Art in Second Life 2021 (24) “Real Life” by Hermes Kondor at Art Gallery Rill’Arts

12 Mar 2021 Leave a comment

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

I visited Nils Urqhart’s gallery, the Art Gallery Rill’Arts, the first time end of last year and saw his exhibition “A Winter Tale” (read here). Now I got an invitation to see “Real Life“, an exhibition with RL pictures from Hermes Kondor. The exhibition is on the thrid floor of the gallery, the 1st and 2nd floor were still showcasting “A Winter Tale” when I visited on Saturday, February 20th.

“Real Life” by Hermes Kondor at the 3rd floor of Art Gallery Rill’Arts (1) – exhibition poster and overview

The exhibition “Real Life” by Hermes Kondor consists of 15 monochrome photographs.
Hermes Kondor wrote about himself and his pictures: “Always inspired by the great French photography masters like Henri Cartier Bresson, Robert Doisneau, Jaques Henry Lartigue, or Andre Kertesz, I use my camera to capture all the complex simplicity of daily Life, always with a deep respect, and gratitude to the ones that are the essence of my street photos.
As a former professional photojournalist, street and the reality that passes through my eyes, are the natural subjects of my photos, that I have the honor to share here with you.“

“Real Life” by Hermes Kondor at the 3rd floor of Art Gallery Rill’Arts (2)

Hermes photographs are quite opposed to what we see in the virtual world of Second Life, where most of us are young and beautiful. They show everyday life scenes. Some of them are extraordinairy like the view on the spiral staircase or the view on the many balconies of a cruiseship with people who obviously say farewell. First I thought it was the view on an apartment building.
Others capture scenes, people at the beach, in a museum, on the market or a man in his bookstall reading a newspaper.
Honestly I know none of the great French photography masters listed by Hermes, but I like his pictures. Looking at them I immediately began to think about the story behind them, just like photographs should do.

“Real Life” by Hermes Kondor at the 3rd floor of Art Gallery Rill’Arts (3)

Hermes Kondor is from Portugal. He’s a photographer and photojournalist. Hermes has 40 years of professional photography experience. He dealt with the hard reality of real life photography working for a daily newspapers, and as a photographer and photo-edtior in several magazines. He also worked as a teacher of photography and photojournalism.
Hermes is in Second Life for more than 13 years. His pictures can also been seen at his own gallery, the Kondor Photo Gallery, and at his flickr account. Hermes also owns the Kondor Art Center, a place for art, photography and music in Second Life.

Landmark to Art Gallery Rill’Arts (with the exhibition “Real Life”)
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Helvellyn/58/206/31
Kondor Photo Gallery
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Waka/238/107/1501
Kondor Art Center
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Waka/204/132/241
Hermes Kondor’s flickr
https://www.flickr.com/photos/kondor-photo-studio/

Art in Second Life 2021 (23) Soulportraits at Itakos Art Gallery

10 Mar 2021 2 Comments

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

I got an invitation for the opening of “Soulportraits” at the Black Pavillion of The Itakos Project and Art Gallery on February 19th. I went there a few hours before it opened officially.

“Soulportraits” is a follow-up of the exhibition “2020 Summer Collection” (read here) with a collective of talented artists selected from the Soul Portraits – Itakos flickr group. In total there’re 21 pictures from 5 different artists: Catherine Nikolaidis, Lula Yue, Choo Vegas, Tutsy Navarathna and Akim Alonzo.

Avatars in Second Life don’t grow old, something most of us do appreciate. Actually all stay between 20 and 30 years old, all have beautiful faces with no wrinkles and many have perfect bodies. What differs is the the haircut, some facial details be it the eyes, the eybrows, the length of the nose, the form of the mouth and chin and yes also the body. But still, most look beautiful and young.

Impressions of “Soulportraits” at Itakos Art Gallery (1) – Lula Yue

That said, portraits taken in Second Life show beautiful people. And we like looking into and at beautiful faces. Hence many pictures (also my own) taken in Second Life are portraits or close-up’s. Akim founded a flickr group for portraits named “Soul Portraits – Itakos Art Gallery“, where people can contribute their best portrait pictures. In the meanwhile there’re far more than 500 members in this group and over 10.000 (!) pictures had been uploaded.
There are certain rules:
– The focus is on expression and emotions transmitted by avatars and photographers.
– The group has a partnership with the Itakos Art Gallery in Second Life.
– The raw pictures have to be taken in Second Life
– The pictures may not be just a pure (raw) snapshot. As opposed to the photos must be elaborated and interpretated by the artist.
– The pictures are evaluated and accepted in the group at the discretion of group admin.

