians.

Shamanism presents fourteen richly emotive portrait studies startling in their intensity and depth. Given the headdresses apparent in all of the images, they might be taken to lean towards Native American shaman. That the majority of the images appear to be female in nature reflects the fact that shamanism has no gender exclusion.

For me, however, what is particularly striking about these portraits is the intensity of intelligence and vitality they carry. It is hard not to be drawn to the eyes of those pieces which appear to be looking directly at you and not sense the depth of knowledge and wisdom lying behind them. The result is a series of images that suggest they have not originated from within Miles’ head and sketches, but with the subjects physically allowing their likeness to be captured.

In order words, a marvellous selection of evocative art.

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• The Annex at Nitroglobus (Sunshine Homestead, rated Moderate)

As a Second Life artist-photographer, Maghda is rightfully renowned for her avatar studies. More than portraits, they are always stunningly composed, layered, and rich in narrative explorations. Often the latter takes the form of self-reflection as well as themes we can all grasp –  as with such exhibitions as Sole Fragments (from 2023) and Demons (from 2024), both of which were featured at Nitroglobus Roof Gallery, curated and operated by Dido Haas.

And it is to Nitroglobus that Maghda returns for an exhibition running from Monday, July 14th, 2025 through into August. Entitled Mute, the exhibition also – I gather from the notes supplied by Dido for the event – marks Maghda’s return to the SL art scene after a period of intense personal upheaval.

I’ve no idea – nor need to know – what that upheaval might have been, but would say that in no way has it diminished Maghda’s ability to produce pieces with a depth of emotional content and evocative statements on life and our relationship with its twists and turns. In this, its is hard not to see Mute are a third part of a (thus far) trilogy of Exhibitions at Nitroglobus – the first two being the aforementioned Sole Fragments and Demons.

Sometimes the ground gives way beneath you,
and the air stands still, refusing to carry sound.
No words rise—
only the heaviness of all that remains unspeakable.
A look. A breath. A storm held at the edge.
Mute isn’t silence—it’s the overflow of what words can’t contain.
Your voice, once steady, curls inward, tucked behind your ribs.

– Maghda on Mute

I’m not going to attempt to offer any personal interpretation of Mute; the pieces are bound to speak to each of us differently. All I will say is that as someone facing a significant degree of adversity in the physical world, I found much within Mute that resonates strongly with me. I would also note that the three large sculptures placed within the gallery space (by JadeYu Fhang, SATANasss and Cherry Manga respectively) also offer reflections of the themes and emotions found within Maghda’s art, perfectly completing it.

Officially opening at 12:00 noon SLT on Monday, July 14th, 2025 with music from NOIR, Mute is again an exhibition rich in content and not to be missed.

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• Nitroglobus Roof Gallery (Sunshine Homestead, rated Moderate)

Having opened on May 12th, 2025 for a (roughly) two-month run, Love is a Stranger is an evocative exhibition of black and white photography by – YO – (yoasa) being hosted by Dido Haas within the Annex of Nitroglobus Roof Gallery. Dido notes that the first time she came across YO’s work, she was immediately drawn to it, such was the emotive – almost physical  – strength with the images. Given this is also my first exposure to YO’s work, I can understand why she felt so drawn; working in monochrome brings a depth of raw humanity to their work, carrying within it a persistence of passion that is enthralling.

Colour brings joy to the eyes – but black & white reaches the heart.

Yo(asa)

The title of the the exhibition – which features eighteen marvellously composed and processed pieces – is taken from the song of the same name by Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart, aka Eurythmics, and which formed the opening track of their second album Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This). 

The lyrics, penned by Lennox, sought encapsulate the dichotomic relationship of love and hatred – so often two sides of the same coin – by putting opposites together, expressing how one can lift you up, lead you forward, whilst the other is just awaiting the opportunity to cut you down through doubt, confusion, and more; and where one can be so glamourous and appealing, with the other lurking just beneath with cruelty and unkindness; the promise of both, when taken together, equally rich and false.

To be honest, with one or two exceptions, I did not see many parallels between Lennox’s intent and the images YO presents – and if they are present, the failure to see them is purely mine, and not that of the artist. What I did find, however, are images that are simply breath-taking in their emotive depth and resonance; pieces beautifully focused and framed as an ode to the fickleness of love itself.

Each picture is a masterpiece of visual storytelling, conveying a richness of desire, loneliness, loss, need, innocence, uncertainty. These are all emotions common to love. We all want to be loved, to be in love, and feel the same in return: to feel wanted cherished, desired. Yet love itself is mercurial; even in the midst of all the the sense of fulfilment, of finding that desire and cherishment in the eyes and arms of another, so too can it all too easily give forth doubts, take away the comfort as easily as it provides. It can turn thoughts of certainty and contentment into those of incertitude, and feelings of warmth to those of uncertainty.

Thus, we become alone in thought and trapped contradictions, literally and figuratively wandering; driven, perhaps to feel the very world around us is alien or as if the feelings that at first lifted us, made us feel a part of something so easily turn to feel apart from everything; standing outside and looking in. We have discovered that love itself has turned from welcoming friend to a complete stranger.

All of this is conveyed within YO’s images, and quite powerfully and evocatively so. It is, in short: an absolutely exquisite collection.

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•  Love is a Stranger, The Annex at Nitroglobus (Sunshine Homestead, rated Moderate)

Drawn from the Latin, simulacrum (“likeness, semblance”) entered the language of European art during the late 1500s, when was originally used to refer to a painting or statue directly representing someone or something (most notably a god or deity). However, by the 19th century, it had come to express an artistic endeavour – notably an image – formed without the substance or qualities of the original (e.g. to use a more modern example: a photocopy of a photograph of a painting).

