Art in Second Life 2022 (39) Exaggerations by Blip Mumfuzz @ Andante Gallery

21 Apr 2022 Leave a comment

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

Following Inara Pey’s blog I came across her post “Blip’s exaggerations in Second Life” and a gallery which I had not visited before – the Andante Gallery, operated by Jules Catlyn and Iris Okiddo (IrisSweet). The Andante Gallery has new exhibitions every 5 to 6 weeks. The current exhibition is by Blip Mumfuzz and titled “Exaggerations”.

The gallery itself is larger than it seems on a first glance and consists of two L-shaped buildings with a center court.
Most of the pictures of Blip Mumfuzz in this exhibition are flowers and plants that are processed with filters or additional layers to create a dominant colour, floral abstracts, exaggerations as the title implies. Blip used the windows of the gallery building to showcase more of her art looking from inside to the outside.

Impressions of “Exaggerations” by Blip Mumfuzz @ Andante Gallery (1)

I had come across Blip Mumfuzz in March 2020 the first time, when she exhibited at La Maison d’Aneli (read here). I also saw her exhibition “Urban and Industrial Images”, that excited me because of the way and the environment in which Blip presented her art (read here). I personally think she has the talent for the right way to showcast her work.
Blip Mumfuzz is a SL verteran, being inworld since 2007. Blip takes extraordinairy pictures in Second Life. Her art is to select the right cut-out of a picture, she looks for the abstract in the common, she “helps people to “see” the world with their mind and not just with their eyes.”
Some pictures at the exhibition are different though. For example there’s a series of 3 pictures “Grill, Breakfast and Back” that capture everyday life scenes. And through one window you can see the picture “Microbus”, that is an example of Minimalism in Blip’s artwork. Amoung the floral abstraction pictures, these pictures gain particular attention.

Impressions of “Exaggerations” by Blip Mumfuzz @ Andante Gallery (2)

You can see more of Blip’s art at her flickr page or at her Mumfuzz Gallery.

The exhibition “Exaggerations” by Blip Mumfuzz at Andante Gallery will stay open until May 8th. Thank you Blip for this exhibition, thank you Jules Catlyn and Iris Okiddo (IrisSweet) for enabling it and thank you Inara for your post. I enjoyed my visit.

landmark to “Exaggerations” by Blip Mumfuzz at Andante Gallery
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Amityville/144/108/24
Inara Pey’s blogpost “Blip’s exaggerations in Second Life”
https://modemworld.me/2022/04/12/blips-exaggerations-in-second-life/
Blip Mumfuzz flickr
http://bit.ly/23XK2aE
Mumfuzz Gallery
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Port%20Babbage/8/57/106

Art in Second Life 2022 (38) Art Deco fragments by Melusina Parkin

19 Apr 2022 1 Comment

by diomitamaurer in Art in Second Life Tags: , ,

I got an invitation of Melusina Parkin to see her newest exhibtion “Art Deco fragments” at her Melusina Photo Gallery. It has been opened on April 15th.

I am a fan of Melusina Parkin’s art. Melusina succeeds to make you focus on details, to see the hidden beauty of some designs. Her art is minimalistic, often there’re only a few elements in her pictures.

Art Deco, sometimes referred to as Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture and design that first appeared in France just before World War I. It influenced the design of buildings, furniture, jewellery, fashion, cars, cinemas, trains, ocean liners, and everyday objects such as radios and vacuum cleaners. It took its name, short for Arts Décoratifs, from the International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts held in Paris in 1925.
Art Deco combined modern styles with fine craftsmanship and rich materials. During its heyday, it represented luxury, glamour, exuberance, and faith in social and technological progress.
(source: wikipedia)

The Melusina Photo Gallery is right above Melusina’s store of Art Deco furniture “Melu Deco” at Time Portal. It is one big room and the pictures are exhibited on all for walls.
In the center you find a table a table with a book about the current exhibition sold by Melusina Parkin. Those who are regular visitors to Melusina Parkin’s exhibitions know these books already:
Melusina All-in-One Exhibits allow you to keep at home the whole exhibit you visited and loved. It’s an alternative kind of the exhibit catalogue: you can hang the object on your home’s walls and enjoy the changing images. They come in four versions, that you can choose according to your home style: plain or framed, changing image by touch or in random loop. The objects are set as modifiable, so you can adapt them to your walls.

As far as I gathered the current exhibition “Art Deco fragments” is just the first of 4 exhibitions about Art Deco. It covers Art Deco as building details. If I think of Art Deco the Chrysler Building in New York City comes into my mind. It was finished in 1930 and it is a landmark for Art Deco. Melusina has at least one picture that refers to this famous building.

