Art in Second Life 2022 (19) Stillborn by Lex Machine

18 Feb 2022 Leave a comment

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

I got a group message from Lex Machine (Archetype11 Nova) announcing the opening of “Stillborn“, his latest installation.

Lex Machine (Archetype11 Nova) was formerly known as Schmexysbuddy Resident and created the Hotel California sims, which I visited in 2019 (read here and here). I saw Lex Machine’s installation “Isolation’s Passengers” in 2020 (read here), his installations Bermuda Locket (read here), “The House that Love Built” (read here), Numb (read here) and Nero (read here) in 2021 – and now “Stillborn” is his first installation of 2022.

Impressions of “Stillborn” by Lex Machine (1) – overview pictures

Lex Machine’s installations are collections of art objects from different artists, some of the objects were not intended to be art. Lex’ art is arranging them in his own way and setting them into a context and into an intriguing environment. As the title implies “Stillborn” is not happy art, a visit makes you thinking.  I use to zoom out first when I visit an installation or sim to get an overview and a first impression. If you look at “Stillborn” zoomed out what catches your eye first are bones, parts of a huge skeleton maybe of an dinosaur. The bones lay on and levitate above the island.
On a second view you notice the levitating bird cages and some oversized figures, one sitting on the island and a black and a white figure in the water at the shore.

Impressions of “Stillborn” by Lex Machine (2) – close to the landing point

Where you land is a colourful flowerbed, a real contrast to figures and the mood “Stillborn” radiates. There are 2 dollcases with oversized dolls. Their eyes are glowing like crazy. Next to one of the dollcases sits another oversized female with glowing crazy eyes. She has some syringes in her body. Then there is this faceless figure between the two dollcases which is wrapped in chains … and finally right beind the dollcases is a head without a skullcap and the head bearthes out bones.

Wlaking more towards inside you see several kneeling figures who try to protect themselves maybe in order not to be hit by one of the bones, the are squatted down like babies. And they have multiple heads are hands growing out of their bodies, abnormalities which can be found at stillborns.

Impressions of “Stillborn” by Lex Machine (3)

A bit apart from the stillborns you find a crying oversized figure sitting on the island. You can literally feel the pain the person is experiencing. She sits between the above mentioned birdcages, in which are birdlike beings with a clock between the wings, a symbol for the time flying by so quickly?

As usual the symbolism of Lex Machine’s installation “Stillborn” is hard to grasp. I once met Lex when I visited “Numb” (read here). Lex was a soldier and lost brothers in arms to suicide. In the end more veterans commit suicide than are killed in action. They have memories of things that used to kill people and the pictures drive them nuts. Far too often the only cure given are drugs … with the known results. At least some elements on “Stillborn” do remind me of this background, like the figure in chains, the female getting drugs, the head without a skullcap. It might be that Lex is expressing the pain about a stillborn, an event that is very hard to get over, something you don’t wish for anyone. I don’t know it.  And how do the two figures kneeling at the shore fit into this picture?
What I know is that the composition of art objects is again very effectful and impressing.

Impressions of “Stillborn” by Lex Machine (4)

I checked a few artists and builders of the objects collected and arranged at “Stillborn“, not of all: ЈiPe (jipe loon), Stabitha (what88 zond), Crai Conundrum, Eric Bloodrose, aki69, wassaabii, NESS (donotgivemyself), MedievalFantasy, Rogue Falconer and Galathir Darkstone, who made the dinosaur skeleton. Some of the names sounded familiar and I came across them on other installations of Lex. Some were new though.

Thank you Lex for another installation that made me thinking.

Landmark to “Stillborn” by Lex Machine
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Eve%20Bayou/15/134/22

Art in Second Life 2022 (18) Crescent Moon by Adwehe

15 Feb 2022 Leave a comment

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

At Nitroglobus Roof Gallery a new exhibition was opened Monday, February 14th: “Crescent Moon” by Adwehe

Exhibition Poster created by David Silence based on a work of Adwehe

The exhibition “Crescent Moon” consists of 17 pictures of Adwehe. Once again the outstanding exhibition space with it’s mirroring floor and open sky adds a lot to the experience of it. Adwehe added light effects, hence you should use the preset environment settings in your viewer (in Firestorm top menu “World” -> “Environment” -> “Use Shared Environment”.
Besides the cresent moon that you can see in the sky, balloons appear and vanish in all colours of the rainbow. Although they block your view on the pictures at times, they add to the atmosphere and produce a particular light – and hence are part of the artwork.