It is a term which is particularly relevant today thanks to the rapid rise of generative AI tools, and the manner in which they can be used to literally churn out prompt-based images over and over without any genuine artistic input or understanding of the actual desired request or the inconsistencies, anachronisms and outright errors present within the final product.

Of course, those using such tools diligently will argue that they are merely a tool; when balanced with a critical eye and the use of other tools to refine, enhance and correct, they can be used to produce richly diverse pieces that do have originality within them. This is actually not an unfair summation, as far as it goes.

The problem¹ here is that the vast majority of users of such generative tools don’t exercise skill or talent. They prompt, wait, publish, often using minor variations of the same prompt ad nauseam (“make the woman’s hair colour blue”) to produce a stream of near identical images (as all too often seen on the likes of Deviant Art). There is little originality within such pieces when compared one to the next; worse, there is little in the way of critical review, and those aforementioned errors are allowed to persist. Worse still, all this repetition (complete with errors) is fed back into the data pool, further diluting it and increasing the regurgitation of vacuous elements to form what amounts to self-perpetuating simulacrums, devoid of originality and talent.

This constant cycle of regurgitation and repetition without originality is explored by Manoji Yachvili (onceagain), in her exhibition Simulacrum, currently on display at Nitroglobus Roof Gallery, curated by Dido Haas. It is also very much a personal expression of Manoji’s own increasing sense of artistic loss and frustration as she sees creative expression, skill and progress within art and artistic experimentation vanishing in a rising tide of banality.

Reality no longer exists, it has disappeared, crumbled by the media and modern technologies that propose images that do not refer to reality, that receive meaning only from other images and that are perpetually regenerated, thus remaining increasingly disconnected from what was originally real. Everything I see has an appearance and the power of appearance, without a faithful external image and therefore devoid of the original vitality.

– Manoji Yachvili

To achieve this, Manoji presents a collection of original paintings that are richly expressive whilst clearly echoing the banality and emptiness of the kind all too easily spewed forth by generative AI. Through the use of simple, repeated elements – masks, faceless figures, and muted colours – she beautifully conveys the empty, expressionless redundancy so common within generative AI art.

Yes, these are all paintings utilising common themes elements – but each of them is completely original in form and presentation, allow it to stand on its own as a singular, unique piece carrying with it an ability to speak to each of us differently. Thus, these are pieces that reach beyond the artist, offering a richness of expression and meaning, standing not as the result of a collection of prompts, but as a prompt for our imaginations to take flight within them.

In doing so, Manoji establishes the genuine power of art through the hand, eye and talent originating from within the artist, making this a beautiful expressive collection, each piece standing in its own right as a genuine work of art.

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• Nitroglobus Roof Gallery (Sunshine Homestead, rated Moderate)

1. Please note that within this article, I’m intentionally avoiding issues of copyright and ownership in relations to the “training” of generative AI tools, because while these are clearly of concern generally, they are not the focus of the exhibition being reviewed.

Smartphones / mobile devices and social media – boon or bane? On the one hand there can be no doubt the ‘phone we carry in purse, pocket or holstered to hip or dangling from wrist strap can be a really positive thing to have. It allows us to stay connected – be it with each other or the world at large and the “news”; we can use it to capture precious (or embarrassing!) moment as a picture or video; it can be a life-saver and / or health aide in multiple ways, and so on.

On the other there are the ways it keeps us “connected”. All too often this means “convenient” texts rather than actual conversations, or seeking exchanges with people across town – or in a completely different town (and / or country) rather than those sitting in the same room as us; they set us on ultimately pointless hunts of “followers”, “likes”, “emojis” – even the temporary “thrill” of diving into this or that app for the rush of a vapourware “reward”, and more.

Whether we like it or not, for all the “freedom” mobile devices and social media have given us – so too have they, in so many way, enslaved us; it’s no accident the terms doomscrolling and doomsurfing have entered many a lexicon: the increasingly reality is  that, whether we’re aware of it or not, the little screens in our hands are a form of addiction; and like all addictions, can be harmful more than helpful.  Worse, they have within them the power to alter our reality, large and small.

It is these points that are explored in the February 2025 exhibition at Nitroglobus Roof Gallery, operated and curated by Dido Haas. Presented as a visual essay, The Digital Maze by Christian Carter (XJustFriendX), encourages us to look anew at how we interact with our smartphones and the apps they put in front of us.

Some of the risks inherent in our digital dependence are obvious – far from opening broadening our horizons of thought, social media is increasingly a tool for limiting perspectives; we seek “like minds”, we slavish adhere to (aka “follow”) those who only express the same outlook, entrenching, rather than expanding views. Others are more subtle; just how much freedom do we have when we constantly feel the need to scroll, to tweet, to see how many “likes” our last comment generated – as if this is some kind of grand validation?

What does it say of intimacy – on all levels, from shared love through companionship to simple conversation – when rather than using the the full richness of expression found in voice, tone, expression and pause, we hide behind flat words thumb-tapped on a screen “because it’s more convenient”? What is happening to our social skills when it is considered acceptable to ignore those we are with – family at home, people at a party, friends at the restaurant dining table – in favour of those to whom we can type or because it simple allows us to escape the reality of personal engagement?

Through this series of quite magnificent pictures, each one balancing message with considered use of colour, image, framing and focus, Christian provides food for thought on all of the above – and far more. So much more, in fact, that I’ve honestly struggled with this article, because Christian’s images resonate so deeply with me (we appear to have similar thoughts and outlooks in this matter) that it has been hard for me to keep my own subjectivity in place, and instead allow The Digital Maze the freedom to talk in its own voice.

Which is why I’ve said enough here; go and see – and listen – for yourself.

SLurl Details

• Nitroglobus Roof Gallery (Sunshine Homestead, rated Moderate)