Impressions of “Soulportraits” at Itakos Art Gallery (2) – Choo Vegas

The main difference between the “2020 Summer Collection” and “Soulportraits” is that all pictures showcased in “Soulportraits” are Black & White.

Impressions of “Soulportraits” at Itakos Art Gallery (3) – Chaterine Nikolaidi

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All 21 pictures prove that people in Second Life are beautiful. But they also prove that you can make your face and avatar look very individual. The portraits also tell a story by the background, by the facial expression, the viewing angle, by the light choosen, the hair style, the view, the jewelery and by the way the protrait is presented. You can loose yourself while looking at them.

Impressions of “Soulportraits” at Itakos Art Gallery (4) – Tutsy Navarathna

And some of the 21 pictures are not classic portraits but more (erotic) portraits of the body. One picture just shows a man from his backside – in this case it is more the atmosphere, that is captures, a certain state of mind rather than a portrait.

The selection is once again impressive. It is still surprising for me what possibilities Second Life offers for taking artful pictures (and processing them). I enjoyed my visit.

Impressions of “Soulportraits” at Itakos Art Gallery (5) – Akim Alonzo

Thank you Akim for providing your space for the art, The Itakos Project and Art Gallery, and for your own contribution to “Soulportraits“

Landmark to Itakos Art Gallery BLACK Pavilion
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/ATL/183/171/1009
“Soul Portraits – Itakos Art Gallery” Flickr
https://www.flickr.com/groups/soulportraits/
The Itakos Project and Art Gallery website
http://itakos.it/

Art in Second Life 2021 (22) Stars by Cica Ghost

06 Mar 2021 Leave a comment

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

On March 4th, Cica opened her newest installation named “Stars“. I went there spontaneously at the opening day and besides Cica herself I met Inara Pey and Maddy Gynoid. I think we have all covered Cica Ghost’s installations in our blogs over the last year. Inara and Maddy have both already published their reports about “Stars by Cica Ghost” (see here and here). I added the links to their posts under this post. Maddy wrote that it is Cica’s 70th installation, yet it is her 55th installation as she told me herself. Nonetheless, an almost incredible number of installation, proving Cica’s almost endless creativity. Congratulations Cica! I must have missed out quite some, in particular the earlier installations.

It is important that you use the shared environment to see “Stars by Cica Ghost” the way Cica has it planned. I use the Firestorm viewer and the setting is on the top menu under “World” -> “Environment”. With this setting you will see a dark, brown sky covered with yellow stars. Hence the quote that Cica provides with her installation “When it is dark enough, you can see the stars“.

Stars by Cica Ghost – Overview / at the landing

I zoomed out and made a bird’s eye view first to see the structure. The landing is quite in the center of the sim. “Stars” is difficult to categorize. It is a town with 6 main courts, all of them are connected by a road. The whole sim is held in brown colours, the air is dusty. The houses are build in Cica’s style, some of them are accessible. It is a steampunk like setting. You see lots of gear-wheels and other metal objects and of course humans are comparably small as usual in Cica’s worlds.

Stars by Cica Ghost – Impressions (1)

All beings are made of metal, yet you can still identify them easily as Cica’s creations. You find snakes, snails, birds, seahorses, fish and other beings. And there is a lot to do at Stars. You can enter the houses and sit down in the huge chairs, you can hop on a large car that takes you on a tour around “Stars“, you can sit on a swingboat, you can visit a room full with keys and gear wheels.

Stars by Cica Ghost – Impressions (2)

You can watch a band play or watch a puppet theatre. You can dance on several courts, you can watch Cica’s robots which move on one wheel, or you simply listen to the music which is fitting to the setting steampunk and from the early 20th century.

Stars by Cica Ghost – Impressions (3)

Don’t miss to look on the roofs as there are more Cica beings like the one in the poster. You can easily spent a lot of time exploring “Stars” and you will for sure discover even more than I did as I had only about one hour for my visit.
What I missed was a cat, be it a steampunk metal cat or one of Cica’s cats. It looks to me that Cica has forgotten to rezz one. What I also missed was Cica’s matchstick man riding a bicycle, but it is there, I just didn’t see it (it is in Inara’s and Maddy’s posts though)

Stars by Cica Ghost – Impressions (4)

Cica’s shop, where you can buy the robots, is a bit aside and can be reached by walking over a bridge.
Stars by Cica Ghost is another excellent fantasy world that made me smile like all of Cica’s installations. It is like a short trip into another peaceful world, I simply enjoyed it. Thank you, Cica.