Adwehe wrote about “Crescent Moon” in the accompanying notecard:
“The moon has a mysterious attraction and influence on living beings and on many other things.. As the moon makes its way around the earth, its light, a reflection of the sun, marks shapes differently than how they really are: they get distorted.
In the virtual world of SL we are literally beings made of light, we might be gods, yet are we? The light of the moon is the indirect sunlight, and we the avatars are indirectly our human selves wrapped up in our own virtual creations.
Working towards this exhibition has been a journey exploring a mix between photography and painting, the real and the virtual, bringing out changing moods in strong colors. A play with the elements in a virtual environment.“

Impressions of “Crescent Moon” by Adwehe @ Nitroglobus Roof Gallery (1)

Actually Adwehe pictures are quite varied, some have very strong and expresive colours, others are just black and white studies – but all show females, faces, bodies and poses.

I visited the exhibition already on Sunday, February 12th, and learned that i was a bit early. Adwehe added mord 3D sculptures to the exhibition which further makes is more an art installation then just an exhibition. The figures play with spheres .. the moon … and the spheres in all colours of the rainbow have a source now. Very intriguing!

Impressions of “Crescent Moon” by Adwehe @ Nitroglobus Roof Gallery (2)

Adwehe is still quite new to Second Life, she joined 3 years ago. What I saw so far from Adwehe was always very different as she tired out herself and the artisitic opportunities that Second Life offers: “I explore an ever changing drawing using lines, light and darkness, strong color and whatever i can find to express. Creating depth and perspective expanding the dimensions of the exposition room, mostly abstract and animating. The theme’s I always come back to are everlasting change, transformation, (in)stability, chaos, light, color, movement, slowness and (different) ways looking at the world. I mix textures from my traditional RL drawings, acrylic and oil paintings inside and outside of SL to achieve abstract and figurative patterns, moods and motions“

Impressions of “Crescent Moon” by Adwehe @ Nitroglobus Roof Gallery (3)

You can find more of Adwehe, mostly unedited landscapes and some art snaps, on her flickr page.
In the Virtuality blog you can find an interview by Violet Boa with Adwehe here.

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 “Crescent Moon” by Adwehe, which will be open for the public throughout February / begining March 2022. And thank you Adwehe for your great artwork. I enjoyed my visit.

Landmark to Nitroglobus Roof Gallery
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Sunshine%20Homestead/38/22/1002
Adwehe’s flickr
https://www.flickr.com/people/187796045@N03/
Virtuality Blog Interview by Violet Boa with Adwehe
https://www.virtuality.blog/interview-with-adwehe/

Art in Second Life 2022 (17) In My Mind Project Gallery

13 Feb 2022 Leave a comment

by diomitamaurer in Art in Second Life Tags: , ,

Recently I visited “Inside Maloe’s Mind” by Maloe Vansant, an exhibition showcased at “In my Mind project Gallery”, the gallery space of A. (Ava Darkheart) (read the post here).

I met A. (Ava Darkheart) at the exhibition and she told me that her store and own gallery space is just above in another sphere shaped skybox. I went there Wednesday, February 9th.

Impressions of “In My Mind Project Gallery” (1) – the outside and inside of the shop

On the ground floor of the two story gallery building is A.’s shop. It sells frames with wisdoms and quotes, at least at the time of my visit. The gallery space itself is on the 2nd floor. The gallery building is surrounded by an open meadow with a place to sit and dream and with a piano.

