Diomita Maurer’s Blog

After the Summer break La Maison d’Aneli opened its doors again with a new exhibition on September 16th. La Maison d’Aneli features 8 artists with this exhibition: Milye Euhh (hurumi), Puce (titput), Sennaspirit Coronet, Neugaine Carter, ZackHerrMann, LaLie Sorbet, Belinda Baroque and Therese Carfagno. Each artist has an own skybox for a gallery or for an installation. Actually you visit 8 different exhibtions which are very different and provide an insight in the variety of art in a virtual world like Second Life. Some of these installations showcase art that you can’t experience in real life.

I visited before the official opening. The artists might have made some gradual changes in the meanwhile. The exhibtion is open until October 10th.

I started my visit with the art of Milye Euhh (hurumi). Milye is a French artist and in Second Life for 9 years. The installation uses the walls, the floor and the ceiling to create a fantasy world at night.

Milye Euhh (hurumi) at La Maison d’Aneli September/October 2020

There are 2 big stages. Along the stairs that lead up to the stages are some of Milye’s pictures. On one stage is a collection of b/w pictures, playing with shadows, the other stage presents 3 large splitted pictures. The two stages are connected and the connecting platform is used as a meeting area with another picture, that is split into hexagons. One of the stages is decorated with big muffins and a teddy bear, as if there’s a children’s birthday party soon.

Puce (titput) is in Second Life for more than 4 years. According to the accompanying notecard, Puce was curious and began building, shaped prims and began building her own world. I never came across Puce before. What you see at La Maison d’Anelie is very impressive – a world using chess patterns, transparency, lights and shadows to compose a piece of art that you can walk through. Most elements are animated, so the installation changes permanently and I for my part had dificulties where to look at first.

Puce (titput) at La Maison d’Aneli September/October 2020

Is it about chess? Yes, as there’s a chess board with figures. Is it about card games? Yes, cards show up, move and dissappear. Is it about dancing? Yes, there’s an ballerina dancing shown on a big screen and there’re dancing aniamtions available. It is about dresses? Yes, the dress of a maid (at least for me it looked like a maid dress) is shown a lot, turning and shining. Is it about light effects and othere effects? Yes, some areas can’t be seen from some position and hece show up when you walk through the installation. I can only say – I was impressed by Puce’s art.

I saw Sennaspirit Coronet’s art earlier this year when I visited the The Itakos Project and Art Gallery (read here), where he showcased portraits of couples in Second Life. At La Masion d’Aneli, Sennaspirit shows portrait pictures, pictures of avatars, pictures and faces that tell a story. They are presented on 3 floors. The pictures, mainly portraits, are augmented by add-ons and by a title that inspires to make up a different story about it in your mind as the picture itself would do. I think that’s quite intriguing.

Sennaspirit Coronet at La Maison d’Aneli September/October 2020

Sennaspirit Coronet joined Second Life in late 2006 as part of his RL work in academic publishing and started shooting images in Second Life end of 2007. He worked in the advertising and graphic design business, later worked on digital transformation of assets and publishing. Due to this background his portraits are very professional and artful.
Senna took breaks from Second Life on a few occasions but the opportunity to do creative work and to be with the many friends always brought him back.

Neugaine Carter is in Second Life for 13 years. Completely self-taught, Neugaine paints intermittently. He never exhibted his paintings in RL, hence what we see in Second Life is quite unique. Neugaine appreciates painting in oil, he likes playing with textures and thicknesses.

Neugaine Carter at La Maison d’Aneli September/October 2020

Amoung the other installations at La Maison d’Aneli the presentaion of Neugaine Carter’s art is quite classic, a museum building with the paintings at the walls. The paintings are abstract and I wonder how large they might be in reality. Although they are all very different Neugaine has developed his own personal style.