Landmark to Stars by Cica Ghost
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Meropis/143/144/28
Cica’s flickr
https://www.flickr.com/photos/64860898@N05/albums
Maddy Gynoid’s post “Simtipp: “Stars” von Cica Ghost”
https://echtvirtuell.blogspot.com/2021/03/simtipp-stars-von-cica-ghost.html
Inara Pey’s post “Cica’s Stars in Second Life”
https://modemworld.me/2021/0cicas-stars-in-second-life/3/04/

Art in Second Life 2021 (21) CELLS by Moki Yuitza at simquarterly

06 Mar 2021 Leave a comment

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

Scrolling through scoop.it SL Destination on Sunday, February 14th, I came across “CELLS by Moki Yuitza“. The entry led to an article on “The sim quarterly”-blog: “Welcome to CELLS by Moki Yuitza“, in which Electric Monday gives some insight into the current installation at simquarterly – CELLS by Moki Yuitza.

I will first quote a lot from this blogpost and from a notecard I got in the welcome area at simquarterly as it is written well and contains a lot of useful and important information to fully enjoy this excellent artwork:

Suppose we can look inside the brain of an Artificial Intelligence, and above all see how it works, how its parts work. What would we see? In a digital world where everything is possible, who knows. Maybe this is what we would be able to see: Cells.
Upon arriving at The Sim Quarterly welcome area, the bot welcomes visitors via an IM with information about the installation, the artist, and settings to help with graphics for viewing CELLS. Next to her is a cone that dispenses information about a game Moki has put together for you while you explore CELLS.
To exit the landing area and enter the installation, just click the glowing center of the portal and arrive at the main part of CELLS!

Impressions of CELLS by Moki Yuitza (1) – The welcome ares / entering the installation

After the short trip to the ground, you will see before you an illuminated path leading you to the center of CELLS – along the way, don’t forget to locate the cones. Moki has created and hidden some lights that will change you, others around you, and most importantly the exhibit as you wander with this attached light. Each level has one hidden light for you to find. Look for a white cone like the one next to The Sim Quarterly avatar in the welcome area. There are 5 cones on each level, but only one of the cones has the prize in it!
Each light is different. Wear one alone or add with the other lights that you found on other levels, and the result will be different. On the last level, you’ll find the final light.

Impressions of CELLS by Moki Yuitza (2) – inside of the installation

I entered the portal and was brought to the ground. The structure is huge, really huge. It looks like a large highrise building, an illuminated path led me into it and to the central stairwell. Dont forget to explore the ground level as you find the first cone with a light on this level. climbing up the stairs you get great views. The whole building is packed with large spheres, some are solid, some are just grids, some are white, some are coloured. The floors are transparent, hence looking up and down offers even more views.

The ever changing lights, the moving spheres, the lights your wear, everything changes your experience. The pictures I made can’t be ever reproduced. They are stills taken from temporary virtual art. I was laways fascinated from the possibilities of light installations and Moki plays virtuously with light. The installation changes no only by the light you attach to yourself, but also by its own movement. You can fly, walk, and run. I enjoyed every second of my visit.

Impressions of CELLS by Moki Yuitza (3) – inside of the installation

The lights change how you look yourself. It is intriguing to see how a different colour seemingly changes who you are. The pictures I took of myself in different colours reminded me of Andy Warhol. I had fun.

Moki Yuitza is in Second Life for over 12 years. I came across her three times so far. One time in 2019 when she was participating in an exhibition at La Maison d’Aneli (read here), one time when I visited an installation of her at LEA 19 “Hypercube – labyrinth of the mind” in 2018 (read here) and just recently I saw her installation “Geomorphism” at DixMix Gallery (read here). Moki has had a lot more exhibtions and installation, that I missed. Her profile is full of installations of her that are gone in the meanwhile. The virtual world is even more short-lived than the physical world.

I found this about Moki from a notecard for La Maison d’Aneli: “In RL I am an architect and in this metaverse I found the possibility to realize my idea of ​​space and my architectural fantasy, as well as to share it with other people.”