The top of the Chrysler Building / Impressions of Art Deco fragments by Melusina Parkin (1)

If you walk through the world with open eyes you can see many Art Deco details on buildings. These details are just to spoil our eyes. They also express that there’s more than just function in at at buildings. In addition these Art Deco details also prove that you can build beautifully without losing function.

In her exhibtion Melusina has many more examples. I’m not sure if Melusina created all the textures herself of if she jsut went through the virtual world of Second Life with open eyes and found these details. I just assume it’s a mixture of both.

Impressions of Art Deco fragments by Melusina Parkin (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 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.

Impressions of Art Deco fragments by Melusina Parkin (3)

I hope that I won’t miss the upcoming exhibitions with more Art Deco about buildings, interior details and interiors.
Thank you for another great exhibition. I enjoyed my visit and looking at your pictures, Melusina.

Landmark to “Art Deco fragments” at Melusina Photo Gallery
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Time%20Portal/248/101/1940
Landmark to Melu Space (Minimum Gallery, Melubooks, Melu Deco)
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Lunula/192/9/21
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 2022 (37) Metaphysics by Bamboo Barnes

17 Apr 2022 4 Comments

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

I got an invitation to see Bamboo Barnes newest exhibtion “Metaphysics” at The Kondor Art Center Main Gallery.

The Kondor Art Center Main Gallery is a large 2-story mansion with a lot of space and natural light from the glass roof. Bamboo’s pictures are on both floors along the walls. I didn’t count the pictures but there must be around 35 pictures. As I expected it, they all are colourful.
Bamboo Barnes provided a short text for the exhibition:

Though I’ve never drowned.
There is a sense of drowning.
In a crowded train.
You are the only one on the train.
In the life of the person next to me.
His parents, whom I will probably never cross paths with, his family, whom I have never met, his childhood memories, joys and sorrows.
His family’s very separate friends, jobs, partners, and the loneliness and past they carry with them.
I am alone in the midst of it all, like a spreading ant’s nest.
I drown in it, the dark and bright air constricting me, and I gradually become a black spot.
Unable to open my eyes, I continue to watch the black dots disappear.

The text also reflects the title that Bamboo chose for her exhibtion: “Metaphysics”.
“Metaphysics” is the branch of philosophy that studies the fundamental nature of reality, the first principles of being, identity and change, space and time, causality, necessity, and possibility. It includes questions about the nature of consciousness and the relationship between mind and matter, between substance and attribute, and between potentiality and actuality. Metaphysics studies questions related to what it is for something to exist and what types of existence there are. Metaphysics seeks to answer, in an abstract and fully general manner, the questions: What is there? What is it like? (source Wikipedia)

Impressions of “Metaphysics” by Bamboo Barnes (1) – upper row: Blanket – Bird on the weir – Venetian Gravity 47

As mentioned above Bamboo’s pictures are always colourful. Bamboo loves strong and expressive colours. Most of her pictures consist of several layers and looking at them you begin to try to recognize the different layers, thus you’re drawn deeper into the picture. Very often there’s a female or a female face in one of the layers. Bamboo also plays with moving layers, like in the “Hollow” series right above the entrance. When you hoover with your mouse over the pictures you could buy her art, and you can see the title of the pictures, something that causes me to look a second and a third time at the pictures to potentially grab  Bamboo’s toughts.

Impressions of “Metaphysics” by Bamboo Barnes (2) – upper row: Hollow – February 24th, 2022 – No Gravity

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). Last December I saw her exhibition “The path” at Art care gallery (read here). “Drawer” and “The path” are both still open for visitors.
And I also had a look at her flickr page.

The Kondor Art Center Main Gallery Gallery is owned and curated by Hermes Kondor. Thank you Hermes for providing the space for the art and for enabling “Metaphysics” by Bamboo Barnes. I enjoyed my visit.

Landmark to The Kondor Art Center Main Gallery
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Waka/212/136/2419
Bamboo Barnes’ flickr page
https://www.flickr.com/photos/bamboobarnes/

Art in Second Life 2022 (36) Grove Compositions – New work by Simulat Almendros

13 Apr 2022 Leave a comment

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

In December 2020 I visited “Spirals and Metaspirals – An exploration by Simulat Almendros” at Hannington Arts Foundation (HAF) (read here). This exhibition is still open for a visit – and it is worth it.
In March 2021 I visited again, this time my focus was on the expansion of the exhibtion “Virtual Tables by Simulat Almendros” (read here). The expansion was done by adding a second level above over one half of space. The next expansion that I saw in April 2021 was named “Lines of Force by Simulat Almendros” (read here). The base exhibition “Spirals and Metaspirals – An exploration” is still open. I have missed one or two iterations / additions. For example the “Virtual Tables” is now gone, but some of the tables are still exhibited. On January 31st, I visited again and saw the addition named “Winter Snowflakes” (read here).

