Art in Second Life 2023 (28) Uncolored Journey by Awesome Fallen @ NovaOwl Community Center

21 May 2023 1 Comment

by diomitamaurer in Art in Second Life Tags: , , , ,

Owl Dragonash invited me to visit the newest exhibition at the NovaOwl Community Center named “Uncolored Journey”. The exhibition is by Awesome Fallen und consists of 10 pictures. Owl sent me a folder with a description written by Awesome and a poster. The poster summarizes the exhibition nicely as all showcased pictures are in black and white – uncoloured. The post shows how the colour is seemingly pulled out of a picture.

Uncolored Journey by Awesome Fallen @ NovaOwl Community Center – Exhibition poster / the gallery wing at the NovaOwl Community Center

The 10 pictures show a girl holding a ballon who is exploring and discovering the world. Awesome wrote a short story about the girl, but of course every spectator can make up their own story about this girl:
“Once upon a time there was a naive being who enjoyed wondering and wandering the metaverse…………. everyday she went a little further, confident, enchanted with the no boundaries world, entering the unknown, unaware of danger………. in her pixelrides traveled many whereabouts and villages always following soulless paths………. but sooner rather than later arrived, unexpectedly, to the feelings meadow where this little being met a seasoned sorcerer who blinded her eyes, tore out her heart, and then by dint of tears erased her words………… after months imprisoned in his spells, she was left to fend for herself in the sea of emotions………. adrift, helplessly, she had to smother the sorrow with lights and colors, and reckon with images……..“

Impressions of “Uncolored Journey” by Awesome Fallen @ NovaOwl Community Center (1)

For me personally the pictures aren’t that dark. Being monochrome makes them look vintage. Yes, the girl, which we always see just from behind, is wondering around, is exploring the world, be it a real world or a virtual world. But I don’t see her heart being torn out or her words erased. For me she looks just curious and maybe surprised by what the world has to offer.
I like the 10 pictures that build up a storyline. They are artfully reduced to focus on what the girl sees and they are processed and look like etching.

I came across Awesome Fallen in January 2021 the first time when I visited “Mind the Gap” at Itakos Project and Art Gallery (read here).
Awesome Fallen is in SL since 2010, yet the profile does not give away much: “…… just another wave in the ocean …….”. Awesome has a flickr page tough with a lot of followers and I can understand why. The pictures are intriguing, invite you to take a closer look and to comprehend what Awsome wants to express or to make up your own story to the picture.
In the folder I got from Owl is a bit more information. Firstly there’s a quite long list of former exhibitions by Awesome, and secondly Awesome did give away a bit more of herself: “RL or SL, it doesnt matter, I love telling and creating…….. photography, painting, modeling, writing, glass lampwork, since ever addict to any artistic expression ……. First in RL, and later in SL when I discovered that offers unlimited options to create and to tell …….. studied but also self-taught …… I don’t know if I’m an artist or if I even could call myself that……….. I just know that strong emotions fire up my inspiration …. telling with colors, painting the silence…..
Endlessly grateful to the ones who allow me to share my work and to those who take the time to observe it“

Impressions of “Uncolored Journey” by Awesome Fallen @ NovaOwl Community Center (2)

The NovaOwl Community Center and Gallery and the NovaOwl Sky Gallery is owned by Uli Jansma, Owl (Owl Dragonash) is the general manager. NovaOwl is an international community on the mainland continent of Corsica. NovaOwl is located on Novatron. It is a meeting place where events take place regularly. Thank you Uli and Owl for providing the space for the art and for enabling the exhibition “Uncolored Journey” by Awesome Fallen. I enjoyed my visit.
“Uncolored Journey” by Awesome Fallen shall stay open through June.

Landmark to NovaOwl Commuity Center – Gallery & Club and to the exhibition Uncolored Journey by Awesome Fallen
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Novatron/131/102/23
Landmark to NovaOwl Sky Gallery – current installation “Memento Vivere” by Selen (read here)
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Novatron/122/39/2001
Awesome Fallen’s flickr
https://www.flickr.com/photos/awesomefallen/

Art in Second Life 2023 (27) Nothing is real: Portraits of Non-Existing Women by Madoka Kawabata

18 May 2023 Leave a comment

by diomitamaurer in Art in Second Life Tags: , , , , ,

Madoka Kawabata invited me to visit her new exhibition at the Kiku Art Gallery.
Madoka Kawabata is a friend of mine, not very close but we talk every once in a while, had one short play together as far as I remember and we’re both watching each other at deviant Art. Hence I know a bit of her art. Most of her pictures are taken inworld and are a bit processed. She loves gloomy scenes and a retro or vintage look for her pictures.
Last year in March I saw her very first exhibition in Second Life at Michiel Bechir Gallery (read here).