A.(Ava Darkheart) has displayed her Second Life art on one wall of the In My Mind Project Gallery. The pictures are mostly portraits and body studies all in black&white. The lowest row shows 5 coloured pictures, which are based on Second Life (I assume). A. provides her thoughts in a frame at the wall:
“In my mind people persist… this persistence, I see it, I feel it. It emanates from those who have walked by my side, from those who have only crossed my path, or from whom I was invisible. From this experience that my mind has travelled to be what I am and to present myself in front of you, right, there are only images. But most of these images lurk in my mind, and you’ll never see them…”
Another frame on this wall promotes A. portrait photo service, you can grab a notecard with more information.

Impressions of “In My Mind Project Gallery” (2) – the picture wall

The other three walls of the gallery show monochrome RL pictures taken by A. The pictures are meant to initiate memories, to remind us of places we might have been – A. has been there at least, hence these images are in her mind. But I have been there as well, be it physcially or be it that the pictures remind me personally of another place.

Impressions of “In My Mind Project Gallery” (3) – the monochrome RL pictures

A.(Ava Darkheart) is in Second Life sine 2012 and from her profile I could only gather that she loves art and poetry – and that fits to her pictures and to her art. You can see more on the flickr account “In My Mind”.
Thank you A. for your In My Mind Project Gallery and for providing space for the art. I enjoyed my visit.

In My Mind Prohect Gallery
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/The%20Cabana/37/32/1390
In My Mind flickr
https://www.flickr.com/photos/194683388@N05/

Art in Second Life 2022 (16) Timeless by Cica Ghost

10 Feb 2022 Leave a comment

by diomitamaurer in Art in Second Life Tags: , ,

Monday, February 7th, Cica Ghost opened her newest installation named “Timeless“

In the landmark description you find the quote, that Cica provides for the visitor of “Timeless“. It is a quote from Walt Disney: “Laughter is timeless. Imagination has no age. And dreams are forever.“

Upon landing you’re requested to use shared environment, to enable advanced lighting and set shadows from sun and projectors.
I zoomed out to get an overview of the installation, but with Cica’s environment settings I couldn’t see much, hence I changed to “midday” for getting an overview.

Timeless by Cica Ghost – overview and orientation map

“Timeless” is once again a place to wind down, to dream, to play and to let your mind wander. It is full of details and of places to sit and to dance – and it is hard to describe with words. I made quite a lot pictures instead.
The ground has a structure like an afghan carpet, the leaves of the trees are made of cloths. There’s furniture that looks like made of play dough and some oversized dishes and cakes. Roads and pathways connect places and buildings.

Impressions of “Timeless” by Cica Ghost (1)

“Timeless” is inhabited by bunnies, elephants and birds in a human shape and as usual they are quite tall. You find them in different situations, eating icecream, holding balloons, flowers or umbrellas. The birds have oversized shoes. You can purchase the characters in Cica’s shop at “Timeless“.
I’m sure that I didn’t find out all the different opportunities to sit, play or enjoy. You have just to try out everything. I found some rocking chairs where you’re watched by oversized eyes. At other furniture the animation makes you an artist.

Impressions of “Timeless” by Cica Ghost (2)

The birds have there own little house. Three birds guard the house, inside is a nest with 2 eggs and two pair of shoes for the chicks to step in – funny! One of the bunnies is playing basketball not far away.

Impressions of “Timeless” by Cica Ghost (3)

There’s once again a Cicamobile that you can use to drive on the roads. Of course I tried that for the fun and to get a picture. I went into buildings, sat down at many different places, I danced, I sat down in one of the two swinging boats and watched the scenery below of me.
There’s one building that hides a little secret. I haven’t specified in on the orientation map, but look out for a two story tower. Inside you will find a present, a heart shaped balloon.

Impressions of “Timeless” by Cica Ghost (4)

Cica takes us into a dream world where we can be kids again. We can feel the different perspective as furniture or even dishes can be big objects. We can dance, we can preforn artisitc acts or sit down and watch. We meet strange people like the birds in their oversized shoes. “Timeless” is like a big playground, a fantasy world, another place Cica designed so that we can leave the real world behind and escape into a happy dream.
And where is the cat? There is one of Cica’s cat and it is not hidden. Thank you Cica!

Impressions of “Timeless” by Cica Ghost (5)

I had fun, I left “Timeless” with a smile in my face. Thank you Cica for another great and very creative installation.

