Diomita Maurer’s Blog

Wednesday, May 11th, the latest exhibtion at La Maison d’Aneli has been opened. It features the art of Elodiecasa Dragovar, Bachi Cheng, Magda Schmidtzau, Therese Carfagno, NinaCamplin, vroum Short and Aneli Abeyante herself.

I visited La Maison d’Aneli on Sunday, May 8th, a few days before the official opening and began my visit in the skybox of Elodiecasa Dragovar. I saw Elodiecasa’s artwork at La Maison d’Aneli in 2021 the first time (read here). For her skybox in the current exhibition she chose to build a seperate gallery building within a lovely garden and surrounded by a lot of trees and and plants. Her artwork is shown inside of the building. Elodiecasa’s pictures are colourful, strong and of a broad variety, from abstract patterns to filigree forms, from an almost 3D elephant head to compositions that have a touch of Africa.

Elodiecasa Dragovar is in Second Life since 2010. Art is part of her life, she started getting lessons in art aged 9. Since 13 years Elodiecasa lives in Morocco.  In the accompanying notecard as well as on a board at the entrance of the gallery building in her skybox she wrote about herself: “I don’t consider myself as an artist but a passionate person. I love art in all forms, I touch everything. Art is a part of my life, it’s a need“

Sofi (Bachi Cheng)’s art is not new for me. The last time I saw her art was in 2021 when I visited Ant Farm Light Gallery by Regi Yifu featuring Bachi Cheng (read here). For the exhibition at La Maison d’Aneli she chose the title “Good girls go to heaven bad girls go everywhere”. Her skybox is designed as a industrial hall, her pictures are spread over the walls of the hall. Her art is quite feisty and exaggerated, transpiring her message clearly and not subtle, sometimes reminding of comic strips and clearly explicit. There’s a lot to discover and to smile about.

Sofi (Bachi.cheng) is in Second Life since 2009. She’s, an artist painter and designer in RL and SL. Bachi writes about herself and her art: “I love to paint Moments. Moments of life, Moments of Love, Moments so deep that you never want to forget them, Moments at the edge of orgasm or despair, just life like we ought to live it, plainly. Let me take you in the core of my Art”.
Sofi (Bachi Cheng) has also her own gallery here and runs an own website.

Maddy (Magda Schmidtzau)is also an artist, who I have come across already a few times. For her skybox  Maddy selected  a futuristic design with a few glass partitions and 2 rooms with 3D installations surrounded by her pictures. Maddy main subject are portraits and and studies of the female body. She experiments with light and colours, with layers and shadows (remember to set your environment to midnight and to turn advanced lighting on).

Maddy (Magda Schmidtzau) is in Second Life since 2009. She’s passionate about photography in RL and SL. She writes: “I’m not an artist but a researcher of images to be developed… a dreamer with open eyes of this world “out of time”. In SL always open to new possibilities of experimentation trying to convey the magic that I see.”
I’ve seen Maddy’s art the first time back in 2017 at Enchanted Art where her exhibition “Maddy 2017” was showcased (read here) Further on I saw Maddy’s work at La Maison d’Aneli in 2018, 2019 and 2020 (read here, here and here) and at GenovArt Glass Gallery in May 2021 (read here). You can see more of her art at her flickr page.

Therese Carfagno is also an artist who I know from La Maison d’Aneli. She had her last exhibition at La Maison d’Aneli in June 2021 (read here). She 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.”
You can see Therese Carfagno’s pictures also on her flickr account.

Therese’s skybox is a simple squared room in black with her pictures lined up at the walls. She shows two series of pictures. One is clearly taken in Second Life and shows a young woman dressed in different almost sci-fi outfits in different mostly ubran scenes. All pictures contain a blue light or background. You need to have a closer look to get the details and you can try to create your own story that might combine the pictures. The other series shows an astronaut levitating in zero-gravity above a planet. There are texts or snippets from cards at the edges of the pictures but I couldn’t really connect these to the picture. Maybe you can?