Madoka Kawabata’s exhibition at Kiku Art Gallery is named “Nothing is real: Portraits of Non-Existing Women”

The roughly 20 pictures are exhibited in a seperate building. Each of them is titled. They are not very large. You should step or cam close into them to see the details. As the name implies the exhibition focuses of portraits of women. None of them exist in real life but they look very real.
Madoka wrote in the accompaying notecard: “As I began experimenting with AI digital art, Midjourney in particular, last year, I decided to mix the portraits approximately half and half between Second Life and those created by Midjourney. Although Midjourney can use a photograph as one of its inputs, I think that most of those in this show are purely based on word input.“

Impressions of “Nothing is real: Portraits of Non-Existing Women” by Madoka Kawabata at Kiku Art Gallery (1)

The result is amazing! These pictures look so damned real – and vintage of course as it is Madoka’s style. You wouldn’t think that these pictures are fake, if you wouldn’t know better. And some of the pictures clearly also express Madoka’s wit.

Madoka Kawataba’s Second Life began already in 2005. All along she took photos, but it was only about 4 years ago that she finally began spending more time and effort on SL photography as the graphics and quality of the visuals got better: “This coincided with an increased in interest in RL photography, especially with vintage film cameras. It’s a very different experience taking pictures with a 1950’s era mechanical film camera. But the experience in SL and RL helped my photographic abilities in both places!”
Madoka has an account on flickr and you can find her on deviant Art.

Impressions of “Nothing is real: Portraits of Non-Existing Women” by Madoka Kawabata at Kiku Art Gallery (2)

Many thanks to Suzanne (suzanne Logan) and Rafael (rafaelnightshade) for enabling this exhibition at Kiku Art Gallery. And many thanks to Madoka for these outstanding virtual reality pictures. I was impressed and can only recommend a visit. The exhibition shall be available until June 30th.

Landmark to Kiku Gallery and Madoka Kawabata’s exhibition
“Nothing is real: Portraits of Non-Existing Women”
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Amatsu%20Shima/44/38/22
Madoka Kawabata’s flickr
https://www.flickr.com/photos/madokakawabata/
Madoka Kawabata on deviant Art
https://www.deviantart.com/madokakawabata

Art in Second Life 2023 (26) A dark star by Gem Preiz

12 May 2023 1 Comment

by diomitamaurer in Art in Second Life Tags: , , , , ,

I got an invitation from Gem Preiz to visit his newest installtion “A dark star“, that opened May 10th.

I follow Gem Preiz and his work for several years already. His installations and exhibitions are unique. Gem works with fractals and his work has brought fractals closer to me and aroused my interest in this form of art. Lately Gem Preiz experiments with light and reflections. He got a full sim grant for 2023 at SLEA 3 during the first half of 2023. There he started with “Lines of Light“. This installation is still available. I wrote about it in January 2023 in this blog here.

When you enter “A dark star” make sure that you switch the Avanced Lighting Model on, use shared Environment, set draw distance and particles maximum or as high as possible and set your graphics to high or even ultra if possible.

Impressions of “A dark star” by Gem Preiz (1)

I zoomed out first in order to understand the installation. You land on the top of a planet or star. You’re surrounded by light, by glowing buildings, the ground is mostly covered with small objects in different colours, looking up you see smaller objects flying around followed by smaller particles so that they look like comets.
You can walk around on the surface.

Impressions of “A dark star” by Gem Preiz (2)

I noticed several spaceships on the ground and used one to fly around. That is not only fun, you also get great views. As the particles move, and some objects move you get a different view whereever you look at!

Impressions of “A dark star” by Gem Preiz (3)

I stepped out of the spaceship and walked around a bit. I found a seating opportunity where I could watch. I turned the music on and watched the scenery for a while. You can relax and enjoy! Then I further explored … walked over the edge and could walk down for a while before gravity kicked in and I was on another part of the planet or star.

Impressions of “A dark star” by Gem Preiz (4)

I had fun exploring and looking at all the colours, light and reflections. Well done, Gem!

“A dark star” is the 3rd installation Gem Preiz opened on the full sim grant. It all started with “Lines of Lights“. I missed the 2nd installation “Color & Glow“. As all three installations are available, I visited “Color & Glow” next. Incidentally Gem Preiz was present and I met him there.