Impressions of CELLS by Moki Yuitza (4) – coloured Diomita, pictures NOT taken by Andy Warhol *winks*

Simquarterly is a sim and initiative of Electric Monday:
“Art and the virtual world, Second Life© are very similar — you are able to both find yourself and immerse yourself (and maybe even lose yourself) in something totally unlike what you already know. The experiences you gain help you grow and form new opinions about the world. That is what I hope this sim can provide over time. I am very excited to bring to you a quarterly art project by way of The Sim Quarterly.
The project features one creator every 3 months (every quarter) as an artist in residence. The purpose of the sim is so that residents can experience something new and even create a community.”
Simquarterly has an own website.

Landmark to Cells by Moki Yuitza
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/The%20Sim%20Quarterly/7/10/1403
Simquarterly website
http://thesimquarterly.com/
Blogpost about CELLS by Moki Yuitza on Simquarterly
https://thesimquarterly.com/2021/02/13/welcome-to-cells-by-moki-yuitza/

Art in Second Life 2021 (20) Scandal by Milena Carbone

04 Mar 2021 Leave a comment

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

I was invited to the opening of “Scandal”, Milena Carbone’s newest exhibition at The Carbone Gallery. I wasn’t able to attend the opening event on Wednesday, February 17th. Instead I visited a few days before the opening and I had the opportunity to talk with Milena.
Milena, being a story teller, combines several aspects in “Scandal”. There’s first the opening event. Milena has designed a choreography of a ballet, based on Philip Glass music and SL ballet and dance poses. She told me that she will dance herself. I can’t report about this event as I missed it.

Scandal is a series of 8 pictures about the character of Iselin, an Icelandic girl who becomes a Christ in the XXI century. It is Milena’s third story of a contemporary christ, after the Brazilian child in the exhibition Locked, and the mixed-race gay Mahdi in the exhibition Plead Guilty. This work will probably close her series of Christs.

The location of this exhibition is outstanding. Milena reproduced the Church of Light, designed by the famous architect Tadao Ando. The church will stay as a permanent part of the gallery, for exhibition, concerts, and prays. I never heard of this church before and hence visiting “Scandal” inspired me to do some reasearch on the internet about this church and it’s architect. I recommend to start with the wikipedia entries about the church of light and about Tadao Ando. Milena did a great job transferring the church into Second Life – and it is a great place for future exhibitions and other events. Chapeau!

The exhibition Scandal is related to the theory of social violence of René Girard, a french anthropologist. He wrote a book called “Woe to the man through whom scandal comes” where he showed how Jesus Christ unveiled the role of sacrifice, and how the innocents are sacrified. I also read about René Girard in wikipedia. Girard showed how conflicts in social groups are solved by the scapegoat mechanism.

Impressions of “Scandal by Milena Carbone” (1)

The 8 pictures are exhibited inside of the church of light. They relate to the story of the Icelandic girl Iselin, but they stand for themselves as well without the story. They deal with religion, with innocence and with a culminating act of violence. Milena has the plot of the story in her mind and will publish it most probably as another book, a small book that you can read within Second Life, in the course of March 21. It was not written yet at the time of my visit. I intend to visit Scandal again when the story is published.

Impressions of “Scandal 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.

On February 22nd Milena told me that she rearranged the exhibiton and included pictures of the opening concert and ballet to make it part of the exhibition and to save the impressions. The concert consisted of a series of 15 pieces composed by Philip Glass, gathered in 7 parts, each introduced by a libretto written by Milena Carbone.
The dancers of the ballet were Milena Carbone and Belice Benoir, Nieu (NieuwenHove) supported them with the technic. The now showcased pictures of the even were taken by Charlotte Belladona (charlottebelladonna) and .Crazy Dust. (zigboom) and can also be seen at their flickr pages here and here.

Impressions of the opening event of “Scandal” by Milena Carbone

Thank you for another great exhibition, Milena. Scandal inspired me to quite some research and hence was educational for me – and it impressed me.

Landmark to The Carbone Gallery
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Woiler/172/158/3316
Landmark to The Carbone Gallery @ Noir’Wen City
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Noir%20Wen/243/203/32
Milena Carbone’s Flickr page
https://www.flickr.com/photos/milenacarbone/
Milena Carbone’s writing (blog)
https://medium.com/@539568
Charlotte Belladonna (charlottebelladonna)’s flickr
https://www.flickr.com/photos/186968761@N05/
.Crazy Dust. (zigboom)’s flickr
https://www.flickr.com/photos/zigboom/

 

Art in Second Life 2021 (19) Ant Farm Light Gallery by Regi Yifu featuring Bachi Cheng

02 Mar 2021 Leave a comment

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

I visited “Ant Farm Light Gallery” by Regi Yifu at SLEA Region 4 SE.
Ant Farm Light Gallery is a feast for the eyes. As you can see in the overview picture it consists of a long winded tube, almost looking like instestines. You enter it right at where you land and you will be overwhelmed by the colours and lights.