Landmark to Timeless by Cica Ghost
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Thenest/116/146/27
Cica Ghost’s flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/64860898@N05/
Cica Ghost’s shop C I C A
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Appalachian/140/139/3502
Cica Ghost on the marketplace
https://marketplace.secondlife.com/stores/98471

Art in Scond Life 2022 (15) Inside Maloe’s Mind by Maloe Vansant

08 Feb 2022 2 Comments

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

I got a hint from Violet Boa to visit “Inside Maloe’s Mind” by Maloe Vansant, an exhibition that opened Sunday, February 6th. I have written about Maloe’s art already before. The last time I came across her was in September 2021 when I visited her exhibition “Eternally” at DixMix Gallery (read here) that celebrated the tenth anniversary of Maloe Vansant and DixMix Source’s friendship. And DixMix is mentioned on exhibition poster for “Inside Maloes Mind” as he provided the music for the opening event.

“Inside Maloe’s mind” is showcased at “In my Mind project Gallery”, the gallery space of A. (Ava Darkheart). With the invitation I got a quote from Maloe: “The journey in my Second Life, brought by pictures of my past, pictures that are close to my heart…“

The exhibition space is in a sphere in the skies. The pictures are arranged on the inside of the sphere so you also have to look up to see them. All of them are a combination of texts and poems and the pictures itself. The text is faded in and out – hence you get something to begin with when you make up your own story to each picture. I just wonder, which was first, the picture or the text/poem?

Impressions of “Inside Maloe’s Mind” (1)

Maloe Vansant joined Second Life in 2007, a new world for her who had never played games or joined any social network site: “After creating little Maloe, my barbie doll, my pixel soul, I discovered the possibility of making snapshots and I started to make a graphic diary of Maloe’s journey in Second Life, showing the emotions she experienced in this pixel world. I think I succeeded in doing this by using some post processing in Photoshop. I am not a woman of many words, I try to express myself, my feelings, my passion and probably my dark side through my pictures.”
Maloe has also a flickr account where you can see more of her artwork.

The virtuality blog published an interview with Maloe Vansant by Violet Boa back in August 2021. Violet Boa wrote in the introducing text about Maloe:
“Maloe belongs to the group of people who are strongly guided by feelings and she is blessed with ability to touch our souls with her photography.
With skillful game between light, shadow, color and composition she creates works that appeal to us not only on the quality level, but also write stories of life and with it catch our thoughts and hearts.” This text also fits very well to the exhibited pictures at “Inside of Maloe’s Mind”
Read the full interview on virtuality blog here.

Impressions of “Inside Maloe’s Mind” (2)

The “In my Mind project Gallery” is owned and curated by A. (Ava Darkheart). I met A. during my visit and she told me that her own art is exhibited on another level of her space. Hence I have something to add to my list.

Thank you A. for providing the space for the art, thank you Violet for the hint and thank you Maloe for another great exhibition, I enjoyed my visit. “Inside Maloe’s Mind” should stay open for visitors throughout February.

Landmark to “Inside Maloes Mind”
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/The%20Cabana/29/20/1325
Interview with Maloe Vansant by Violet Boa in virtuality blog
https://www.virtuality.blog/interview-with-maloe-vansant/
Maloe Vansant’s flickr
https://www.flickr.com/photos/31954671@N08//

Art in Second Life 2022 (14) life light by Milena Carbone

06 Feb 2022 Leave a comment

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

Just a week ago I visited Milena Carbone (mylena1992)’s remodeled and renamend gallery – The Carbone Studio (read here). In The Carbone Studio Milena has one exhibition hall that is dedicated to a monthy exhibition of her art. On February 2nd, “life light” by Milena Carbone was opened in this space.

“life light” consists of 9 pictures, all showing a female – Milena herself – with different backgrounds in different situations. All pictures are quite bright and minimalistic. So nothing does really distract the focus from Milena, her mood, her face, her body.