Impressions of “Color & Glow” by Gem Preiz (1) – Gem Preiz and Diomita in the lower left

Gem explained to me how the 3 installations build on each other:
Gem Preiz: In all these builds I tried to play with reflections and lights and changes, either switching colors or adding movements of particles and physical objects here. It started in a closed place, kind of an underground maze, with “Lines of Lights“. “Color & Glow” sort of added a dimension, by opening the build to the sky and extend horizons. Here the colours change every 5 minutes. The last one, “A dark star“, is a combination of both, colours of the first, structures of the second, but adding another dimension, and the build, instead of being flat as many builds in SL, has become a whole 3D construction. It is surrounded by orbiters, and nested in an isotropic 3D universe of glowing lines, the boundaries of which are unreachable.
Diomita Maurer: yes, if you walk down … you reach other parts, intriguing
Gem Preiz: limited by the gravity however, which is not like on the Earth. If one could walk beyond the limits of the sim, one would fall. But visually, it looks like sort of a planet.

Impressions of “Color & Glow” by Gem Preiz (2)

Gem Preiz “is educated in science and mathematics and is fond of anything related to Nature, Cosmos and Earth, from astronomy to geology. The world of fractals is, in the same way, ruled by Mathematics functions which, as Physics do in Nature, enable to create objects which features repeat themselves at every scale. There lies his passion for fractals: create thanks to the power and pureness of the Mathematical concept, images the complexity of which can suggest Nature beings, objects or sceneries.” (taken from an older notecard about Gem). To see more of Gem Preiz’ art take a look at his flickr page.

I enjoyed my visit a lot and was impressed by all the light effects. In addition “Color & Glow” and “A dark star” are great places to wind down and just enjoy as particles, comets and objects fly by submerging the world in different colours and light.
All three installations are available until June 30th, 2023.
Thenk you Gem!

Landmark to SLEA3 – Gem’s A dark star (part 3)
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/SLEA3/80/61/3199
Landmark to SLEA3 – Gem’s Color & Glow (part 2)
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/SLEA3/2/197/1916
Landmark to SLEA3 – Gem’s Lines of Light (part 1)
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/SLEA3/204/128/993
Gem preiz’ flickr
https://www.flickr.com/photos/187894176@N07/albums

Art in Second Life 2023 (25) “Intimistic Journey” by Nowhere Boy @ Nitroglobus Roof Gallery

10 May 2023 2 Comments

by diomitamaurer in Art in Second Life Tags: , , , , , , ,

Dido Haas invited me to see the May exhibition at her Nitroglobus Roof Gallery: “Intimistic Journey” by Nowhere Boy. The exhibition was opened Monday, May8th.

“Intimistic Journey” by Nowhere Boy consists of 12 large pictures presented at the main hall of Nitroglobus Roof Gallery with it’s magic mirror floor. The poster above was made by David Silence based on one of the exhibited pictures, the creative light art was provided by Adwehe.
Dido Haas wrote in her notecard about “Intimistic Journey”:
“I have been following Nowhere Boy on flickr for some time now and saw his work at the collective exhibition Vision of Imago land. He definitely has a style of his own, which attracts me and made me decide to invite him to create an exhibition especially made for Nitroglobus.
The works shown are made at various places in SL, but they all bare the unmistaken signature of Nowhere Boy. Walk around and enjoy the meditative mood of the works, let them distract you from every day (SL) life.”

Impressions of “Intimistic Journey” by Nowhere Boy @ Nitroglobus Roof Gallery (1)

The artist Nowhere Boy (Friiiday Nightfire) wrote about his exhibition:
“The “Intimistic Journey” exhibition is composed of images which I made during my many travels on Second Life. For a few months I have been exploring the mystical and spiritual side of Second Life, which inspired me to choose this title. An inner and spiritual journey, almost meditative. It is with this state of mind that I made my recent work. The pictures were never shown before.“

I myself am not a big fan of fantasy worlds, but of course Second Life is a perfect platform to create such worlds. Nowhere Boy picked great backgrounds for his pictures. Some of them made me smile like the one where he placed his head into a bear costume, the one where he rides a cow or when he stands on a flying duck. Others were taken originally at Grauland – I think – showing big concrete blocks almost randomly placed into the nature. All of them shows him (or someone else) exploring what others have created. Nowhere understands how to process the pictures perfectly to get the spectator focused. My personal favourite picture is taken in a cow barn. It is right next to the sign “Intimistic Journey” at the corner between the two wings of the exhibition hall. The light in this picture is selected that artfully that I had to look twice, first I really saw bats, but that are the faces of the cows *winks*. Well done, Nowhere Boy.

Impressions of “Intimistic Journey” by Nowhere Boy @ Nitroglobus Roof Gallery (2)

Nowhere Boy (Friiiday Nightfire) is in Second Life since 2007. He’s French and describes himself as romantic and old fashioned. In 2021 he first started to make images (he calls them captures) in SL, which he posted on his flickr account. He took part in several photo contests and got his first invitation to join a collective exhibition (Vision of Imago Land in July 2021), which is where Dido Haas saw his art the first time. “Intimistic Journey” at Nitroglobus Roof Gallery is his first personal exhibition.