And now another addition was opened integrated in the existing exhibition: “Grove Compositions“

“Grove Compositions” – New work by Simulat Almendros

The landmark leads you directly to the new work. It is presented in two slowly rotating circles. Hence you can simple stand and watch the pictures pass by in front of your eyes. Simulat wrote an accompanying text for this addition:
“A number of years ago I was playing with a photograph I took one morning on my way to work. I copied the base layer into a new layer. Then I flipped that horizontally to make it’s mirror image. I widened the canvas and moved the layers so that they formed an image with mirror symmetry on the horizontal axis. Then I repeated that vertically. This ended up with an image 4 times as large that had both horizontal and vertical mirror symmetry. I liked it.
Then I selected an equilateral triangular section from it with that with the peak centred on the vertical mirror axis. A triangle like that can be rotated an fit together like pie wedges.
Once that was done I was like – WOW – that’s very interesting.

It was a hexagon with 6 sided rotational symmetry and within each of those sections you had a 4 sided mirror symmetry.
I tried doing the same thing with other images. Same result. Every time I got a very interesting picture. I even tried starting with just random dots. Same result. A very interesting picture. Since I was working with 6 sided symmetry I called the transformation a snowflake transformation and I classed the pictures as snowflakes.
I figured I’d exhaust the potential of snowflakes pretty quickly. Boy – was I ever wrong.
I found that you could do the same thing with any isosoles triangle that would make a regular polygon. So I could work with 5, 6, 8, 9, 10 and 12 sided figures.
Then I started taking pictures just to see what sort of snowflake would emerge.
Then I started using the output of the code I was writing as the seed for a snowflake.
I’ve got Photoshop set up now to automate a lot of the snowflake transformations. The tech is very productive.

Recently I stole an idea from Claude Monet and started using the scene outside my window for this series of pictures that I call Grove Compositions. Like Monet I’m struck by how changing light gives different impressions. Unlike Monet, I’m not much interested in representing anything. But I can make a picture and then explore variations where the only thing that changes is the color. And I can take a single seed through several orders of transformation, each producing a new picture.“

Examples from “Grove Compositions” – New work by Simulat Almendros

Simulat is in SL for mare than 15 years. He’s an artist and displays his work at HAF in Second Life. In the 1st life tab of his profile he describes himself with the tags: “Computer art, philosophizing Web, graphic arts programming, simulations“. Simulat picked his name because at the time he got his first internet account he was writing simulations of physics.

But there’s more than the “Grove Compositions“. There’s still the basic exhibition “Spirals and Metaspirals” with all it’s additions and iterations. And Simulat explains the different techniques he used to create his mathematical graphic artwork. So there’s a lot to learn and you might be inspired to try yourself.

The provided landmark leads you directly to “Grove Compositions“. Alternatively you can travel the central landing point at Hannington Arts Foundation (HAF) from where you can take a teleport to the exhibtion “Grove Compositions by Simulat Almendros“. Right next to the entrance of the exhibition space, you can grab a notecard from Simulat. In this notecard you find a lot of information about how Simulat makes his pictures. And you get even more information by clicking the poster between the two rotating circles at “Grove Compositions“.

If you haven’t seen “Spirals and Metaspirals” yet, don’t miss the opportunity to visit the now really large exhibition, you can spned hours there, it’s all in one exhitbion space.

Hannington Arts Foundation (HAF) is owned by Hannington Xeltentat. Thank you Hannington for providing the space for the art and for enabling “Winter Snowflakes” by Simulat Almendros. I enjoyed my visit.

direct Landmark to “Grove Compositions”
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Xeltentat%20Enterprises/103/203/3501
Landmark to Hannington Art Foundation (central landing point)
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Xeltentat%20Enterprises/169/204/3521

Art in Second Life 2022 (35) Alice (mostly) Doesn’t Live Here @ The 22 art space in Bellisseria

11 Apr 2022 Leave a comment

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

The 22 art space in Bellisseria, Second Life, is promoting an exhibition “Alice (mostly) Doesn’t Live Here” comprised of visual interpretations of selected Lewis Carroll poems running from April 01, 2022 through June 20, 2022.