Milena wrote about her pictures showcasted in “life light“:
“Each of the paintings in this exhibition wishes to offer thanks for the privilege of being alive, for being separated from matter and light, generated by a cold and absolute dark womb.
We are the spectators of the inside of its sacrifice in countless elementary particles dancing a mysterious choreography with a secret melody. We are alive among life, pure beauty, sharp thoughts, fulfilling emotions, love.
We are the forever grateful gifts of nothingness. I remind myself of this every morning as I emerge from my night’s sleep. Every day is the best day of my life.“

Impressions from “life light” by Milena Carbone

There’s another text from Milena about Light and life that is on a board next to the entrance and shown in the picture above.
The 9 paintings do express exactly the feelings that Milena listed in her text: “being alive, pure beauty, sharp thoughts, fulfilling emotions, love”. I like them in their simplicity.

Examples of “life light” by Milena Carbone

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 website, you can also find her on flickr here and you can read her texts here.

“life light” by Milena Carbone shall stay open until March 2nd.

Landmark to The Carbone Studio
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Woiler/177/175/3287
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 (13) Winter Snowflakes by Simulat Almendros

04 Feb 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 latest interation and addition named “Winter Snowflakes“.

“Winter Snowflakes” by Simulat Almendros”

Simulat wrote an accompanying text for this addition:
“I live in Vancouver and am a computer based artist. I have a technique that creates images that have many orders of symetry that are are very beautiful in a symetric way.
My sister lives outside Saint John in New Brunswick in a nice house with a big yard. Herds of deer wander through her yard and she fenced half of it off so she could grow a big garden. Last Summer she sent me pictures of the garden each morning and I would turn them into a snowflake. This show is a result of that collaboration.
Years ago I found out how to make images that have both horizontal and vertical symmetry. Later I discovered that if I took an equilateral triangle and centered it on an image like that I could copy that area into a new image as a layer. Duplicate that and rotate 60 degrees. Then you can move that layer so it lines up with the first one. Repeat 4 more times and I have made a hexagonal snowflake.
That snowflake is also symmetrical. It has two levels of symmetry – so I think of that as an order 2 symmetry. You can repeat that as many times as you want though it isn’t very interesting beyond order 4.
I can do the same with pentagons with 5 layers rotated by 72 degrees. In fact I can do it with any isosceles triangle whose apex angle devides into 360 degrees evenly.
When I first started making snowflakes I was interested in how they could make an interesting image out of anything. I thought I’d get bored. But I kept learning new things about them and now have a lot of creative control and keep finding new things to work with.
This Summer’s collaboration is a case in point. The combination of biological forms and colors and snowflakes is pretty fantastic.“

Examples from “Winter Snowflakes” 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 then the many snowflakes. 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.

Impressions of Simulat Almendros’ exhibitions space at HAF

The provided landmark leads you to the central landing point at Hannington Arts Foundation (HAF) from where you can take a direct teleport to the exhibtion “Winter Snowflakes 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 in the above mentioned inner circle, where several boards explain the different techniques.

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.

Landmark to “Winter Snowflakes” at Hannington Art Foundation (central landing point)
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Xeltentat%20Enterprises/169/204/3521

Art in Second Life 2022 (12) Infinite by Sophie de Saint Phalle

02 Feb 2022 Leave a comment

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

I got an invitation to visit “Infinite” by Sophie de Saint Phalle (perpetua1010), her newest exhibtion shwm at her own SUBCUTAN Art Gallery and Multimedia Center. The exhibition opened January 31st, I visited just before the offical opening.

“Infinite” is not at the main platform of the SUBCUTAN Art Gallery and Multimedia Center. If you happen to land there you need to take one ot the Teleport pads to get to the Desert Gallery, just 250m above. The setting of “Infinite” is quite impressive. It is an open arrangement of blocks and domes in different earth and sand colours, perfectly fitting to the desert around it.

“Infinite” poster / First impressions of “Infinite” by Sophie de Saint Phalle at SUBCUTAN Art Gallery and Multimedia Center – Desert Gallery

In the center of the exhibtion is a sculpture named “Lespugue” by ЈίΡε (jipe.loon) and a few opportunities to sit and meet, not far away is the dj desk and the area for the opening event of “Infinite“.