Nitroglobus Roof Gallery is owned and curated by Dido Haas. Thank you, Dido for providing the space for the art and for enabling the exhibition “Intimistic Journey” by Nowhere Boy (Friiiday Nightfire). And thank you Nowhere Boy for your art.
As it is the May exhibition at the gallery “Intimistic Journey” shall be available until the end of this month.

Landmark to Nitroglobus Roof Gallery and to “Intimistic Journey” by Nowhere Boy
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Sunshine%20Homestead/38/22/1001
Dido Haas’ blog
https://exploringslwithdido.blogspot.com
Nowhere Boy (Friiiday Nightfire) ‘s flickr
https://www.flickr.com/photos/nowhereboy

Art in Second Life 2023 (24) Secret Garden by Cica Ghost

09 May 2023 Leave a comment

by diomitamaurer in Art in Second Life Tags: , ,

Cica Ghost did it again and opened another new installation. It is named “Secret Garden” and opened Sunday, May 7th. Together with the landmark, Cica provided a quote again, this time from The Secret Garden Book by Frances Hodgson Burnett (how fitting!): “And the secret garden bloomed and bloomed and every morning revealed new miracles.“

As always you’re asked to use “Shared Environment” as the environment is part of Cica’s art. Please also turn on “Advanced lighting”. Secret Garden is a bit different to what you and I might expect. The colours are dark with a metallic look. Silver, metal, bronze and brass tones are the dominating colours. The flowers shine at some viewing angels, sometimes they are matte.

Impressions from “Secret Garden” by Cica Ghost (1)

Secret Garden is inhabited by hippos and birds, but you also find one goat, one frog and … one cat (YAY). The hippos and the birds mostly look very happy, “Cica”-ish and are watching what is going on. You find many places to sit and to dance (ballet dances this time). Just hoover your mouse over objects to find places to sit, just click the “Dance” boards to dance.

Impressions from “Secret Garden” by Cica Ghost (2)

Together with the dark sky and the selected environment there’s a particular atmosphere at Secret Garden. The place is submerged in hazy, foggy light, which makes the flowers shine more. As you would suspect, there’re lots of details to discover, small details like a miniature of a “Cica”-house with wheels placed on a table. Also watch out for the birds, there’re more than just the big ones.

Impressions from “Secret Garden” by Cica Ghost (3)

At one place to sit I asked myself who is watching who.. does the bird look at me – or do I observe the bird? The frog is sitting on the edge of a bathtube, ready to jump in. And the cat (thank you Cica) has a place for it’s own.

Impressions from “Secret Garden” by Cica Ghost (4)

Secret Garden is not a place intended to make you smile like a kid exploring a peaceful world. It is different. It makes you smile discovering the artful light and some artful decorated places. The flowers are the stars of the secret garden as well as the art that is spread over the place. That – and the cat – gave reason enough to me to smile nonetheless!

As always we don’t know how long Secret Garden will be available for a visit, so hurry up and explore it.

Landmark to Happy Town by Cica Ghost
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/DARK/132/192/22
Landmark to Cica’s new shop
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Bryn%20Oh/22/244/21
Cica Ghost’s shop on the marketplace
https://marketplace.secondlife.com/stores/98471
Cica Ghost’s flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/64860898@N05/

Art in Second Life 2023 (23) Zornian Women by Kian @ Nitroglobus The Annex

04 May 2023 1 Comment

by diomitamaurer in Art in Second Life Tags: , , , , ,

Dido Haas messaged me to tell me that there’s a new exhibition in May/June in the annex of her Nitroglobus Roof Gallery: “Zornian Women”. The exhibition was opened May 2nd.

Together with the invitation I got a notecard with Dido’s description of “Zornian Women”:
“Immediately after I spotted Kian’s work @ Starborn gallery curated by Lizbeth Morningstar, I contacted him and asked if he was interested to exhibit at Nitroglobus.
I love his personal touch, his use of colors and his humor.
Inspired by the painter Anders Zorn, Kian captured the female body in light and shadows, with contrasting areas of very basic colors. Like in the paintings of the famous Swedish impressionist, the spectator’s eye is drawn to the subject when the surroundings disappear into the magical Northern lights.
I’m proud to be presenting Kian’s new work ‘Zornian Women’“

The exhibition consists of 13 pictures hung along the walls of the annex of the Nitroglobus Roof Gallery.  It is Dido Haas’ concept that the floor seems to mirror the pictures at the walls, an effect that intrigues me every time once again when I visit the Nitroglobus Roof Gallery.