Each artist chose one or two poems from a predefined list and created imagery based on their interpretation of the work. The works are composed by artists: Boudicca Amat, Trinity Yazimoto, Whiskey Monday, Ricco Saenz and Randy Firebrand.

Impressions of “Alice (mostly) Doesn’t Live Here” @ The 22 art space in Bellisseria – Boudicca Amat: “Miss May Forshall” and “Only try” / Trinity Yazimoto: “My Fairy” and “All in The Golden Afternoon”

Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (27 January 1832 – 14 January 1898), better known by his pen name Lewis Carroll, was an English author, illustrator, poet, mathematician, photographer, teacher, and inventor. His most notable works are Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865) and its sequel Through the Looking-Glass (1871). He was noted for his facility with word play, logic, and fantasy. His poems Jabberwocky (1871) and The Hunting of the Snark (1876) are classified in the genre of literary nonsense.

Carroll came from a family of high-church Anglicans, and developed a long relationship with Christ Church, Oxford, where he lived for most of his life as a scholar and teacher. Alice Liddell, the daughter of Christ Church’s dean Henry Liddell, is widely identified as the original inspiration for Alice in Wonderland, though Carroll always denied this. Scholars are divided about whether his relationship with children included an erotic component.

An avid puzzler, Carroll created the word ladder puzzle (which he then called “Doublets”), which were published in his weekly column for Vanity Fair magazine between 1879 and 1881. In 1982, a memorial stone to Carroll was unveiled at Poets’ Corner in Westminster Abbey. There are societies in many parts of the world dedicated to the enjoyment and promotion of his works. (source wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_Carroll)

Although Lewis Carroll may be best known for his Alice character in prose, in the selection of poetry for the exhibition Alice is rarely mentioned. She is hiding in plain sight in one of the images however.

The exhibition consists of 10 pictures. Each picture is dedicated to a poem/text, that you can read just below of the picture. The pictures and the poem are a unit, they fit together. The poem are mostly funny and made me smile, in particular together with the pictures, example given “Brother and Sister” which is the poem for Boudicca Amat’s “Only try”:

“SISTER, sister, go to bed!
Go and rest your weary head.”
Thus the prudent brother said.

“Do you want a battered hide,
Or scratches to your face applied?”
Thus his sister calm replied.

“Sister, do not raise my wrath.
I’d make you into mutton broth
As easily as kill a moth”

The sister raised her beaming eye
And looked on him indignantly
And sternly answered, “Only try!”

Off to the cook he quickly ran.
“Dear Cook, please lend a frying-pan
To me as quickly as you can.”

And wherefore should I lend it you?”
“The reason, Cook, is plain to view.
I wish to make an Irish stew.”

“What meat is in that stew to go?”
“My sister’ll be the contents!”
“Oh”
“You’ll lend the pan to me, Cook?”
“No!”

Moral: Never stew your sister.

Impressions of “Alice (mostly) Doesn’t Live Here” @ The 22 art space in Bellisseria – Whiskey Monday: “Rules And Regulations” / Ricco Saenz: “The Crocodile” and “My Fairy” / Randy Firebrand: “Hmm… A poem about a roast”, “Hmm… A poem about a poem” and “Hmm… a poem about a snappy dresser?”

There are 2 pictures for the poem “My Fairy” which is another example I’ll provide here:

I have a fairy by my side
Which says I must not sleep,
When once in pain I loudly cried
It said “You must not weep”
If, full of mirth, I smile and grin,
It says “You must not laugh”
When once I wished to drink some gin
It said “You must not quaff”.

When once a meal I wished to taste
It said “You must not bite”
When to the wars I went in haste
It said “You must not fight”.

“What may I do?” at length I cried,
Tired of the painful task.
The fairy quietly replied,
And said “You must not ask”.

Moral: “You mustn’t.”

I like the concept of illustrating Lewis Carroll’s poems. It shows what Boudicca Amat, Trinity Yazimoto, Whiskey Monday, Ricco Saenz and Randy Firebrand came to their mind when reading these poems. This way the spectator tries to combine the poem with the picture and reflects what the artist might have had in mind … or comes to a total different interpretation.

The 22 Art space is a gallery in Bellisseria, a continent with many Second Life prime members homes. The gallery is on one of these homes. It is owned and curated by Randy Firebrand and Ricco Saenz. The gallery’s name refers to the Modern Art Week in 1922 in Brazil, also known locally as “The 22 Week”.

