Art in Second Life (85) “Surface of Mars” by Rachel Breaker

11 Sep 2021 Leave a comment

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

I got a group message about the opening of an exhibition by Rachel Breaker in pavillion 4 at GBTH project. It is named “Surface of Mars“.

What a strange title for an exhibition. And I had never heard of Rachel Breaker before, nor was I prepared what I was going to see. But there’s quite some information right before you enter the exhibition itself.

In the entrance right next to the poster of the exhibiton you find a longer text from Rachel Braker in which she explains the background of her exhibtion. And lazy as I am I will use this text in my blogpost.

“I started this project with the intention of making a space similar to the Penn station AmTrak area or like an aiport space of stores. i was looking at abandoned malls, stores, and like fever dream type pictures, such as the back rooms. I was looking at pictures of stores half closed, where the lights are on in the back but off in the front, such at spaces that are closed or closing. This store unintentionally turned into a school, and I realized I was making a place your not supposed to be, not an abandoned space. I unintentionally recreated these motifs I remember from school that were omnipresent. I remember endless cinder block, linoleum tile and drop ceilings. Its identical to big box architecture.”

Impressions of “Surface of Mars” by Rachel Breaker (1)

Once you use the teleporter to the exhibition you land at a staircase. To your right is a door that leads to a couple of rooms. Some rooms are completely full with kind of a 1:1 modell of a brown surface, the “Surface of Mars“. There are some stones lying on the surface. Along the walls are some folding tables with objects. Like in a shop on one table are several generals made of porcelain, on another are a few buffalos, and the next table showases metal trash bins. You can purchase them by the way. The whole feel and look reminds a lot of a school. Somehow schools look all alike in the whole world: Linoleum tile floors, drop ceilings, a green stone wall … and I could litereally small my own old school.

“There are things you never notice that are littered everywhere just from people using them strewed around a school in the hallways, like the folding tables, the plastic chairs, the palstic bins, the grimey formica furniture, office carpeting. Its an area that’s formed a lot like a forest, nobody designs it, things are placed as needed and abandoned, it happns organically. The sounds and the lighting are extremely specific to the space I remember. These aren’t spaces to fear necessarily, but they are vast, stormy, and sublime.“

Impressions of “Surface of Mars” by Rachel Breaker (2)

I left the ground floor rooms and went up to the 2nd floor. The same picture. Rooms filled with “Surface of Mars“, folding tables at the walls offering figures made of porcelain, lions, santas, chickens, pigs. I also noticed these cheap plastic chairs, also a design used all over the world. Same goes for the plastic bins. One wall is used for announcements, white boards filled in this case just with posters from the exhibtions.

“In early dos videogames where I have vague memories of wandering around these enless dark hallways in the abyss in Ultima Underworld. As a child I didn’t know how to play but I remember doing this for hours, pucking up trash and just falling asleep.

There is something about this and current events surrounding mars that I can’t explain exactly. The arbitrariness of the design of schools, the things I remember so vividly are empty, and I see the same design in the precedural martian surface. In school I remember being excited about new technology and now I just see it as a nefarious game of a few billionaires. I don’t understand how people can be excited about billionaires going into space, it’s depressing to me. I drew on publicly funded spaces, and icons of government funding that are disappearing. I found old banks that use all this imagery, and seeing them all together, repeated over and over on folding tables, seemed unexplainable but true.“

Impressions of “Surface of Mars” by Rachel Breaker (3)

The exhibition “Surface of Mars” combines 3 elements. First it is a very well built school building, that really offers you the look and feel of a school, it looks “real” and real shabby as many schools are nowadays. Secondly there are the “Surfaces of Mars“, something you can easily picture being showcased in a museum to make you feel like being on our neighbourhood planet. And thirdly there are the porcelain objects, small artful pieces that you can take with you to decorate your home if you like to showcase some pretentious kitsch there.

Rachel Breaker is in Second Life since 2006. She’s a painter and 3D artist based in the USA. Rachel studied photography, did a masters program in the UK for animation and nowadays works developing props and environments for video games. Her work in Second Life started being developed in 2008 and inside the grid she participated of a round of The Arcade in 2017 and keeps a store on the Katat0nik sim and a store on the marketplace. And no surprise, you can find her also on flickr.