Impressions of “Zornian Women” by Kian @ Nitroglobus Roof Gallery / The annex (1)

Except of one picture, that is right at the entrance on the short wall and shows a floating doll in a see, all pictures show a red haired woman painted in soft colours. And most of these pictures are at a beach with a soft blue sky. Dido wrote that Kian was inspired by Anderas Zorn, hence the name of the exhibition “Zornian Women”.
Andreas Zorn (1860-1020) was a Swedish painter. He attained international success as a portrait painter and painted many celebreties, politicians and royals of his era.
Zorn was known to use a basic color palette consisting of Lead White (Flake White), Yellow Ochre, Vermilion and Ivory Black. This limited color palette shows tremendous range in terms of color mixing. A large variety of tonal ranges is possible using this palette. (source Wkipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anders_Zorn)
I suspect that Kian also uses a limited variety of colours and that this is one reason naming the exhibition “Zornian women”, but I might be wrong. The pictures are heavily processed into impressionistic oil paintings, the contures of the female models are blurred and as the background is even more blurred, the spectator intuitively is attracted by the model only and makes up a story behind the picture.

Impressions of Zornian Women by Kian @ Nitroglobus Roof Gallery / The annex (2)

Kian (random26356) is in Second Life since May 2019. His first attempt at Second life photography took place half a decade ago. He needed some time to find his own unique touch: the faded, grainy images, usually with the artist himself as the willing subject, creating a distance between the spectator and himself. The pictures often have a quirk to them with Kian as a king slaying his queen on a chess board, on summer holiday with a sex doll or dressed as the Easter bunny on a canola field.
A few years later he started exploring landscape photography, but added heavy post processing to turn the images into impressionistic oil paintings. Falling in love with the technique he wanted to take it one step further. For the Zornian Women exhibition Kian used for the first time female models as the main subject.
You can see more of Kian’s artwork at his flickr page.

Impressions of Zornian Women by Kian @ Nitroglobus Roof Gallery / The annex (3)

Nitroglobus Roof Gallery is owned and curated by Dido Haas. Thank you, Dido for providing the space for the art and for enabling the exhibition “Zornian Women” by Kian. The exhibition poster was created by Maghda based on an image of Kian. Adwehe contributed the daisies and plastic spheres and prrovided the light art.
Thank you Kian (random26356) for your art – very intriguing. I can understand why Dido invited you to exhibit at her place.

“Zornian Women” by Kian is the May/June exhibition at the Annex of Nitroglobus Roof Gallery.

Landmark to The Annex of Nitroglobus and to “Zornian Women” by Kian
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Sunshine%20Homestead/166/41/1001 
Kian (random26356) flickr
https://www.flickr.com/photos/153345759@N03/
Landmark to Nitroglobus Roof Gallery (main gallery)
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Sunshine%20Homestead/38/22/1001
Dido Haas’ blog
https://exploringslwithdido.blogspot.com

Art in Second Life 2023 (22) Memento Vivere by Selen at NovaOwl Sky Gallery

03 May 2023 1 Comment

by diomitamaurer in Art in Second Life Tags: , , , ,

I (pre-) visited the installation “Memento Vivere” by Selen (Selen Minotaur) at NovaOwl Sky Gallery. The installation is ready to be viewed, the opening party will take place today, May 3rd at 9 PM (CET) / noon SLT.

Before entering you should ensure that your Graphics ate set to “Advanced Lighting Model”, if you can you’re recommended to set schadows to Sun/Moon and projector and you should enable Sound and Media with Media Autoplay enabled.
When entering the intallation you see big arrows at the floor and at the walls that guide your on your way through the installation. The first what you see is a permanently changing, mirrored being with hands and heead, most probably a human, that moves, develops and vanishes on three screens.

Impressions from “Memento Vivere” by Selen @ Nova OwlSky Gallery (1)

Selen wrote about “Memento Vivere“:
“Memento Vivere”, in Latin, means “Remember to live”. Isn’t it the other face of the same medal with “Memento Mori” which means “Remember that you’ll die”? What if the fear of dying was actually the fear of living?
This installation, mixing 2D, 3D and multimedia is meant to explore this question. The bias being to treat the subject with all the more lightness that it is serious, even heavy.
Visitors are therefore invited to take their time to look and sometimes interact with the artworks with their inner child, without forgetting their sense of humor, and to find the stories and messages that speak to them.
Most of the images are fantasy style, using avatars from the Metabody project.
An experimental art video (machinima) made specially for this installation will come out soon. It won’t be ready for the opening vernissage on May 3, as initially this opening was planned for June. But stay tuned, it might be ready before the start of June!”

Impressions from “Memento Vivere” by Selen @ Nova OwlSky Gallery (2)

The installation consists of a just a few 2D pictures, most of them permanently changing a with fading transition, hence you always get a different view. Please be aware that the floor is also used to display posters and messages. There are also some 3D objects in the installation, very outstanding is the the pendulum in the corner, that swings like a metronome above a circle with symbols of different religions and beliefs. On the wall you find the center message “The fear of dying refers to the fear of living“. On the floor your find other wisdoms like “Vita nihil valet nisi nihil valet vita” which is latin and means: “Life is worth nothing and what is of no value is not worth of life”.