Thank you Ricco Saenz and Randy Firebrand for enabling and presenting this exhibition. You guys have great ideas regarding art. I enjoyed my visit.

The 22 Art Space in Bellisseria
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Grenouille/60/35/35

Art in Second Life 2022 (34) La Maison d’Aneli April 2022

07 Apr 2022 Leave a comment

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

Wednesday, April 6th, the latest exhibtion at La Maison d’Aneli has been opened. It features the art of Kicca Igaly and Nessuno Myoo, two very different installations of two artist companions.

I went a few days before the official openind and I started my visit with Kicca Igaly’s artwork. Kicca wrote about her installation “Pulsions”: “I went back to considering what prompts the human being to make, or sometimes not to make, his decisions. I see it as a precarious balance between negative pulsions and positive pulsions that alternate in taking over in the decision-making act. Wandering around the city, I discover at every corner this duality in the people that I meet.“

The installation is a stylised city with highrise bulidings. Your walk on the ground level and meet other people that stand around alone or in groups. Each person has kind of two Angels hoovering above their heads, a white (positive) angel and a grey (negative) angel. What might they decide next? What are they talking about? What is the single street painter thinking about?
It is a calm and peaceful scenery that offers great opportunities for taking pictures, yet there is a certain tension almost tangible.. will the scene change?

Impressions of Kicca Igaly’s installation “Pulsions” at La Maison d’Aneli April 2022 (1)

Kicca Igaly is in Second life for more than 14 years. She had a passion for painting and art before in RL and Second Life offered her more ways to express herself, sculptures, digital art and buildings. Kicca is a friend of Nessuno Myoo, with who she also worked together on a LEA project in 2013. I saw Kicca Igaly’s art the first time at La Maison d’Aneli in 2021, where she showed her exhibition “Duality”. It seems to me that Kiica loses to play with and to reflect contrasts in human life.
More information can be found in the notecard accompanying the exhibition at La Maison d’Aneli. More of Kicca’s work can be seen on Kicca Igaly’s flickr page.

Impressions of Kicca Igaly’s installation “Pulsions” at La Maison d’Aneli April 2022 (2)

Nessuno Myoo’s installation is named “As A Mammoths In The Middle Of Butterflys”. The title describes exactly what you see on the first glance, the skeleton of a mammoth with butterfly flying around the whole skeleton. On a sceond glance you see that there are actually 2 mammoths, a full grown mammoth and a baby mammoth. The skeletons are displayed on a metal surface with cracks. In the center right under the skeletons something in the cracks is glowing red, and the red light reflects on the parts of the skeletons.
Nessuno wrote about the installation: “At the sunset of existence immersed in the wonder of the its own nature…“

Impressions of Nessuno Myoo’s installation “As A Mammoths In The Middle Of Butterflys” at La Maison d’Aneli April 2022 (1)

Around the skeletons are cubes, which are connected with straight wires. The cubes and wires reminded me of skeletons which I saw in museums as there has to be a construction to hold the pieces of the skeleton in place. In Nessuno’s installation they don’t have this function.
The skeletons and the butterflies are made of iron pieces and not of bones. It came to my mind that the red sustance in the cracks on the floor could be hot melted iron. In second life you can fly and I inspected the huge installation flying around, landing on the skeleton and on the cubes. That is fun – and provides a lot of additional perspectives.

Nessuno Myoo is in Second Life for 14 years and has a blog (in Italian) and a flickr page.

Impressions of Nessuno Myoo’s installation “As A Mammoths In The Middle Of Butterflys” at La Maison d’Aneli April 2022 (2)

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.

Landmark to La Maison d’Aneli
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Virtual%20Holland/23/71/22
Kicca Igaly’s flickr
http://www.flickr.com/photos/31465953@N05/
Nessuno Myoo’s blog
http://toctoccenessuno.myblog.it/
Nessuno Myoo’s flickr:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/nessuno_myoo/

Art in Second Life 2022 (33) Make a wish by Cica Ghost

05 Apr 2022 Leave a comment

by diomitamaurer in Art in Second Life Tags: , ,

Sunday, April 3rd, Cica Ghost opened a new installation named “Make a wish“. You find the complete title – or the thought Cica provides with her installation in the landmark description: “Make a wish upon a Blobfish :)”

As usual with Cica’s installation you shall use shared environment, set advanced lighting and activate shadows from sun/moon and projectors.
To say it right away “Make a wish” by Cica Ghost did conjure a smile in my face from the very beginning of my visit. The island Cica designed is quite meager but there are some fertile corners where you find single trees and daisies – the kind of “Cica-daisies” which I planted also at our homesim. You see some single buildings spread over the island, quite high buildings in the typical “Cica”-style. There are several ropes stretched between trees, poles and buildings. And Cica hid many animations, be it on these ropes or on roofs, be it on chairs and benches or be it dancing animations (look for the sign “Dance”).
At the building close to the landing point is a small table with two chairs, where you find the first inhabitants of “Make a wish“, two ladybugs that are eating a daisy.