Like the skin of a snake the tubes consists of scales, often in a flamboyant pin, always coloured, and light dances over the scales, providing every changing effects. Once you got accustomed to the lights you enter deeper into the tube. At every curve is a picture that consists of several layers and is blurred, you can just guees what it shows. Once you cet closer the picture gets clear.

The pictures are from Bachi Cheng and show adult scenes, some quite explicit.

Impressions of “Ant Farm Light Gallery by Regi Yifu featuring Bachi Cheng” (1)

Walking in the tube isn’t easy as the colours are intriguing. I aslo bumped into something and was force teleported to another point several times. I do not know if that was intended or just a mulfunction of the experience setting. With all the impressions and the picutres exploring this exhibition is fun and I did enjoy it.

Impressions of “Ant Farm Light Gallery by Regi Yifu featuring Bachi Cheng” (2)

Regi Yifu says about herself: “I am a gregarious bohemian artist from Texas! Here to have fun and meet cool people from all over the world! Love building stuff, making dance effects, and DJing! I also melt glass in my kiln and love to cook. Only boring people get bored!”
He’s in SL for more than 13 years, he makes customized gestures and contumized smoke, he has an own store inworld  and on the marketplace, he has a light gallery …. and he is a dj …. and loves to play with light!

Impressions of “Ant Farm Light Gallery by Regi Yifu featuring Bachi Cheng” (3)

Sofi (Bachi Cheng) is in Second Life almost 12 years. She’s, an artist painter and designer in RL and SL. Bachi writes about herself and her art: “I love to paint Moments. Moments of life, Moments of Love, Moments so deep that you never want to forget them, Moments at the edge of orgasm or despair, just life like we ought to live it, plainly. Let me take you in the core of my Art”
Her art is quite feisty and exaggerated, transpiring her message clearly and not subtle, sometimes reminding of comic strips and clearly explicit.
Sofi (Bachi Cheng) has also her own gallery here.

Impressions of “Ant Farm Light Gallery by Regi Yifu featuring Bachi Cheng” (4)

I enjoyed my visit to Ant Farm Light Gallery. It was fun to walk through the tubes as well with all the effects as to see Bachi’s pictures. Thank you Regi and Sofi for this installation, thank you Tansee for all of your work getting SLEA on the start.
Ant Farm Light Gallery will be available for a visit until end of March 2021.

Landmark to Ant Farm Light Gallery by Regi Yifu featuring Bachi Cheng
at SLEA Region 4 SE
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/SLEA4/122/130/23
Regi Yifu’s store Regimade Factory inworld
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/GAY%20ISLAND%20Lagoon/226/220/2001
Regi Yifu’s store Regimade Factory marketplace
https://marketplace.secondlife.com/stores/26852
Regi Yifu’s light gallery
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/GAY%20ISLAND%20Lagoon/37/19/3002
Sofi (Bachi Cheng)’s gallery
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Northfarthing/111/108/602

Art in Second Life 2021 (18) The Carbone Gallery

21 Feb 2021 Leave a comment

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

After my visits of “American Shot” by Milena Carbone at Nitroglobus Roof Gallery (read part I here and part II here) I got in contact to Milena Carbone (mylena1992). She invited me to see her gallery “The Carbone Gallery” and invited me to her gallery group.
Actually Milena has not just one own gallery, she also has an affiliate at Noir’Wen City, the city that develops more and more to a colony of artists. I visited The Carbone Gallery at Noir’Wen City first and published my review about it about a week ago (read here).

I visited Milena’s main gallery, The Carbone Gallery, on January 25th after it had just been refurbished. The landing is in a large skybox without any roof. Here you find at one wall Milena’s biography and opposed to it a wall with group gifts. Milena adds one group gift (one picture) per month: “They are unique pictures, created from exhibtion work and researches. They arise from my heart, and are made with love.”
At a third wall you find an overview about Milena’s current exhibtions and projects at other places in Second Life, her current exhibtions at The Carbone Gallery at Noir’Wen City and her current exhitbions at The Carbone Gallery. At the time of my visit there were two exhibtions: “Twins” by Milena Carbone and “The privilege af aging” by Harbor Galaxy.