Impressions from “Memento Vivere” by Selen @ Nova OwlSky Gallery (3)

There is a stairway leading upwards on a little stage with another animated colourful protrait and surealistic picture of what might be the devil at work. Looking back you see a videoscreen which plays the animations that you find at installation in a permanent loop. I am not aware if that is the machinima that Selen mentioned in her note about “Memento Vivere”. Anyway, here is the link to it.

What else? Find out yourself! One last thing, I liked the Salvadore Dali face next to another wisdom:
Go to work. Get married.
Have some kids. Pay your taxes.
Pay your bills. Watch your tv.
Follow fashion. Act normal
Obey the law
.. and repeat after me: I AM FREE

Impressions from “Memento Vivere” by Selen @ Nova OwlSky Gallery (4)

I came across Selen (Selen Minotaur) just recently the first time when I visited her exhibition “Junction Points” at Nitroglobus Roof Gallery (read here).
Selen (Selen Minotaur) is in Second Life since 2008. In her biography she writes about her connection to art: “In the physical world I grew up in France with an architect, painter and sculptor father, maybe that’s why I’ve always loved art in all its forms. I myself tried drawing, painting (watercolor) and sculpture (clay) when I was younger. Later I discovered different platforms of the Metaverse (Second Life being the very first and main one) with endless possibilities to create digitally….. I always like to experiment new things, and creativity and art are definitely my main fuels in SL.”
Nowadays, Selen has an own gallery, an own website, a facebook and an instagram account, a flickr page and an own youtube channel. You cand even more links to Selen’s artwork at her link-list here.

The NovaOwl Gallery  and the NovaOwl Sky Gallery is owned by Uli Jansma, Owl (Owl Dragonash) is the general manager. NovaOwl is an international community on the mainland continent of Corsica. NovaOwl is located on Novatron. It is a meeting place where events take place regularly. Thank you Uli and Owl for providing the space for the art and for enabling this Installation. I enjoyed my visit.
“Memento Vivere” by Selen shall stay open until June 30th.

Landmark to NovaOwl Sky Gallery and to “Memento Vivere” by Selen
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Novatron/122/39/2001
Landmark to NovaOwl – Gallery & Club
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Novatron/131/102/23
Video with for the permanent loop animations at “Memento Vivere”
https://www.youtube.com/embed/qxj_7o7wdk4?version=3&loop=1&playlist=qxj_7o7wdk4&autoplay=1
List of links leading to Selen’s art:
https://linktr.ee/selen.inworld
Selen’s gallery in-world
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Royale/211/208/1602
Selen’s website
https://seleninworld.com
Selen on facebook
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1000855067835699
Selen on Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/selen.inworld/
Selen’s youtube channel
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUSdEgggYEheFsxHI7drfpw
Selen on flickr
https://www.flickr.com/photos/185987389@N08/

Art in Second Life 2023 (21) “Unusual” by Bamboo Barnes @ Kondor Art Center

21 Apr 2023 1 Comment

by diomitamaurer in Art in Second Life Tags: , , , , ,

Bamboo Barnes opened a new exhibition at The Kondor Art Center on April 20th. It is named “Unusual“. The music at the opening event was provided once again by hEIN! (heinrichmarder).

I visited a few days before the opening as Bamboo invited me over. And I mixed up the exhibitions! Bad me. The only excuse I have is that it was late. And yes, I was a bit irritated as the pictures didn’t fully fit to her style. But they were colourful, that detail fitted. Anyway, to make up for it I visited again today. So not only the title is “Unusual” but also this revised post. Thank you for your art, Bamboo .. and thank you for your understanding.

“Unusual” is exhibited on two floors of the exhibition building and consists of close to 40 pictures and rotating 3D objects. Most show female portraits, some more than just one and some female bodies. But all are processed with added layers, with 2nd and 3rd and 4th layers geometric forms that change the the appearance. Often the original portrait is hard to see and you have to immerse yourself to make up your own picture. And as usual for Bamboo Barnes’ style “Unusual” (what a nice pun) all pictures impress by their colourfulness. The 3D objects at the entrance and behind the stairs to the 2nd floor change permanently as the single objects rotate and as on the surfaces several pictures and faded in and out. This way you always get an unique view.