Impressions of “Make a wish” by Cica Ghost (1)

And not far away are two rockskipper fish, that lay around lazy. Of course they have big eyes and of course they are big. You can even sit on one of these rockskipper fish.

The star at “Make a wish” is a huge blobfish. It lives at the shore of a pond and there’s a figure looking at it. I placed myself next to that figure and looked at the sad and ugly face of the blobfish – and made a wish!
Further inhabitants are three storks and one cat. This time Cica did not hide the cat, thank you Cica!

Impressions of “Make a wish” by Cica Ghost (2)

I had a lot of fun exploring “Make a wish“. I tried some of the animations – use your mouse and hoover over buildings, animals and ropes to find them. I sat down and watched and I found a few more rockskipper fish as well as another stork besides the couple that is also the motive of the poster.

Impressions of “Make a wish” by Cica Ghost (3)

Once again Cica created a lovely fantasy world this time around two very outstanding fishes – blobfish and rockskipper fish. To be honest I never heard about both and looked them up on the net. Blobfish are famous for being the most ugly fish. When they are in the sea they are not that ugly, but once outside they look really sad and ugly! And rockskipper fish are famous as you can find them outside of the water on rocks. Both blobfish and rockskipper fish are not as huge as they are at “Make a wish” by Cica Ghost.
You can grab your own blobfish for free right at the entrance where Cica has several boards, with her artist bio, the tip jar, visitor counter, a link to her store and the free blobfish.

Impressions of “Make a wish” by Cica Ghost (4) – blobfish and rockskipper fish

I enjoyed my visit and I brought a blobfish with me. I might take it out for making a wish every once in a while.

Diomita with her blobfish at “Make a wish” by Cica Ghost

Thank you Cica for another lovely installation!

Landmark to “Make a wish” by Cica Ghost
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Pasquale/81/142/26
Cica Ghost’s shop inworld
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Del%20Mondo/36/192/24
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 2022 (32) Status Menti by Elfi Siemens

03 Apr 2022 2 Comments

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

At Nitroglobus Roof Gallery a new exhibition was opened Friday, March 25th: “Status Menti” by Elfie Siemens.

Exhibition Poster created by David Silence based on a work of Elfi Siemens

The exhibition “Status Menti” consists of 14 pictures of Elfi Siemens. The outstanding exhibition space with it’s mirroring floor and open sky adds a lot to the experience of it. Adwehe, whos artwork was featured at Nitroglobus Roof Gallery in February, tuned in her great lights/shadows art into Elfi’s art work. The space, the light effects and the appearing and vanishing objects in different colours make the space itself unique. Don’t forget to use the preset environment settings in your viewer (in Firestorm top menu “World” -> “Environment” -> “Use Shared Environment”.
Dido Haas, owner and curator of Nitroglobus Roof Gallery, wrote about “Status Menti”:
“This exhibition shows the very personal and emotional work of Elfi Siemens. It touches my heart and I am sure it will touch yours too. Elfi is an artist who is not afraid to show images from (as she calls it) ‘places deep inside’. Don’t expect bright colors and happy images, instead take your time and let the works displayed on the walls of Nitroglobus descend and create their own stories in your head and heart. As Elfi says: ‘Sometimes people find stories in my pictures, of which I myself didn’t even think of’.“

And Elfi Siemens herself wrote: “Status Menti / State Of Mind is an emotional trip through my personal darkness – and who knows, maybe you will find parts of your own inner twilight zone in those images painted with shadows.“

Impressions of “Status Menti” by Elfi Siemens @ Nitroglobus Roof Gallery (1)

Elfi Siemens joined SL in 2007 and was fascinated about the endless possibilities SL has to offer to creative minds:
“For me it can take the art of photography to a different level, simply because I have the power to change the lighting or the scenery to my will, and ‘freeze’ a moment as long as it’s needed to get the (for me) perfect picture.
Most images I created since 2020 come from places deep inside, inspired by situations and emotions, often telling stories from the darker sides of human life – stories that have no room in all the colorful and sunshiny photo albums around us. I have learned from the few exhibitions I made so far in SL: Sometimes people find stories in my pictures, of which I myself didn’t even think of.“

Impressions of “Status Menti” by Elfi Siemens @ Nitroglobus Roof Gallery (2)

In my personal opinion Efi Siemens pictures are outstanding. They are creative and inspire to get literally into them to spin your own story about them.
You can find more of Elfie Siemens on her flickr page. Elfi also owns a sim named “Quoted Memories“, a scenic urban area made for photographersm that also offers some unique backdrops.