I visited “Twins” first. Twins is a series of eight pictures composed with four models and two pictures per model. Twins have always been the subject of many myths, artists and symbolic representations. The exhibtion “Twins” expresses four mythical aspects of twinship. These aspects are:
– The Opposite: One turns her head to the past, the other to the future. Twins try to do exactly the opposite of their twin.
– Replication: What will make twins happy are the tiny differences
– Identity: The seek identity for themselves, their rivalry occupies their whole mind
– The Fusion: There’s always their love for eachother
Melina wrote texts about these mythical aspects. These texts accompany the pictures and with this backgrounds the pictures develop even more strength. I spent quite a while at “Twins”.

“Twins” by Milena Carbone at The Carbone Gallery

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 is a story teller with pictures and words. Find about more about Milena at the wall with her biography.

“The privilege af aging” is an exhibtion of pictures by Harbor Galaxy. It is a meditation of aging. Habor Galaxy says: “I’ve been playing with my older avatar for quite a few years now. She is a contrast to the illusion of perfection that we see so frequently in Second Life and to be honest she is a mirror to who I am at this stage of my life.”
Milena created the set-up and how the pictures are showcased. Each picture is presented in a seperate box. If you like you can sit in front of the box, are just look into the box and zoom in. The pictures themselves are quite small. And yes, you will rarely see avatars in Second Life (or in any other virtual environment) that are old. As opposed to, we tend to make our avatars yound and beautiful. As a result, pictures of avatars who look old are quite rare. I have seen quite a lot pictures of older people in RL where the faces tell a story, are intriguing and of a particular beauty. Why are the pictures that small? I have a simple answer to that myself. Older people don’t like pictures of themselves that show all details and every wrinkle. From that point of you, it fits that the pictures are small.

“The privilege af aging” by Harbor Galaxy at The Carbone Gallery

I just recently reported about “Figure and Form” by Harbor Galaxy at DixMix Gallery (read here). Harbor is in Second Life for 12 years. She has a flickr page where I found a short description about her: “Just a pixel dolly exploring my creative side in SL. I don’t generally talk too much about my process primarily because it frequently seems kind of like a happy accident but in my work, I attempt to merge photography and digital painting. I take pictures using screen shots and then edit and manipulate the images in GIMP; frequently using distortion and color to invoke an emotional response from viewer.“

I enjoyed my visit to The Carbone Gallery and I’m pretty sure that it won’t be my last visit and that I will see a lot more of Milena Carbone’s art in the nearer future. Thank you, Milena.

Landmark to The Carbone Gallery
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Woiler/172/158/3316
Landmark to The Carbone Gallery @ Noir’Wen City
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Noir%20Wen/243/203/32
Milena Carbone’s Flickr page
https://www.flickr.com/photos/milenacarbone/
Milena Carbone’s writing (blog)
https://medium.com/@539568
Harbor Galaxy Flickr page
https://www.flickr.com/people/harborgalaxy/

Art in Second Life 2021 (17) Khaos.Part 1 by Cherry Manga and JadeYu Fhang

18 Feb 2021 Leave a comment

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

On February 17th I visited La Maison d’Aneli where at night a new exhibition was going to be opened: Khaos.Part 1 by Cherry Manga and JadeYu Fhang.

I came across Cherry Manga’s and JadeYu Fhang’s artwork already a few times and reported about them. Last year I saw “Le Déraciné” by JadeYu Fhang in 2020 (read here) and “Endometriosis” by Cherry Manga (read here). And I visited their art and music place ADreNaLin, that they own together.

Khaos.Part 1 at La Maison d’Aneli is really quite choatic, but in a positive sense. It consists of transparent and solid boxes, geometric object and oversized figures. These figures have in common that parts of them are in the state of disolving into small boxes or pieces. This style is very common for both artista. They like to play with the human figure, to change it and to use it for expressing their art. Most of the figures are static – but some are also moving.

Impressions of “Khaos.Part 1” by Cherry Manga and JadeYu Fhang (1)

When you walk through the boxes, on the transparent floor, you see all boxes moving and it’s hard to focus your view. You discover more figures within the choatic structure of boxes, and the structure is permanently changing. Don’t forget to switch your sound on, the technical, random sounds fit to this installation.