Her inspiration comes from planned environments like miniature golf courses, paths, also vintage toys, New Orleans Mardi Gras, amongst others.

Thank you Rachel for this exhibition. Thank you to all others who enabled the exhibtion and provided the space for the art.
GBTH means Grab By The Horns, the GBTH Project is an urban sim dedicated to contemporary art. You find more information at www.thegbthproject.com

Landmark to “Surface of Mars” by Rachel Breaker
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/the%20GBTH%20project/53/87/47
Rachel Breaker’s store on the Kata0mik sim
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Katat0nik/147/187/28
Rachel Breaker’s store on the marketplace
https://marketplace.secondlife.com/stores/8052
Rachel Breaker’s flickr
http://www.flickr.com/photos/7885610@N05/
GBTH Project website
http://www.thegbthproject.com

Art in Second Life 2021 (84) Numb by Lex Machine

09 Sep 2021 Leave a comment

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

When I was looking at scoop.it SL Destinations  for a place to visit on Sunday, August 29th, I came across the latest installation of Lex Machine (archetype11 Nova), named “Numb“.
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” last year (read here) and his installation Bermuda Locket earlier this year (read here). The last installation I saw from Lex was “The House that Love Built”, which I saw end of February 2021 (read here).

Lex’ installation Numb is a collection of art objects of different artists. His art is arranging them in his own way and setting them into a context and into an intriguing environment. To get an overview I once set environment to “Midday” to create an overview. But to get the full experience you have to use the shared environment. In this environment the installation is quite dark and bloody.

Impressions of “Numb” by Lex Machine – overview and first pictures

I started my visit with the blood licking heads wearing top heads. The heads as also quite some other objects in the installation “Numb” are from Stabitha (what88 zond). The bloody gears are from Noke Yuitza, an artist who I covered in the blog already. In the center is a nurse distributing pills. Put together the scene is quite depressing. It is best seen from the chess board, where Lex has placed a piano and a cello.

Impressions of “Numb” by Lex Machine (1)

Quite dominant are the flying captured hearts as if someone has ripped them off the bodies. The flying hearts are from Rebeca Bashly. And there are quite some dead bodies hanging on balloons, surrounded by dead trees. There’s also a scene with playing kids. As if they don’t mind all the misery around, open to begin something new, being just curious.

Impressions of “Numb” by Lex Machine (2)

Lex was present during my visit and I had the opportunity to talk with him. “Numb” wasn’t built with happy thoughts, he told me. Lex was a soldier and just recently lost another brother 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.
Lex’ anger with that and his own struggles with recovering from what war has done to him is the basis for the “Numb“.

In the light of this background “Numb” is quite depressive, but it is also a very artful way to express feelings. Art can be healing, expressing yourself in art can be healthy: “There’s a pill for everything these days…. none of them actually cure what’s wrong”

I dicovered a little girl on the palm of a creepy figure sitting on the ground. For me the girl expressed hope and it made me smile in all this darkness.
What else? A scene with a mermaid (created by Ginger Chevalier) surrounded by floating fish. I also saw two faces by the artist Wassa (wassaabii) almost buried in the ground. I saw objects from Frank (meshmastermind), Raya Jonson, Runa (alrunia ahn), Krys (krystali rabeni), C. Edo (cory edo) and Paco Pooley. But there might be more…

Impressions of “Numb” by Lex Machine (3)

Oema (Oema Resident) made a video on “Numb” which is really very well made and she must have changed the environment setting as the pictures are quite brighter and she selected a fitting music. Great work, Oema!

Lex told me the installation “Numb” shall be available a few days more although it was already set up one month ago. I learned though that it was closed down on September 6th to make room for another temporary installation:
“I will build a short lived installation to remember 9/11/01. This event changed my life and others I know personally and I always remember it with a build every year. On 9/12 the sim will be closed again and re-opened as soon as the new build is completed.”
Hence when you go there right away until Saturday, September 11th, you can see Lex’ 9/11 installation.

“Never Forget” by Lex machine

Thank you Lex Machine (archetype11 Nova) for the installation “Numb” and for our open conversation laying out your thoughts. I did enjoy our talk and my visit.

