I got an invitation to see Bamboo Barnes newest exhibtion “The path” at ArtCare Gallery.
The gallery space at ArtCare Gallery is a large quatratic room. Bamboo placed her picture at all four walls. But the walls are also decorated with other objects, pieces of walls, stones. 3D-objects are placed in the corners, one is colourful and contains Bamboo Barnes’ biography. The large free space in the center is obviously used for events and limited by figures that remind of display dummies. In the bodies of these display dummies you can see other pictures of Bamboo, the heads are like ballons and spin. Also in there you can recognize something.
Impressions of “The path” by Bamboo Barnes at ArtCare Gallery (1)
The pictures at the walls, no surprise, are in the typcial style of Bamboo. All pictures show female faces or upper bodies under a layer of coloured abstract forms or objects. By the layers the pictures also develop a 3rd dimension. In the accompanying notecard Bamboo shared her thoughts about “The path”:
“As I walk through the morning mist, I see a person standing far ahead of me. I’m sure that person is confused, does he want to go on or not? I turn my head and see the tips of the person’s shoes, brown suede. A person whose past has caught up with him. People who want to go back but don’t know the way anymore. In the fog, there is a path to nowhere. Where do we go? Where do you go?“
Impressions of “The path” by Bamboo Barnes at ArtCare Gallery (2)
I personally can’t combine Bamboo’s thoughts with the picture featured at “The path”. Just a few pictures have something to do with a path, like the one with the arrows in the picture above. What I see are the wonderful colourful pictures of Bamboo Barnes, each of them invites me to immerse into it and to let my mind wander. I’m atrracted by her art and choice of colours.
Bamboo is in Second Life for over 14 years already, painting software & photoshop are her best friends. Bamboo had many exhibtions and appearances in the Second Life art scene and in 2018 she had her first exhibition in real life: “I create what I see but maybe you won’t, they are about people’s reality and mind.” Bamboo’s art is a mixture of abstract forms, of people and photographs. Most pictures are colourful and it is in the eye of the beholder what we see in her pictures. I myself saw her work the first time at La Maison d’Aneli during the Holiday season 2019/2020 (read here). I also saw her exhibition “Marginal Mannerism” at DixMixGallery in April 2021 (read here), the exhibition “Meant to be” at Itakos Art Gallery last year (read here), I saw “Conjure” at FOCUS Magazine F.A.I.R Gallery in August 2021 (read here), “Mindstorm” at IMAGO Land (read here) and just recently “Drawer” at Hannington Arts Foundation (read here). I also had a look at her flickr page.
Impressions of “The path” by Bamboo Barnes at ArtCare Gallery (3)
ArtCare Gallery is owned and curated by Carelyna. Thank you Carelyna for providing the space for the art and for enabling “The path” by Bamboo Barnes. I enjoyed my visit.
Landmark to ArtCare Gallery – level 4
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Sweetest%20Thing/143/202/1535
Bamboo Barnes’ flickr page
https://www.flickr.com/photos/bamboobarnes/
Diomita Maurer’s Blog 