Nitroglobus Roof Gallery is owned and curated by Dido Haas. She has a separete room at the gallery to showcase her own art, the main room is mostly dedicated to feature other artists.
Thank you, Dido for providing the space for the art and for enabling the exhibition “Status Menti” by Elfi Siemens, which will be open for the public until around April 22nd, 2022. Thank you Elfi for your great artwork. I enjoyed my visit.

Landmark to Nitroglobus Roof Gallery
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Sunshine%20Homestead/38/22/1002
Elfi Siemens’ flickr
https://www.flickr.com/photos/elfi_siemens/
Landmark to Elfie Siemens’ sim “Quoted Memories”
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Loveland/185/31/1501
Elfi Siemens flickr group for “Quoted Memories
https://www.flickr.com/groups/quotedmemories/

Art in Second Life (31) 2/24 by Milena Carbone

30 Mar 2022 Leave a comment

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

Monday, March 28th, Milena Carbone opened a new exhibtion space at her own gallery, The Carbone Studio. She uses the new space to show her exhibtion 2/24. February 24th, 2022 marks the day Europe became a war zone again after more than 2 decades of almost peace, for most of us Europeans after more than 75 years. I myself grew up in peace and thought war was something of history on our continent.

2/24 gathers three series of images and texts, each made in one day: Paroxysm, Fury and Apocalypse. These three series have been exhibited at different exhibition spaces before and I wrote about all of them in this blog:

Paroxysm
Fury
Apocalypse

2/24 by Milena Carbone (1)

2/24 is different nonetheless. The exhibition extends over three levels starting with Paroxysm. You have to walk upstairs to see Fury and Apocalypse. At the ground level is a new introducing text. You can purchase a booklet about 2/24 with all texts and pictures and within the exhibtion you can purchase every exhibited picture of 2/24.

“Since February 24, 2022, I am feeling an intense pain and I live in a serious mental confusion. I am fighting against a collapse of myself, as if I were walking in the middle of a huge frozen lake and the ice suddenly broke into billions of fragments, in a deafening crash. There are so many reasons for this that the only answer to my stupefaction is to withdraw into myself and remain silent.

I am a helpless witness to the worst that mankind has produced for the world and for the earth, embarked in a ship adrift, crazy, cynical, ruthless, corrupt. Every time the events ask the human species to overcome itself, it chooses meanness.

DIABOLUS by Milena Carbone

Only that which affects our flesh matters, the rest is senseless chatter. No matter who the tyrant is, whether he is mad or evil, no matter who the heroes are, whether they were clowns, opportunistic businessmen or saints in their past, no matter who the leaders of the nations are, whether they are realistic or naive, weak or manipulative, no matter who the soldiers are, whether they are nationalists or globalists, invested with democratic or imperialist values, impeccable in their uniforms displaying shiny medals won on the field of honor, or thieves, rapists, bloodthirsty and flesh shredders, no matter this war has been repeated to the point of nausea by the same people against other peoples, with the same horror, the same impunity, the same shame, the same will to subjugate ideas, to destroy temples and ideologies, to subject terrorists to state terror, populations to the will of the people, no matter what the real history is, the one that will be forgotten and the one that will suit the victors : here and now, in my land, in my community of culture, spiritual beliefs, common sense, way to speak and way of being a society, children, their parents and elders are suffering the blows and fire of a devastating violence that violates their bodies and their souls.

Gravity by Milena Carbone

I am thinking in particular of the children whose hearts and minds will be invaded throughout their lives by the thunderous crash of bombs that will shatter their reasoning, their social relationships and their future behavior, sowing the seeds of hatred and disorder for a whole wasted generation.

Each of us, individually, from the humblest to the most powerful in this world, sincerely believe we are acting for good and truth, and collectively we sink into the dark ocean of cruelty, beyond the worst abominations perpetrated by the most abject living beings since life appeared on earth.