NinaCamplin is the only artist of this joined exhibition who is new for me. She’s from Neath Port Talbot, Wales. From the mid 90’s until recently, she painted murals, specialising in trompe l’oeil. She was interested in challenging perceptions of space and creating scenes of faked realities, such as windows, doors and broken walls that open up the flat surface of the wall to give the viewer the optical illusion of an additional dimension beyond. (taken from the accompanying notecard)
In her skybox at La Maison d’Aneli you find yourself in a dark, lonely world and you see the lights of a single house, which is the gallery building. Nina’s pictures show landscapes, sometimes very natural, yet mostly a bit bizarre be it because of the light, the colour or the selected view. It is intriguing to dive deeper into them.

NinaCamplin has developed arthritis in both her hips, which makes it difficult for her to climb scaffolding, stand or sit for long periods. She felt it was time to take her art into a new direction. She is now exploring new areas, including wildlife, landscape, portraiture and current events (particularly Covid related subjects). Her work varies from abstract to photo realistic, depending upon the current project she is working on. Most recently she has been using recycled canvasses to work on, mixing the realistic with the abstract, allowing snippets of the original painting to show through in the final work. (taken from the accompanying notecard)
NinaCamplin is in Second Life since 2011. By displaying her work in Second Life she wants to reach a new audience, much of the work on show here is also available to buy in real life too. You can more of her work on her flickr page and on her website.

Vroum Short’s skybox at La Maison d’Aneli is designed for the opening event of the exhibition. It is a world in green, full of light effects and optical illusions. I could hardly distinguish between spaces that I could enter and illusions. The world around you changes permanently and offers new perspectives every second. Can I walk up the stairs? Is it s floor or a hole? Objects are levitating freely… and there’s the green cat and her paws. As always Vroum’s world is fascinating! You get lost in it.

I know Vroum Short as the owner of VeGeTaL PLaNeT. I peeked at it several times but never found the time to really visit it and to write an extra blog entry about it. The VeGeTaL PLaNeT also hosted Aneli Abeyante’s La Maison d’Aneli for about a year. VeGeTaL PLaNeT is gone but there’s now the VeGeTaL PLaNeT Gallery (read about it here and here)
Vroum Short is a French SL artist since 2007. She works with lights and light effects, mostly very colourful. Vegetal Planet Gallery a world where everything becomes possible and achievable where the barriers of reality fade away to let the imagination flood it with life.
Vroum has a store for her art on the marketplace and a flickr account.

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.”
The room that is usually designed for the opening events at La Maison d’Aneli is used by Aneli Abeyante herself this time. Aneli’s art is colourful, steadily moving, and with particular light effects. Aneli writes about herself: “I love geometry and mathematics. So after much practice, I managed to clear structures and shapes. In reality I practice painting, I do not have precise style but I always seek harmonization.”

There are permanently changing colourful abstract pictures with different layers, permanently changing and offering a different view every second. On one wall Aneli showcasts almost monochrome structures reminding of minerals or structured surfaces. They look like having 3 dimensions and demonstrate optical illusions.
Aneli Abeyante is in Second Life since 2009. You can see more of her art on her flickr account. Besides her own artwork, Aneli’s passion is curating La Maison d’Aneli.

Thank you for another great joined exhibtion, Aneli. As always I enjoyed my visit and writing about it.

Landmark to La Maison d’Aneli
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Virtual%20Holland/23/71/22
Sofi (Bachi Cheng)’s gallery
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Northfarthing/111/108/602
Sofi (Bachi Cheng)’s website
https://aliasetalias.com/
Maddy (Magda Schmidtzau)’s flickr
https://www.flickr.com/photos/magdyne/
Therese Carfagno’s flickr
https://www.flickr.com/photos/carfagno
NinaCamplin’s flickr
https://www.flickr.com/photos/ninacamplin
NinaCampli’s website
https://ninacamplin.co.uk
Landmark to VeGeTaL PLaNeT Gallery
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Oreo/64/100/501
Vroum Short’s flickr account
https://www.flickr.com/photos/vroum_short/albums
Vroum Short’s art on marketplace
https://marketplace.secondlife.com/fr-FR/stores/81862
Aneli Abeyante’s flickr
https://www.flickr.com/photos/190057098@N06/