The Desert Gallery extends in all four cardinal direction and each section has a seperate theme, two sections are in brown/bronze colour, two in sand/beige colours – and the exhibited art fits to these colours. Some sculptures are catching the visitor’s eye and attention, and they fit to Sophie’s main subjects and themes. “Faustino Bloom M” by Deo Faustino (deofaustino) shows a human who s drwn down by a big stone – a reminder of Sophie’s central theme “Escape”, the other named “Venus von Willendorf” by ЈίΡε (jipe.loon) stands for Sophie’s erotic art.

Impressions of “Infinite” by Sophie de Saint Phalle / “Faustino Bloom M” by Deo Faustino (deofaustino)

The brown/bronze sections show pictures most probably made of sand, terracotta, bones or ash that barely contrast with background, they show fossiles or are simply abstract.

Impressions of “Infinite” by Sophie de Saint Phalle (1)

The other brown/bronze section shows also a face (or what you see in it) and a full body. I like the view trough the central scuplture on the exhibition.

One of the beige/sand section has some ligther abstract pictures, in the other you see pictures like in the brown/bronze section, just contrasting to the background – and that makes a real difference!
I saw some of the pictures already before in Sophie de Saint Phalle’s exhibition Terra Australis in 2020 (read here). Sophie spent some time in Australia and she could watch the Aboriginals painting. The pictures were created at Sophie’s home though and not in Australia. As Sophie told me, they all are quite large in reality. The technique is also inspired by how the Aboriginals paint using sand, plaster, natural glue, pigments, terracotta, bones, pulverized charcoal and other natural colours. The motifs sprang from Sophie’s imagination, many of them remind me personally of fossils.

Impressions of “Infinite” by Sophie de Saint Phalle (2)

Sophie de Saint Phalle (perpetua1010) is a Austrian RL painter and book author. She mainly paints nude from models and abstract art. She loves to experiment with different kinds of paint and lithography. Her favourite materials are sand, plaster, glue, terracotta, stones, bones, ash, charcoal, natural pigments and more.
Sophie has made several book illustrations and was for many years political cartoonist for a well known satire magazine. She lived and worked in the United States, Australia, Rome and Monaco. Sophie de Saint Phalle (perpetua1010) has an own gallery, The “SUBCUTAN Art Gallery and Multimedia Centre”.

The Desert Gallery itself is very artful and offeres great views. I took quite some pictures – a perfect mixture of architecture, nature, art and fantasy.

Impressions of “Infinite” by Sophie de Saint Phalle / different views at the Desert Gallery

Thank you for another great exhibition, Sophie. I enjoyed my visit and the great set-up of the Desert Gallery.

direct Landmark to SUBCUTAN Art Gallery and Multimedia Center – Desert Gallery
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Ocean%20Island/147/185/1256
Landmark to SUBCUTAN Art Gallery and Multimedia Center
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Ocean%20Island/185/92/1002

Art in Second Life 2020 (11) The Carbone Studio

29 Jan 2022 Leave a comment

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

I got an invitation to see Milena Carbone’s new space. The Carbone gallery has become “The Carbone Studio“. The Carbone Studio combines several purposes: a new concept with exhibition spaces for Milena’s work and performances. And is offers spaces to meditate, relax and watch video clips and even dance.

Along with the new layout, Milena has revised and updated her webpage.

Milena’s webpage as of Jan 28th

The provided landmark leads you to a skybox where you get instructions on how to adjust you viewer settings, in particular, use Advanced lighting Model, shadows of sun and projectors and shared environment. From there you can teleport to the different placed of the studio: The Church, The Dance Hall, The Welcome Hall, The Exhibtion Hall.

I first visited the Church. Here Milena has installed her exhibition “Scandal” in a reproduction of the Church of Light, designed by the famous architect Tadao Ando. I reported about this exhibtion already in this blog here.

Impressions of “Scandal” by Milena Carbone at “The Carbone Studio“

The Exhibtion Hall featured Milena’s exhibition “Mild Memories” at the the time of my visit. This exhibtion will only stay open until Monday, January 31st – then it will be replaced by February exhibition “Life Light”.
On her webpage Milena wrote about “Mild Memories”: “Mild memories” is a short exhibition that is very close to my heart. It is a selection of nine works that I love. The series includes works from several past exhibitions. Neither preference, nor pride, simply a link, a mild closeness that I wish to share with you, intimately, for a few days only, before opening my February exhibition.”
And in fact I knew quite some of these pictures. It is really a nice overview over her work of the last years.