Impressions of “Unusual” by Bamboo Barnes @ The Kondor Art Center (1)

Bamboo wrote in an accompanying notecard about “Unusal“:
“I was taught to always compare myself to others and to stand within the line that was drawn. To not even think about what would happen after I crossed that line.
What is normal and what is unusual, it kept me bound inside for quite a few years.
One day I jumped off of it and landed in a world of chaos, and since then everything has changed in my world, above and below. The good and the bad. Everything was new.
Now I wish I could relive that time of joy and awe all over again.”

Impressions of “Unusual” by Bamboo Barnes @ The Kondor Art Center (3)

Bamboo is in Second Life for over 15 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 “Drawer” at Hannington Arts Foundation (read here). In December 2021 I saw her exhibition “The path” at Art care gallery (read here) and 2022 i visited “Metaphysics” at the Kondar Art Center, (read here), Colores Primarios (read here), “New Day”  (read here) and  “Personal Aspect” (read here). This is the first exhibition, that I saw of her in this year – and all pictures are brand new. One could say, I’m a fan of Bamboo’s art!
Look also at Bamboo’s flickr page.

Impressions of “Unusual” by Bamboo Barnes @ The Kondor Art Center (3)

At the opening event hEIN (heinrichmader) was the dj. hEIN is from Austria. He had over 500 online DJ sets in SL between 2010 and 2022. He’s also a DJ in RL and got several awards. hEIN! publishes electronic music that he calls “Art Techno” because of the voice processing he does. If you want more information about him, read the interview about his RL and SL activities that he gave in March 2022 here. hEIN! has also an own website.

Hermes Kondor (aka Luis Vasconcelos) is from Lisbon, Portugal. He’s a former teacher of photography and photojournalism and looks back on 40 years of photography experience. Hermes likes to see and shoot and he loves street photography. Hermes is in Second Life since 2007. He is the owner and curator of the Kondor Art Center, Thank you Hermes for enabling the exhibition “Unusual” by Bamboo Barnes.

I enjoyed my pre-visit. Thank you Bamboo.

Landmark to “Unusual” by Bamboo Barnes at The Kondor Art Center
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Waka/219/163/810
Bamboo Barnes’ flickr page
https://www.flickr.com/photos/bamboobarnes/
hEIN! RL/SL Interview 3/2022:
https://www.cityflyer.at/heinrich-mader-aka-hein-tanzen-im-metaversum/
nHEIN! website:
www.hein.vision

Art in Second Life 2023 (20) A minimal gaze by Melusina Parkin @ UASL

16 Apr 2023 Leave a comment

by diomitamaurer in Art in Second Life Tags: , , , ,

Melusina Parkin invited me to her newest exhibition “A minmal gaze” at United Artists of Second Life (UASL) Galerie Principale on the 1st floor.

I am a fan of Melusina Parkin’s art and have seen quite some of her exhibitions. Melu’s style is minimalistic. She usually takes her pictures in Second Life. The minimalism forces the spectator to focus on details, that might stay unseen when too much distracts the view. Lately Melusina has tried out herself and other themes and techniques. She made pictures of ladies (read here), she played with AI generated pictures (read here and here), or she reduced her pictures to black&white only (read here). With “A minimal gaze” Melusina returns once again to her traditional pure minimalistic style.

Impressions of “A minimal gaze by Melusina Parkin @ UASL (1)

Melusina wrote about “A minimal gaze“:
“At this moment I’m experimenting AI generated images, but I don’t give up my passion for minimalistic photography. So I selected this series, collecting images of details seen in many SL places, to whom I wanted to give the dignity of photograph subjects. That’s what I always have done in these 10+ years of photography: enhancing and proposing what all of us could see and very often don’t “feel”. Minimal details talk of solitude, of uniqueness, of a kind of strangeness, like when we repeat a word until it looses its meaning, or acquires another one. Without a context, a detail can appear meaningless, but this senselessness can be rich of different possible meanings. Isolating a detail – making the usual unusual – does mean taking possess of something and giving it the meaning we want.“

“A minmal gaze” consists of 20 of these objects, which Melu gave a prominent place for us to look at them. That might be the view on a calm see from a window, a fence, a chair with a piece of clothes at the beach or a bus stop. It might be a pipeline, a warning beacon, the branch of a tree, a sun umbrella or a washling line with some clothes drying outside. No matter what it is, simple everyday objects in Second Life (and in Real Life) are the stars of the exhibition.

Impressions of “A minimal gaze by Melusina Parkin @ UASL (2)

Melusina Parkin is in Second Life since September 2008. She has been a fashion manager, a journalist, a furniture creator, a builder, a decorator and a photographer. Her work as a photographer has been showcased in more than 50 exhibitions – from which I saw just a few. Melusina has a flickr account which counts more than 13,000 (!) photographs. Extensive collections of her photos can be seen also on her blog Virtual Exhibits and on some slideshows on Youtube (links also under this post).
There’s also an online book with her Second Life exhibits 2011-2019 here.
Melusina Parkin has an own gallery at Time Portal, “Melu’s Photo Gallery” and an own store for Art Deco furniture called “Melu Deco“. Melusina also owns a second place (Melu Space) with another gallery (Minimum Gallery), a bookstore and another “Melu Deco” inworld store.