Landmark to “Numb” by Lex Machine
https://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Solveig/103/119/22
Lex Machine (archetype11 Nova)’s flickr
https://www.flickr.com/photos/sorrythatnameisinuse/
Oema’s video of “Numb”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkAZyOTpBTs

Art in Second Life 2021 (83) “Marking the Twain” by London Junkers

07 Sep 2021 Leave a comment

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

After my visit to the exhibition “Sinners and Saints” (read here) I had contact to London Junkers, one of the artists who contributed to “Sinners and Saints”.

London invited me to see his latest exhibtion at United Artists of SL (UASL). The exhibition is called “Marking the Twain“. At the entrance you get an important hint “Welcome to London Junker’s Marking the Twain, to enjoy this installation better please use midnight setting or use Shared environment, then read the story in the poster on the entrance billboard. Thank you. enjoy.”

I won’t publish the whole story here, as it would spoil your experience, just a few words to understand what you can see and experience when visiting:
“Standing atop that old steamer boat with clouds touching us while we flew across the skies; his face was familiar, rigid and wise, and he looked majestic against the thin line on the horizon, where the gray light exploded in a boom of colour with his presence.
He was the captain of that ship. THe captain of that creature I was riding on my way South. And I guess I was a cadet under his command…..
His name was Samuel, oh yeah, I remember that name, and boy if I loved the man who owned itm and all those Summer days and starry nights, when we went on all our adventures, together, marking the twain.”
(London Junkers)

Impressions of “Marking the Twain” by London Junkers (1)

The installation has just a few elements. There’s the big old steamer boat that flies over the water and touches the cloulds. It is a big boat and on the upper deck you can recognize Samuel, standing there tall and confident having full control. On your way to the steamer boat you may notice a fisher on the shore. But he’s not fishing fish. Intead you see letters floating on the water.

Some ink drops into the water from a big fountain pen .. forming the letters.. that will once become a story. You must just fish the right letters and put them together in the right way. One who was alble to do that was Mark Twain. The steamer boat with all it’s details stands for his most renowned story about Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer. I admit I only read this one book of Mark Twain,

You can find some details on the steamer boat, like the golden bell in front of it. Or like benches with books from mark twain laying on them.

Impressions of “Marking the Twain” by London Junkers (2)

The installation along with the beautiful written story is one piece of art, they belong together.

I’ve never been to United Artists of SL (UASL) before: “UASL is a relaxed group of artists in SL that share and communicate regarding various art events and opportunities open to the artist community. We encourage people to use their imagination and to continue to learn different methods of creating art. We fully support other artist groups. As well, we manage and host our own events. This is for art related events, not club or DJ events.”
UASL offers several different areas for artist to experiment or to exhibit. UASL has a management team consisting of Riannah Avora, CheloBaron and RainCat Furstinna of North (vihmakass).
For more information either visit their website or read the notecard that you will get when you visit “Marking the Twain” by London Junkers.

Thank you London for your installation. I enjoyed my visit!
Thank you UASL for enabling this installation.

Landmatk to “Marking the Twain” by London Junkers @ UASL
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Karpov/127/127/62
United Artists of SL (UASL) website
https://unitedartistsofsl.com/

Art in Second Life 2021 (82) “Eternally” by Maloe Vansant

05 Sep 2021 3 Comments

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

I got an invitation for the exhibition “Eternally” by Maloe Vansant at DixMix Gallery. With the exhibtion DixMix Source and Maloe celebrate the 10th anniversary of the first exhibition of Maloe at a gallery of DixMix. I just know the current gallery, that was opened in 2020. Together with the invitation I got a notecard with some background information about this anniversary exhibiton, writien by Maloe Vansant and by DixMiX Source:

“Dix ans avec Dix at Dixmix Gallery. A decade flew by, a decade with unbelievable art I saw at ‘THE PLACE TO BE’. And I feel honored to be first who was given the opportunity to exhibit at Dixmix several times. Merci mon ‘vieux Ami’, I raise my glass to another Dix ans.” (Maloe August 2021)
Maloe plays a bit with the word “Dix” that is short for DixMix as well it means “ten” in French, hence “dix ans” means ten years.