ZackHerrMann is a French psychedelik artist from the French Riviera. He’s in Second Life since 2012. He writes about his work in the accompanying notecard about himself:
“Early I was attracted by arts, nature was my first inspiration. Later I have discovered the Marvel Comics and that increase my drawning passion. I have done years of art school, than was trying to go to stylism school, but it was too expensive. So, I started to discover the nightlife, especially in the LGBT Community. There I got in touch with a ‘lil around Drag queen and the creature universe. I discovered the power of making creations with a PC, with Photoshop and other tools, with grapic tablet, etc.
With thoses new tools, a creature I made when i was younger was reborn, her name is Linda Cluster.“

ZackHerrMann at La Maison d’Aneli September/October 2020

His installation at La Maison d’Aneli is very impressive. It a quest “The Quest of the 8 Artefacts”. The installation extends over several levels. You’re in a kind of a treasury. The floor, the walls and the ceiling shine in yellow, gold, bronze and brown tones, permanently changing, a lot of fractals innumerous peices of art cover all areas. There’s a way through this quest and the 8 artefacts are shown along the way, yet honestly I did not even try to solve the quest. I just enjoyed the luxury and the art, the many many things you can discover here. It’s nothing I can easily describe. I hope my pictures provide an idea – best is to see it yourself.

Lalie Sorbet is a French artist and photographer who joined Second Live 12 years ago:
“Lalie Sorbet lives and works between South India, on the Coromandel coast, Tamil Nadu and the south of France. She has this passion for creating images. She likes to explore all possibilities of expression: artistic videos or reports for different NGO, artistic director 3D for video games, collage informatic or not, watercolor painting , drawing, photography, advertising. Navigating between the worlds of insects, spiders, drops of water, human or animal portraits, trees, flowers or seeds and more, she offers a sensitive tribute to nature. Witnessing the beauty and diversity of our planet is a great joy for her and these days probably an obligation!” (taken from the accompanying notecard)

Lalie Sorbet at La Maison d’Aneli September/October 2020

At La Maison d’Aneli we see a broad spectrum of her artful photographs and pictures, from watercolour, collages, computer graphics, photographs to drawings. They all are presented in a large room and they mirror in the floor which enhances the impression. Seen side by side the pictures melt into one style of art, one signature although each and every picture is unique and stands alone.

Belinda Baroque’s pictures are showcased in and outdoor scenario admist green meadows in front of a blue sky with some clouds. In the center of Belinda’s “gallery” is a large tree.

Belinda Baroque at La Maison d’Aneli September/October 2020

I didn’t find out much about Belinda. She’s in Second Life since 13 years and is “just connected sometimes for photography” according to her profile. The text about her in the accompanying notecard is also quite short: “Virtual photography is just a pleasure among many others“, yet I couldn’t agree more.

Therese Carfagno came to Second Life in February 2007. Soon she got a job as a journalist, and met the most interesting artists in SL. Seeing so much creativity inspired her to start taking pictures herself. Therese thinks that taking pictures helps to look at the world a little closer – and there are so many wonders to see in SL:
“I have no interest in calling myself an artist. I take snapshots. If I’m happy with the picture because of the motive, the colours, the people in it, or anything, I upload it to Flickr or exhibit it somewhere. That’s it. And if someone else like what I do, that’s even better.”

Therese Carfagno at La Maison d’Aneli September/October 2020

At La Maison d’Aneli her mainly black and white pictures are showcased in a dark room, sorted thematically. Her pictures capture moments, some are quite erotic in my opinion. Some other look like real life pictures. Well, I’m pretty sure they are not taken in SL but I won’t bet. The lines between the world are blurring sometimes.

The current exhibition stays opened at least until October 10th.
La Maison d’Aneli is owned by Aneli Abeyante. Through her gallery she brings together all forms of creativity in RL and SL and the featured artists come from around the globe. Aneli’s intention is to “put her gallery in the service of artists, so that the world can be better, exchanges and meetings probably contribute even though it seems to be particles.”
Thank you for another great joined exhibtion, Aneli. As always I enjoyed my visit and writing about it. It always inspires me.

Landmark to La Maison d’Aneli
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Virtual%20Holland/23/65/22