Impressions of “Mild Memories” by Milena Carbone at “The Carbone Studio“

Next to The Exhibition Hall you also find a place to relax and mediate in a small forest. A lovely place just to wind down.

I went to The Dance Hall next. It is used for Milena’s live performances but at all other times it is open to the public.
“A 24-hour playlist of music videos, selected by Milena Carbone, is projected on a giant screen. The permanent show called “immersive music” allows you to park your avatar while enjoying a variety of music and very graphic videos.” (taken from Milena’s webpage)
Actually I met Milena there but she was absent.

The Carbone Studio: The mediation area / The Dance Hall / Milena Carbone and Diomita / The board with Milena’s current exhibitions at The Welcome Hall

Finally I went to The Welcome Hall, that is right next to The Dance Hall and probably the space I should have gone first. Here you get information about Milena Carbone, you can grab the monthy group gift and you find a board with all current exhibitions of Milena Carbone in Second Life.

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.
You can also find her on flickr here and you can read her texts here.

Milena was very active in Second Life, owning and was curating three galleries, right now she focused on her Carbone Studio. Well done, Milena. I will re-visit for sure.

Landmark to The Carbone Studio
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Woiler/177/175/3287
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 (11) La Maison d’Aneli February 2022

27 Jan 2022 Leave a comment

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

I visited the latest exhibition at La Maison d’Aneli that officially opened yesterday, January 26th. It features the art of Claude Belgar, Eylinea, Olivia (angsanaburton), Xia Chieng, ilyra Chardin and Jennifer Steele (Steele Wilder). For this blog entry I visited the exhibition several times before it opened officially – hence if there were some late changes, they might not be covered.

I began my visit with ilyra Chardin.
“ilyra chardin is an artist and designer, whose work has been featured in installations and exhibits across the grid. Her artwork crosses media and styles, spanning from real life and digital to SL art. First and foremost, Ilyra is a storyteller. Whether in full SIM, 3D installation, sculpture, or 2D (original mixed media, hand-painted, hand-drawn, and photo) art, she includes multiple layers with depth of meaning. Her work has been the subject of numerous blogs, machinimas, and has been featured on Designing Worlds.” (taken from the accompanying notecard)

Her installation at La Maison d’Aneli is called “The Middle of the Road & Other Myths and Legends”. You arrive in an attic room that features quite some of ilyra’s pictures. The show a broad range of subjects, from scenes in a forest, over chess to birds and portraits. And all appear to be haintpainted, though I don’t know if they are. ilyra’s style is what they have in common.
In the middle of the room is kind of a walkway with a hole, that might be caused by a fire. You fall trough in and land a level below on the court of a destroyed town, quite an apocalyptic scenery,

ilyra Chardin is in Second Life since 2010. She defines herself as RL and SL Artist: “I art therefore I am”. A selection of her artwork may now be viewed in a permanent exhibit at Emergent. Current Exhibitions & Art Installations change frequently and are best seen by looking at ilyra’s profile main page and in picks.

Eylinea is with 3 years still comparably new to Second life. I saw her art before at La Maison d’Aneli and at VeGeTaL PLaNeT Gallery. She’s exploring the possibilities and trying out new things. Her room in the current exhibtion at La Maison d’Aneli is quite high and dominated by rotating and moving black spheres. Like mirror balls, they shimmer in all colours of the rainbow and it is quite intriguing to watch them and the light effects. There are some windows in the room. And through the windows you see cubes in black and white, rotating and moving along.

Eylinea writes about herself in the accompanying notecard: “Photographer, cube juggler, light dresser, tattoo artist apprentice, designer, designer of cardboard furniture and lights, jewellery maker…. dreamer at her own time! To sum up: creator of lots of things, curious about everything. That’s how I could qualify my sl… and my rl!”
If you want to see more of her look up her flickr page.