““Mon vieux” that’s how she called me the first time we talk, she already knew from a mutual friend some information about me, like that we both are living in Belgium – land of beers, chocolate, rain and surrealism. A couple weeks after we met, I asked Maloe to be one of my models for an exhibition “Grey”, and later to show some pictures in the gallery … Since that show Maloe has been a pole of my galleries, being there dancing at parties, buying art made by others and at least with a new exhibition every year. Here we go, 10 years later for a celebration. Cheers my friend, thank you and dikke kus” (DixMix August 2021)

The exhibition “Eternally” by Maloe Vansant is shown in all three exhibition rooms on the ground floor of the DixMix gallery, in room “Amalfia”, “Abby” and “Amona”, I didn’t count the pictures but it might be around 70.

Impressions of “Eternally” by Maloe Vansant (1) – Room “Amalfia”

Maloe Vansant’s theme are portraits of females and the female body. Most of her pictures are portraits, not classic portraits though. Maloe always adds a touch of mysticism or erotic or fantasy or surrealism to her portraits. A few have a touch of BDSM, some are more martial, some inspire very intensively to think about the female in the picture and about her history.

Impressions of “Eternally” by Maloe Vansant (2) – Room “Abby”

While most of her pictures are in one style, in her style, Maloe Vansant also plays or has played with different techniques like blurring or filtering. These pictures are mainly in room “Amona”. But in general I couldn’t find out any categorisation between the three rooms.

I came acroess Maloe Vansant the first time in 2020 when I visited “Phenomenal Women” by Cecilia Nansen and Maloe Vansant (read here).
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.

Impressions of “Eternally” by Maloe Vansant (3) – Room “Amona”

Congratulations DixMix and Maloe for your 10th exhibition anniversary celebrated with this exhibtion at the DixMix Gallery. Thank you Megan for building the gallery (at least the latest gallery) and for contributing at it. I enjoyed my visit and seeing Maloe’s art again. The exhibition “Eternally” will stay open until September 17th.

Landmark to Dixmix Gallery 2020
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Madori%20Bay/46/213/22
DixMix Gallery website
https://www.dixmixgallery.xyz/
Maloe Vansant’s flickr
https://www.flickr.com/photos/31954671@N08//

Art in Second Life 2021 (81) Sandcastles by Cica Ghost

02 Sep 2021 Leave a comment

by diomitamaurer in Art in Second Life Tags: , ,

On Tuesday, August 31st, Cica opened her latest installation “Sandcastles“. I went there right away and I left with a smile in my face once again! Thank you, Cica.

Cica’s quote for her installation can be found in the landmark’s description “Like a sandcastle, all is temporary. Build it, tend it, enjoy it. And when the time comes, let it go.” (Jack Kornfield)

That quote fits perfectly to Cica, as her installations are temporory and when she’s in the mood for it, she builds something new. What is left are memories of a happy time.

As usual it is recommended that you use the share environment, switch shadows on, sun/moon and projectors and that you use advance lighting. Cica also asks to play media to hear the sounds. That didn#t work for me though but Cica shared a youtube with me so that I could hear wich music she had selected: “Hawaiian music – sould of Hawaii – steel guitar, instrumental” The music really fits!

Impressions of “Sandcastles” by Cica Ghost (1)

The landing is on a seperate island form where you begin your exploration. Of course it is all about sancastles. There are quite some sandcastles on the large sim. I didn’t count them .. five major castles and quite some smaller ones? Well it doesn’t matter.

Impressions of “Sandcastles” by Cica Ghost (2) – overiew with and without sared environment / dancing at one sandcaslte court.

The inhabitants at “Sandcastles” are starfish, crabs, seanails, shells and one whale. No surprise they are all big, way bigger than humans and they are in “Cica”-style with large eyes looking at you. You shall and you will feel small, returning to see the world with the curiosity of children.

You find many places to dance at “Sandcastles“. To animate your avatar just click a shall nearby. When I visited quite some people were dancing together with Cica at the court closest to the landing point.