Impressions of “Khaos.Part 1” by Cherry Manga and JadeYu Fhang (2)

I couldn’t make out any specific move, but sometimes when you get close to a figure or step into a hole in the floor (it is transparent), your avatar gets shaken around like a ball, flips up and down, falls into the nothing and gets re-teleported to where the choatic movement began. What I noticed in addition is that you need sufficent time for your visit. The whole installation changes. New figures appear, others vanish. Sometimes there’s a well of small boxes that almost flood parts of the installation, sometimes there’s none. The boxes themselves change, sometimes they are just white, sometimes black, sometimes blac and while and grey.

Impressions of “Khaos.Part 1” by Cherry Manga and JadeYu Fhang (3)

New elements appear and dominate the installation… boxes or long poles .. or parts of the installation begin to rotate. You are admist the chaos! It is a really intriguing piece of art – and it is art that you can only experience in a virtual world like Second Life.

Impressions of “Khaos.Part 1” by Cherry Manga and JadeYu Fhang (4)

I did not find out a lot about the two artists.
JadeYu Fhang is in Second Life to almost 13 years. For another exhibtion she wrote about herself: “Living in Paris, France, i followed the evening classes in academic drawing at Fine Arts School of Paris and was trained at the Applied Arts School of this city.
After these studies I completely stopped all artistic work. My journey is atypical made of multiple experiences. I returned to artistic work when I was able to get rid of all the academic rigidity that had been taught me.
My experience on Second Life since 12 years allows me to continue and improve my work and extend it to 3D.”

Cherry Manga is in Second Life for over 14 years. I couldn’t find anything about Cherry, just that there is an own website where Cherry is characterized as VR-3D Artist (as if I didn’t know that by now *winks*).

Impressions of “Khaos.Part 1” by Cherry Manga and JadeYu Fhang (5)

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 enabling this facinating installation, Aneli. I enjoyed my visit.
Thank you Cherry and JadeYu for your art work.

Landmark to La Maison d’Aneli
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Virtual%20Holland/23/65/22
Cherry Manga’s website
https://cherryfrancogrid.wordpress.com/
Cherry Manga’s flickr
https://www.flickr.com/photos/42983210@N03/
JadeYu Fhang’s flickr
https://www.flickr.com/photos/jadeyufhang
Landmark to ADreNaLin
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/ADRENALINA/34/222/1954

Art in Scond Life 2021 (16) “Mind the Gap” by Awesome Fallen

14 Feb 2021 Leave a comment

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

I got an invitation for the opening of “Mind the Gap” by Awesome Fallen at the White Pavillon of The Itakos Project and Art Gallery. I went there the other day.

“Mind the Gap” is about “the “difference”, which divides us but which is also a great opportunity for sharing and enrichment.” It concerns all areas of life, “between male and female, between peoples, ethnic groups, religions, where you can observe the differences, feel the disparities, suffer from disagreement.” This dichotomy is “always present in the individual, is possible in every person” – and we should accept it.

“see difference”
“feel disparity”
“find divergence”
“fight depression”
“accept diversity”
(taken from the accompanying notecard)

I did not come across Awesome Fallen so far. She’s in SL for 11 years and her profile does not give away much of her: “…… just another wave in the ocean …….”. Awesome has a flickr page tough with a lot of followers and I can understand why. Every single picture shown at The Itakos Project and Art Gallery is intriguing, invites you to take a closer look and to comprehend what Awsome wants to express or to make up your own story to the picture. As much as “Mind the gap” is about difference between people, even within a single person or even within ourself, it also showcases a broad variety of styles and artistic possibilities of expression.

There’s also a short promo video featuring “Mind the gap” by Awesome Fallen (2 min)

Thank you Akim for providing your space for the art, The Itakos Project and Art Gallery. Thank you Awesome for this great exhibtion.

Landmark to Itakos Project WHITE Pavilion
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/ATL/182/214/1009
The Itakos Project and Art Gallery website
http://itakos.it/
AWESOME FALLEN “MIND THE GAP” on Itakos website
http://itakos.it/index.php/2021/01/25/awesome-fallen-mind-the-gap/
Promo video “Mind the gap” by Awesome Fallen
http://itakos.it/video/awesome.mp4
Awesome Fallen’s flickr page
http://www.flickr.com/photos/awesomefallen/

Art in Second Life 2021 (15) Ambre Singh Gallery at Noir’Wen City

12 Feb 2021 Leave a comment

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

I was invited for Sunday, January 1th, to attend the opening of another new gallery at Noir’Wen City – The Ambre Singh Gallery. I know Ambre Singh’s art from my visit to her gallery back in July 2020 (read here) and of course I was curious. It seems that Noir’Wen City develops more and more to a colony of artists, besides being an adult place, a vivid big town, a place for fairs and events and for taking pictures.