Olivia (angsanaburton) is a 26 years old French student and interested in painting since her childhood. She works with acrylics, oil and pigments and creates mostly colourful abstract paintings. Olivia joined SL 2 years ago.

At La Maison d’Aneli she shows a spectrum of her art of the last 4 years. The paintings are arranged in a more industrial environment on 2 levels. You can see more of Olivia on her flickr page.

Art by Xia Chieng – “True beauty lies in the cracks of imperfection”
The collection of pictures presented at La Maison d’Aneli is called “Assburguer’s Mood Diary”. “It is original surreal artwork based in the aspie’s universe of Lis Xia Chieng.”
Xia wrote in the accompanying notecard: “For someone with Asperger’s syndrome, understanding their own emotions, feelings, and sensations is an uphill battle. That is why I present Assburguer’s mood diary (assburguer is a common misspelling of aspergers when we wanting to name our syndrome). A collection of surreal portraits based on my moods, and with which I made my first debut in digital painting. At the same time I present the continuation of my paintings from the Visions of an Aspie series, which I presented in this gallery a few months ago, made with traditional painting and technique, which I hope you like and disturb more than ever.”

For Xia her art is “a tool for self-transformation and healing, a way to dialogue with my own internal demons”
Xia is in Second Life since 2010. She has an own gallery, Xia’s Alcis Gallery and a flickr page.

I came across Claude Belgar once so far when I visited MindScape3D in 2020 (read here) where he contributed the the 3D world of art that was featured there. Claude is in Second Life since 2008. I couldn’t find out much about his artistic Second Life. Aneli got this text from Claude: “Passionate and “jack-of-all-trades”, my photographic approach is quite intuitive and not really structured. I just shoot what I like. A lot in nature first (landscapes, animal, macro, astrophotography) then, with time, I begin to get closer to the city and people.”
At his skybox at La Maison d’Aneli we see basically 2 different kind of photographs – RL monochrome pictures of a town by a river, of mountains and of coasts and processed pictures of a forest (I have no idea if the forest pictures are taken in SL or RL). One single photograph is coloured. What the pictures have in common is that your recognize the forest of the river, moutains or the coast only if you get closer and look for more details.

Jennifer Steele (Steele Wilder) made her art installation “exclusively for this showing at La Maison d’Aneli. It’s intention is to take you on a journey through the mind and process of an artist. It is my journey and my process. Other artists may have a very different experience from mine. This puzzle of platforms joined by ladders marks steps in my journey – you’ve entered my personal experience. For me to create this, I had to answer this fundamental question – What is the Journey of an artist?
Success? Failure? Rejection? Acceptance? Evolution? Disaster? Love? Hate? Passion? Desire? – How do I make a visitor experience all of this?

You can’t cheat and cam around at this exhibit. It appears as though nothing is there. Much like when you first learn about an artist and are unfamiliar with their work. It’s a journey just to get to know them. Why don’t I have a way to see it all at once or teleport to the different levels? Because there’s not shortcuts in art – and I want you to experience a journey, not 5 seconds of deciding if you like or hate the work. 🙂” (taken from the accompanying notecard)

Please respect that taking pictures of Jennifer Steele (Steele Wilder)’s contribution to the February exhibition at La Maison d’Aneli is not allowed. Jennifer did approve the impression I show above.
Jennifer Steele (Steele Wilder) is in Second Life for 15 years. She has had a lot of exhibits, runs an own gallery “The Jennifer Steel Gallery” and she is a partner in a lot of businesses in SL. For more information, just check out her profile.

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

Landmark to La Maison d’Aneli
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Virtual%20Holland/23/59/22
ilyra chardin’s permanent exhibit at Emergent
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Mystique%20Isle/186/80/22
Jennifer Steele (Steele Wilder)’s “The Jennifer Steel Gallery”
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Girotte/47/157/39
Xia Chieng’s Alcis Gallery
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Alcis/215/124/3017
Xia Chieng’s flickr
https://www.flickr.com/photos/183864686@N07/
Olivia (angsanaburton)’s flickr
https://www.flickr.com/photos/190364023@N06/
Eylinea’s flickr
https://www.flickr.com/photos/189037651@N07/

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