Impressions of “Sandcastles” by Cica Ghost (3)

Exploring “Sandcastles” is fun and you get some real nice views. The dark blue sky with the many stars adds to the happy mood. You can climb up the towers for an overview, or you can sit down at other places just to relax and enjoy (just hoover with your mouse over what might look like a place to sit).

Impressions of “Sandcastles” by Cica Ghost (4)

Last but not least you can buy a memory at Cica’s store, that is in one of the sandcastles – add a whale, a starfish, a crab or a seasnail to your place at home and keep the happy time in mind.

Impressions of “Sandcastles” by Cica Ghost (5) – the store

I enjoyed my visit as I always do. Just one thing is missing, there’s no cat again *pouts*. I had fun and left in a very happy mood. Thank you, Cica!

Impressions of “Sandcastles” by Cica Ghost (6)

Landmark to Sandcastles by Cica Ghost
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Luna%20Sea/27/60/24
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 Second Life 2010 (80) Milena Carbone – Untitled

28 Aug 2021 Leave a comment

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

Milena sent me a message on August 10th that she just had opened her newest exhibtion “Untitled” at her Carbone Gallery @ Noir’Wen City. She also sent me the link to the arcticle that she wrote about “Untitled” on her webpage.

I went there right away.
“Untitled” is the collection of pictures that Milena has offered her group members for free, one for each month since May 2020. And you still can get them for free if you join her group.
If I counted that correctly, then the exhibtion consists of 16 pictures.
Milena comments on her website and on several boards at the exhibition that “this period, up to July 2021, matches a phase of the maturity of a style composed of multiple layers of textures and real images.“

Impressions of “Untitled” by Milena Carbone (1)

“This style was the result of two confining beliefs: one that considered the graphic universe of Second Life as “inferior” to other current artistic graphic trends; the other one which avoided imitating an existing graphic style, classic or current.
When we lock ourselves in beliefs, although the results can have successful aspects, they come with too much effort, without real fulfillment.”

Impressions of “Untitled” by Milena Carbone (2)

Impressions of “Untitled” by Milena Carbone (3)

I for my part like these pictures a lot. The different layers provide depth and room for interpretation, they are intriguing because they are a mixture of different media. Milena also comments that she had developed into a new style now:
“Today I accept the universe of Second Life as the raw material of my creations.I no longer try to disguise it anymore with texture layers and strong filters, as if shamefully to hide the origin of my images, but on the contrary to show with the maximum elegance possible its characteristics, by emphasizing its unique aesthetic. It is a minimalist work, but it is no less important. It is more subtle. While I loved the flamboyance of my first period, I now thrive on the delicacy of nuance and detail.
Beyond the style, meaning matters. The style that I inaugurate here reveals, more than ever, my attachment to symbolism and surrealism.“

There is just one picture that represents this new style of Milena, the group gift picture for August 2021. Both styles have their own facination and I won’t say one is better or more artful than the other. Both have their temptations.

Impressions of “Untitled” by Milena Carbone (4) Fermata (August 2021)

Untitled by Milena Carbone is a fitting collection of some of Milena’s work during the last 1 1/2 year. Along with the comments of Milena this exhibtion also provides an insight into what the artist herself thinks about her work.

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 her own galleries: the Carbone Gallery, the Carbone Gallery @ Noir’Wen City and the Carbone Gallery @ Serena. In addition she has an own website and a flickr page.

Website about the exhibition “Untitled”
https://sites.google.com/view/thecarbonegallery/exhibitions/untitled?authuser=0
Landmark to The Carbone Gallery @ Noir’Wen City – exhibition “Untitled”
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Noir%20Wen/243/217/32
Landmark to The Carbone gallery
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Woiler/172/158/3316
Landmark to The Carbone Gallery @ Serena
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Serena%20Pontypridd/69/182/22
Milena Carbone’s Flickr page
https://www.flickr.com/photos/milenacarbone/
Milena Carbone’s website
https://sites.google.com/view/thecarbonegallery/

Art in Second Life (79) Sandi Benelli at La Maison des Artistes

26 Aug 2021 Leave a comment

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

Michiel Bechir invited me to his newest place for the arts: La Maison des Artistes, an art café at the new French sim Le Village de Charente.