UASL is a unique artist group in SL that hosts opportunities for visual 3D, 2D and performance arts in it’s full region area at no cost to the artist. UASL is funded primarily by donations and by Riannah Avora. Thank you for enabling this exhibition.

Landmark to A minimal gaze by Melusina Parkin
United Artist of Second Life – Galerie Principale
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Karpov/128/53/64
Landmark to Melusina Parkin’s Melu Photo Gallery
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Time%20Portal/248/101/1940
Landmark to Melusina Parkin’s Minimum Gallery
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Lunula/129/107/621
Landmark to Melusina Parkin’s store for Art Deco furniture “Melu Deco”
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Time%20Portal/243/99/1930
Melusina Parker’s flickr
http://www.flickr.com/photos/melusina_parkin/
Melusina Parkin’s Virtual Exhibit blog
http://meluphoto.blogspot.it/p/home.html
Melusina Parkin’s youtube channel
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVzglBiqhrOLXnAp3Qt3Zjw
On line book Second Life exhibits 2011-2019
https://www.calameo.com/books/005997622f28dd58ca75d

Art in Second Life 2023 (19) Happy Town by Cica Ghost

13 Apr 2023 Leave a comment

by diomitamaurer in Art in Second Life Tags: , , ,

I got an invitation to visit Cica Ghost newest installation named “Happy Town”. It opened Friday, April 7th. Together with the landmark, Cica provided a quote again: “Whoever is happy will make others happy too.” (Anne Frank)

To anticipate it, Cica at least made me happy and put a smile on my face.
For “Happy Town” Cica has returned to her fabric and stitch theme. The ground, the clouds, the houses and the fences are made of fabric and sewn together. as always you’re asked to use “Shared Environment” as the environment is part of Cica’s art. Please also turn on “Advanced lighting”.

Of course “Happy Town” is inhabited by happy beings, in this case you find, animals, animal people and monsters. When I began exploring I came across cows first, then I saw cat people, sheep people and chicken.

Impressions of “Happy Town” by Cica Ghost / overview, cows, cat people, sheep people, sheep and chicken

Then I saw happy monsters and an animation of Cica’s cyclist in an open waggon. I walked on and discovered 3 different cars – all are also for sale if you want one. The cars are sold by cat people. But you can make a test drive, and so I took a blue car. I had Cica in IM and asked her if “my cat was there anywhere or if the cat people did replace it. Actually I had missed the pink cat at the landing when I was immediately attracted by the happy cows. I drove the care back to the landing point and met Cica there – and saw “my” cat.

Impressions of “Happy Town” by Cica Ghost / monsters, Cica’ cyclist, cars, “my” cat at the landing point

Cica had seen how people sat on cars so that two person can use them together and she tried it herself – and it worked. So for the rest of my tour I had Cica with me, she was a perfect passenger and tour guide.
If you turn your view up at the landing point you can see an UFO landing on the roof top of one of the houses – and two aliens, who start to colonize “Happy Town”. Our tour together led us along a yellow monster, a girl with a cow and a huge turtle.

Impressions of “Happy Town” by Cica Ghost / UFA and aliens, yellow monster, girl with cow, turtle

We saw a running girl as well as a pink moster. And finally I noticed another cat people sitting on a tree. Cica loves hiding details. What else … yes you can dance again at several places. I danced surrounded by sheep and chicken.

Impressions of “Happy Town” by Cica Ghost / running girl, pink monster, Diomita dancing, cat people on a tree

Again “Happy Town” is a place to make us smile and make us forget the world outside, that is running mad in this day and age. We can see the world with the eyes of children again and just be our happy self. Thank you Cica, you really accomplished this mission once again.

Cica Ghost has opened a new CICA shop inworld. Her friend Bryn Oh provided the space for it in the skies of her sim just next to her shop. The landmark is listed below. I mad a few pictures, but I didn’t use Cica’s environment because I wanted to provide an idea how big it is and what you can get there. Bascially, all beings that Cica created, well most of them at least *winks*

Cica Chost’s new in-world shop

As always we don’t knwo how long “Happy Town” will be available for a visit, so hurry up and be happy. Smile!

Landmark to Happy Town by Cica Ghost
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Mysterious/139/133/25
Landmark to Cica’s new shop
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Bryn%20Oh/22/244/21
Cica Ghost’s shop on the marketplace
https://marketplace.secondlife.com/stores/98471
Cica Ghost’s flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/64860898@N05/

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