With love – Milena Carbone“

What Milena put together in 2/24 from her previous exhibitions Paroxysm, Fury and Apocalypse is a new exhibition, it fits together and became one with the new introducing text and the epilog. The booklet that you can get is not only a piece of art and a memory, but also a document of history.

2/24 by Milena Carbone (2)

Milena Carbone (mylena1992) is a French artist and is in Second Life since mid 2019. She discovered its artistic potential and since then has devoted all her free time to creation, associating, as in real life, images and texts: “Milena Carbone is a fiction in which, as in any artistic work, biographical and imaginary elements are mixed.” Her creative process is iterative: some of her images inspire her stories and these stories modify the development of the image, which itself transforms the story.
Milena has an own gallery, the Carbone Studio and she has a bookstore @ Noir’Wen City.
Milena has an own website, you can also find her on flickr here and you can read her texts here.

Thank you Milena for providing your last exhibitions as one and for the great booklet, I intend to rez it at our home. It is a touching piece of art in the light of the war.

Stand for Ukraine! Stand for a free Europe!!

Landmark to The Carbone Studio – and to 2/24
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Woiler/179/188/3316
Landmark to The Carbone Bookstore @ Noir’Wen City
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Noir%20Wen/243/203/32
Milena’s website
https://sites.google.com/view/thecarbonegallery/news
Milena Carbone’s flickr
https://www.flickr.com/photos/milenacarbone/
Milena Carbone’s writing
https://medium.com/@539568
Art in Second Life 2022 (22) Paroxysm by Milena Carbone
https://wp.me/psPPu-7U0
Art in Second Life 2022 (24) Fury by Milena Carbone
https://wp.me/psPPu-7V8
Art in Second Life 2022 (25) Apocalypse by Milena Carbone
https://wp.me/psPPu-7Vn

Art in Second Life 2022 (30) Akim Studio Gallery and SecundaVida Store

25 Mar 2022 Leave a comment

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

In January 2022 I visited the SecundaVida Body&Art Store, the newest project of Akim Alonzo (read here).  I had visited Akim’s Itakos Art Gallery quite often and had reported regularly about it. The gallery itself was closed as Akim focused on a store tor tattoos, the “SecundaVida Body&Art Store“.

Now Akim has renovated his SecundaVida Body&Art Store and added his new Akim Studio Gallery. Both are located at the same place (but on another height level) in one building that extends over 3 floors, the 4th floor is used by Akim as a laboratory and is not publicly accessible.

The SecundaVida Body&Art Store is on the ground floor. It is not as cosy as the first store, but way more spacious and it is easier to find the products you may look for. With an elevator you can visit the Studio Gallery and the Gallery 2, which shows Akim Alonzo’s exhibtion “The Matrix”. I visited the Studio Gallery first. Akim showcases his portrait pictures there. Making portraits is one of Akim’s passions and he’s really good at it. Most people in Second Life want to express themself with their avatar and in particular with their face, as it makes them unique like in Real Life. And Akim Alonzo is very good and professional in capturing the face and adding the right background and and atmosphere to reflect the virtual person, which is often just an extended existence of the real person.

Impressions of Akim Alonzo’s Studio Gallery

The Gallery 2 presents Akim Alonzo’s exhibtion “The Matrix”. I have seen this exhibition already a few times, the first time in 2020 at the Itakos Project and Art Gallery (read here). “The Matrix” is a metaphor for a world of people trapped in a simulated, virtual reality that has many aspects in common with the Secondlife world.

Impressions of “The Matriy” by Akim Alonzo at Gallery 2

Akim Alonzo is in Second Life for 15 years now. Actually his SecundaVida Body&Art Store was opened on his 15th rezzing anniversary. He describes himself as a traveller and photographer in Second Life. With the opening of the SecundaVida Body&Art Store Akim gave up his Itakos Art gallery. The website of the Itakos project and art gallery still exists yet hasn’t been updated since the last exhibition at the gallery. Now Akim has added 2 large exhibition rooms just above the renovated store.
You can see more of Akim Alonzo’s art on his flickr page.

Products of SecondaVida Body&Art Store can also be purchased on the marketplace and Akim made an own flickr account for the store.

I look forward to see more exhibitions in the new rooms.

Landmark to SecundaVida Body&Art Store
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Smeraldina/154/64/580
SecundaVida Body&Art Store on the marketplace
https://marketplace.secondlife.com/stores/243764
SecundaVida Body&Art Store on flickr
https://www.flickr.com/photos/194371193@N06
Akim Alonzo’s flickr
https://www.flickr.com/photos/akimalonzo/
Akim Alonzo’s website
http://www.itakos.it

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