The current exhibition features a selection of pictures by Sandi Benelli, an artist I came across just once so far. Sandra Benelli’s pictures were showcased at Temprus – My Secret Garden in the “Art in the park” exhibtion in 2017 (read here).

Sandi Benelli is in Second Life since 2007. She’s one of those who found her RL love in the virtual environment of Second Life. Your can see her art also at her flickr account.
Sandi takes pictures of lovely spots in Second Life. I recognized some of them as I have been to these placces myself and even blogged about them. I think Sandi does process her pictures a little bit, but basically, these are pictures taken in Second Life, with the eye of an artist for the right angle and environment.

Impressions of Sandi Benelli at La Maison des Artistes (1) – Imago (upper left) / Walsh County (lower left)

The selection compromises 10 pictures and shows the little paradises we can see and create in Second Life. Sandi’s style reminded me of Michiel Bechir’s own style as Michel also takes his pictures directly in Second Life.

Impressions of Sandi Benelli at La Maison des Artistes (2) – Bella’s Lullaby (upper right) / Auld Lang Syne (lower right) / Nelipot (upper left) / Soul2Soul (lower left)

La Maison des Artistes is a small, nice space for the arts owned and curated by Michiel Bechir. Thank you Sandi for your pictures, and thank you Michel for providing the space for the arts.

Landmark to the art café “La Maison des Artistes”
France – le Village de Charente – Galerie
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Haks/69/74/23
Sandi Benelli’s flickr
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sandibenelli/

Art in Second Life 2021 (78) Conjure by Bamboo Barnes

24 Aug 2021 1 Comment

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

I visited the exhibition “Conjure” by Bamboo Barnes on the 2nd floor of the FOCUS Magazine F.A.I.R Gallery.

In her exhibtion “Conjure” Bammboo features about 10 different pictures on the 4 walls of the exhibition room. Each wall has a different focus. On one wall Bamboo plays with different presentations of one and the same portrait of a woman. The 3 pictures are framed in different colours. Above the picture Bamboo placed several additional frames erratically and these frames change their colour permanently. Watching the changes the 3 pictures do look different and the expression of them change. It’s quite intriguing. One wall is used for just one big abstract picture with a female portrait in the background shining through, colorful as all of Bamboo’s pictures are.

Impressions of “Conjure” by Bamboo Barnes (1)

Bamboo has designed a collage of her pictures on another wall. Three female portraits, along with frames and coloured squares. You can see her specific style as the pictures seem to consist of several layers printed which tampers the original portrait. It is still recognizable, but you have to immerse into the picture and add what you can’t see.

Impressions of “Conjure” by Bamboo Barnes (2)

The last wall features three pictures, again female portraits party highly tampered, resulting in a mixture of a portrait and an abstract painting. Finally there’s also something to watch in the center of the exhibtion room, 4 red vertical tubes – a female portrait sliding over the surface and vanishing.

 

Impressions of “Conjure” by Bamboo Barnes (3)

Once again Bamboo’s pictures facinate with their colours and the playful mixture of styles and techniques. Yet, Bamboo’s signature is recognizable in every picture.

Bamboo is in Second Life for over 14 years already, painting software & photoshop are her best friends. Bamboo had many exhibtions and appearances in the Second Life art scene and in 2018 she had her first exhibition in real life: “I create what I see but maybe you won’t, they are about people’s reality and  mind.” Bamboo’s art is a mixture of abstract forms, of people and photographs. Most pictures are colourful and it is in the eye of the beholder what we see in her pictures. I myself saw her work the first time at La Maison d’Aneli during the Holiday season 2019/2020 (read here). I also saw her exhibition “Marginal Mannerism” at DixMixGallery in April 2021 (read here) and the exhibition “Meant to be” at Itakos Art Gallery last year (read here). And I had a look at her flickr page.

Thank you all who enabled this exhibtion. I enjoyed my visit and seeing Bamboo’s art. The exhibition “Conjure” by Bamboo Barnes shall stay open until End of August.