Ambre told me later that she had abandoned her land and that Noir’Wen City is the new home of her main gallery. As Ambre is a member of the Noir’Wen City team that makes perfectly sense and Ambre selected a fitting spot. The new Ambre Singh Gallery is located right next to the Pink Dildo Museum.

The Ambre Singh Gallery at Noir’Wen City

Right at the entrance into the gallery is a quote of Ambre written on the wall, it’s kind of her motto “Art is my soul masturbation. I do it for myself, but others can watch” … funny and true!
The gallery is located in a large old warehouse and has two floors. The walls are used to showcase Ambre’s pictures – and she made many pictures! On the ground floor are mostly erotic fun pictures. Ambre has a great sense of humor. I guess I grinned all the times when I visited. Oh my god, she has wit!

Ambre Singh’s erotic art with wit

The second floor shows showcases Ambre’s SL pictures featuring herself in different situations and environment, And there’re some of Ambre’s “fake-pictures”, as I named them for myself. She made pictures of herself in the style of other painters, like da Vinci or Salvatore Dali. You recognize the style immediately but of course it is not Dali or da Vinci.

Ambre Singh’s erotic art with wit / Ambre portrayed by Dali and by da Vinci (28)

On the second floor is also an area with a rezzer. with 13 different scences, the “Rumi slideshow” and 9 picture collections. The picture collections consist of 4 picture collections with portraits “Ambre seen by” and 5 picture collection called “Great Painters”. In the “Great Painters” collections Ambre copied the style of other painters and made her own pictures in their style. I rezzed two of them, yet I didn’t know the artists she interpreted. Luckily Ambre provides exceprts from Wikipedia from them. The two painters I saw were William-Adolphe Bourguereau and Herbert James Draper.

Ambre Singh’s Scene Rezzer / Great Painters – William-Adolphe Bourguereau and Herbert James Draper

Most of the 13 scenes in the rezzer area were already shown at Ambre’s old gallery, some are new though. This time I had a look at “Lustiver”, a scene in which Ambre transfers the Gulliver saga in her erotic way with many naked female liliputian SL avatars tieing Gulliver up. Looking at Gulliver’s hard-on, he seems to be enjoying.

Ambre Singh’s “Lustiver”

I also had a look at “Tits stories”, a scene which deals the the fetish of breasts in many different aspects. I still have some more scenes to look at for a next visit.

Ambre Singh’s “Tits stories”

The Rumi-slideshow is a complex artwork in itself, that I saw already at the old gallery. But now Ambre explained a bit more what it is about. Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī, short Rumi, was a 13th-century Persian Sunni Muslim poet, jurist, Islamic scholar, theologian and Sufi mystic. Rumi’s poems have been widely translated into many languages. Ambre started in 2010 to make pictures illustrating quotes of Rumi. The collection is finished now and contains 100 illustrations that are shown in a slideshow. I admit, Rumi was way ahead of his time, he even had a quote fitting to Second Life and Amber illustrated that very well: “I am not this hair, I am not this skin, I am the soul that lives within”

Ambre Singh’s “The Rumi Slideshow”

Ambre Singh is in Second Life for over 13 years. She writes about herself:
“It is your mind that creates this world”, said Buddha. All you do in SL will subtly change you and others in all worlds. So in my life and art, I thrive to add my spice, beauty and love.
My images tell stories. I set up scenes in SL, or I mix worlds… If the harvest is good, I make an exhibition. Sometimes, I photograph people of character in SL or in studio, trying to express the life and soul of the beings and places.
Colorful or discrete, tender or erotic, sometimes silly, often ironical, my images are never politically correct nor vulgar.“

Last but not least, don’t forget to grab the gift box at the entrance of Ambre Singh’s gallery. It contains two of Ambre’s pictures.
Anything else? Yes – Ambre Singh runs her own website with a lot more information. And she also has a flickr account. Have a look.

Landmark to Ambre Singh Gallery at Noir’Wen City
https://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Noir%20Wen/47/126/3522
Ambre Singh’s website
https://ambresingh.ch/
Ambre Singh’s flickr
https://www.flickr.com/photos/ambre-singh/

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