Landmark to FOCUS Gallery FAIR Gallery – Conjure by Bamboo Barnes
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Holly%20Kai%20Estates/165/70/28
Bamboo Barnes’ flickr page
https://www.flickr.com/photos/bamboobarnes/

Art in Second Life 2021 (77) Sybil by Giovanna Cerise

22 Aug 2021 Leave a comment

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

After my blogpost about the Summer exhibtion at La Maison d’Aneli (read here), Giovanna Cerise sent me an invitation for another installation of her: “Sybil by Giovanna Cerise“.

Giovanna Cerise is not unknow to me. Before the visit of the Summer exhibtion at La Maison d’Aneli (read here) I came across her art in May 2019 also at La Maison d’Aneli (read here). I visited Flash Back / Flash Forward in 2017 (read Simploring 2017 (42) Flash Back / Flash Forward), in 2016 I visited her LEA-installation Monochrome (read here) and in April 2015 I saw Otium (read here: A visit to Otium).
Giovanna is an Italian literature teacher and musician. In Second Life she’s active since Ende of 2008 and had many exhibtions and installations. She particpated in the LEA program participations and her list of activities and appearances is long. For more information look up her website.

“Sybil by Giovanna Cerise” is inspired by the ancient figure of the Sibyl. It is set in the cave located in Cuma and rebuilt at Museum Island. According to tradition, the priestess resided in this dark place.
“The sibyls were female prophets or oracles in Ancient Greece. The earliest sibyls, according to legend, prophesied at holy sites. Their prophecies were influenced by divine inspiration from a deity, originally at Delphi and Pessinos. In Late Antiquity, various writers attested to the existence of sibyls in Greece, Italy, the Levant, and Asia Minor.”
(source wikipedia)

Impressions of Sybil by Giovanna Cerise (1) – the tunnel and the oracle

I got a notecard along with the invitatation that explains the background:
“According to the legend, Sibilla was a young girl of superb beauty of Greek origin who possessed great divination skills. One day the God Apollo, struck by her beauty, fell in love with her and to conquer her he promised her that he would fulfill her every wish.
Sybil took a handful of sand from the beach and asked Apollo to let it live as many years as the grains he had collected in his hand. The God satisfied her but the girl made a serious mistake: she forgot to add that she wanted to live the years in eternal youth.
The priestess lived as many years as there were grains of sand enclosed in the palm of her hand, but her body continued to wither and wrinkle year after year, until it faded into dust, eroded – just like the grains of sand – by the merciless flow of the time. Of her, it is said, only her voice and her cryptic predictions survived. Sibyl used to scatter palm leaves on which the words of the prophecy were reported;
It is said that a soldier, having received the sacred response, prepared to recompose the prophecy by assembling the palm leaves scattered by the divine breath. However, when he read the Sybil’s prediction, he noticed its double interpretation, depending on the punctuation:
Ibis, redibis, non morieris in bello – You will go, you will come back, and you will not die in the war – if the comma anticipates the negation; Ibis, redibis non, morieris in bello – You will go, you will not return, and you will die in the war – if instead it is placed after the negation.
The legends around the myth of the Sibyl are different.”

There’s a lot more to read about Sybyl on wikipedia.

Impressions of Sybil by Giovanna Cerise (2) – the roofed terrace with the soldier

The installation at the Museum Island consists of two connected parts. One part is in a tunnel, which is in a trapezoidal shape and is similar to an artificial tunnel of the greek-roman era. In the tunnel Giovanna has place several complete red figures in different poses. The crawl and they run. They are surrounded by particles, that could be letter or anything else. The light is selected very smart, so that the particles melt together and develop a certain dynamic, as if the figures would run.  Light comes into the tunnel from the left side through several passages. The passages lead to the second part, a roofed terrace where Giovanna has installed more objects.

Impressions of Sybil by Giovanna Cerise (3) – objects on the terrace

There is just one cave on the right side of the tunnel. There’s the oracle. A fountain with several coins on the ground. You can click the oracle and get a prophecy. In my case:
“ANTRUM SYBIL – Cumaea Sybil’s Omphalus oracle: You have to learn the rules of the game. And then you have to play better than anyone else.“

The roofed terrace features more art objects of Giovanna Cerise, quite hard to describe though. One is clearly dedicated to the soldier, that is mentioned in Giovanna’s notecard. The words from the prophecy (in Italian) appear around a red figure (the soldier) caught in a structure of transparent walls: “Ibis, redibis, non morieris in bello”.
Other objects aremore difficult to interpret, like the hand that holds an hourglass – or like the head encased in a white cloud. Don’t miss looking at the floor, there are traces of blood as well as footprints.

Impressions of Sybil by Giovanna Cerise (4)

Sybil is a very interesting exhibtion and it uses the possibilities of Second Life and the different light options very well. Please make sure that you use the advanced lighting, the shared environment and sun+moon and projectors in your viewer setting. There’s a board which explains it at one end of the roofed terrace.

I have never been to Museum Island before. In the landmark description you find the tags: “Museum Island Monuments art culture theater romantic Royal Opera music museums cinema beauty couple dance monuments arts exhibitions artist photo pics wedding live roma venezia Italia Italy” The sim hosts mre exhibitions and I might return. The Museum Island is group owned, the founder of the group is John Noone (johnnoone).

Thank you Giovanna and thank you to all who were involved enabling “Sybil by Giovanna Cerise”

Landmark to Sybil by Giovanna Cerise
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Museum%20Island/226/25/22
wikipedia about Sibyl
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sibyl
Giovanna Cerise’s website
http://giovannacerise.blogspot.it/

Art in Second Life 2021 (76) Tough Man by Hilaire Beaumont

20 Aug 2021 Leave a comment

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

Dido Haas invited me to visit the August exhibition at Nitroglobus Roof gallery: “Tough Man” by Hilaire Beaumont.

Dido Haas presents Hilaire Beaumont, an artist who is once again almost unbeknownst to me. I saw one picture of Hilaire so far. it was exhibited at Valium SL – Hermosa in January 2021 (read here). And Dido wrote: “Until now only existing flickr works of Hilaire were shown at a few galleries”. At the August exhibtion new artwork from Hilaire Beaumont is shown, The title and the pictures speak for themselves – Tough Man.


Hilaire Beaumont is in Second Life for 14 years. His profile doesn’t give away much of him. I suspect he’s French as he used a quote in his profile: “La mélancolie, c’est le bonheur d’être triste” (Melancholy is the joy of being sad) and at his exhibition at Nitroglobus Roof gallery you find a quite similar quote of Victor Hugo “La nostalgie, c’est le bonheur d’être triste” (Nostalgia is the joy of being sad).

Impressions of “Tough Man” by Hilaire Beaumont @Nitroglobus Roof Gallery (1)

The exhibtion consits of 13 pictures. And at this gallery the pictures can develop strength as they are mirrored on the floor. What are the pictures about? Not surprise, they all show a tough man as the main object. Hilaire shows his avatar (?) as a fighter, as a soldier in varoius epochs, as strong tough man. Other pictures are in our epoch and just show the tough man, not a soldier or fighter.
But there’s also some wit: one picture shows him wearing a gun pointing at a little angel with a bow. But Hilaire also shows the other, softer side. The side that a tough man tries to hide as it doesn’t fit to the cliché: playing a violin, or listening music while looking out into the nature last in thoughts.

Impressions of “Tough Man” by Hilaire Beaumont @Nitroglobus Roof Gallery (2)

“Tough Man” by Hilaire Beaumont is the kind of exhibtion you rarely see in Second Life. The pictures are impressive and thoughtfully made and selected. Thank you for your art, Hilaire.
Hilaire has a flickr account and has an own gallery – [La Galerie].

Nitroglobus Roof Gallery is owned and curated by Dido Haas. It is a great exhibtion space, the mirroring effect of the floor adds a lot to the experience of a visit and higlights the art in a particular way.
Thank you, Dido for providing the space for the art and for enabling the exhibition “Tough Man” by Hilaire Beaumont.

“Tough Man” by Hilaire Beaumont shall stay open throughout August.

Landmark to Nitroglobus Roof Gallery
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Sunshine%20Homestead/36/21/1001
Hilaire Beaumont’s flickr
https://www.flickr.com/photos/94901278@N04/
Hilaire Beaumont’s gallery [La Galerie]
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Zoe/171/105/4007
Dido Haas’ blog
https://exploringslwithdido.blogspot.com

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