On Wednesday, January 13th, Aneli Abeyante opened a new joined exhibtion at La Maison d’Aneli. The participating artists for the first exhibtion of 2021 are: Sasha Arivalhagan (arivalhagan), Shoshisn Shilova, Anja (neobookie), NicoleX Moonwall, Kuervo (DonKuervo), GlitterPrincess Destiny, Zia Branner, Talixa and the RL artist Françoise Waroux.
As in the last exhibtions each of the 9 artists has an own skybox to fill at their liking or needs. Hence the art is presented in very different environment.
I started my tour with the art of Kuervo. I don’t know anything about the artist. The owner of the pictures, DonKuervo, is just 3 weeks old and therefore I assume it was created for this exhibition. In the accompanying notecard Kuervo writes: “The paintings that I exhibit here have been drawn and painted by me in IRL. I worked on the lights to create a nice presentation on SL. I am a self-taught person, my paintings were made mainly with acrylics, sometimes with Chinese inks or watercolors. I’m interested in drawing and painting, I’m a graphic designer, and I’m also interested in 3D, photography, djing, as well as sculpture.”
You can find Kuervo on facebook here.
Kuervo’s skybox is just this – a box. The walls are used to present the pictures and yes, there’s something that makes you feel “Africa”, and not just because of the zebras. The lighting is selected nicely, the lights move and give the pictures a colourful gloss every once in a while. The effect is stunning compared to looking at the pictures without the moving light.
GlitterPrincess Destiny is in Second Life for almost 13 years. I never came across her before. At La Mansion d’Aneli she divided her skybox into an entry area and a box with 3 levels. GlitterPrincess presents pictures and some smaller 3D objects and installations. They all are about isolation, pain and death. There are some “books” close to several of GlitterPrincess’ art. Clicking these books gives you a notecard with a thought or two about the art. I’m not sure but I think the installation is expressing the isolation, the fear and the deaths that came with the current pandemic. GlitterPrincess’ pictures do tell stories, as it should be.
GlitterPrincess destiny writes in the accompanying notecard: “To capture the soul of emotions ……. subject soul and deep thoughts. This is my goal as a artist + photographer in SL“. You can also look up GlitterPrincess Destiny’s flickr page.
Zia Branner designed her box at La Maison d’Aneli as a warehouse with two floors. Zia is in Second Life for almost 13 years. She brought her RL paintings to SL. The paintings are mostly quite large and colourful, most of them are abstract, some are showing landscapes that have been coloured. From the accompanying notecard I have the following information:
“Zia Branner had many drawing and painting art lessons at official institutes RL. She is also autodidact on things that did not come along in class. To her making art is a way of life. Often experimenting with techniques as a learning process. Most of the times she paints on canvas, but she also paints on wood and paper. Zia believes that “making art is rebellion against the finiteness of life“. The most important thing to her is that it makes her happy to see others enjoy her art as much as she loves creating it.”
If you are interested in her art you can look up Zia Branner’s website. I do have a weakness for colourful art and hence I enjoyed the visit to her skybox.
Talixa is a new-media artist and in Second Life for over 5 year. She “examines the impact of new technologies on human identities and social connections. In the project shown at La Masion d’Aneli she examines how an AI facial recognition algorithm detects her own face when it is disguised by different digital filters. The algorithms used in this project is an off-the-shelf model, freely available on the GitHub community. The facial filters used in this installation are all freely available on Snap-Chat and were created by talented Snap-Chat artists: Sarah Mayer, jp pirie, Hiral Parekh, Jason Porter, agreeable greg, Joshua Keeney and Stencil Profane.“
The skybox is filled with the pictures of Talixa’s face, levitating freely in the room, vanishing, appearing and turning, so that it is hard to focus on on face only – but the machine can. While it is funny to see the filters and what the AI recognizes, it is also scaring (me at least).
“Hello and welcome into my world of Second Life art“, writes Anja (neobookie) in the accompanying notecard to her part of the exhibtion at La Maison d’Aneli. “I’m a Dutchie who likes to create, discover and explore the creativity inworld. I discovered the magic of making photographs and invite you, by my art, to join me on my trip. My exhibit is an attempt to create the story of myself as I walk Second Life and experience the world and dreams the surround us all. My thoughts turned into reflections of what I feel in both 2d landscapes and “NEOBOXES”“
I like Anja’s art and the quotes on the walls of her exhibtion, that fit with the art showcased: “How far you go has nothing to do with distance” or “How deep you go has nothing to do with thinking at most with a will“. Anja presents quite elaborated 3D objects. Her pictures, taken within Second Life, prove a eye for the detail. I enjoyed my visit to Anja’s box.
If you want to see more of her art have a look at Anja (neobookie)’s flickr page.
Sasha (arivalhagan) is in Second Life for more than 7 years. She writes about herself in the accompanying notecard: “My personal acronym: NAA – Not An Artist! I think being an artist is one of the pinnacles of an existence. I don’t think I’ve reached it. That said, I do like photography a lot. The principle of my exhibition is very simple: to allow you to feel you are being seen. Not necessarily watched, but considered, questioned, appreciated, desired, questioned, loved, admired … And then let you imagine what stories are hidden behind all these glances less simple than they appear at first glance“
Her skybox at La Maison d’Aneli is filled with pictures taken in Second Life, processed to enhance them. Many of the pictures are portraits, some show the whole avatar. Sasha always succeeds to make her pictures an eye-catcher, to make them tell a story, just as she wrote in the notecard. But I won’t call her an artist *winks*. Her art can also be seen at Sasha (arivalhagan)’s flickr page.
Shoshisn Shilova is another SL veteran with over 13 years in Second Life. I like the motto in her or his profile: “Reality is for those of you who can’t handle fiction“. Shoshisn uses male and female avatar shapes, which fits to the motto!
At Shoshisn’s space at La Masion d’Aneli almost all walls are covered with pictures, one wall is used to present 3D sulptures. The pictures cover a broad variety of art, erotic, fantasy, objects, scenes. This is also fitting to the above motto. There are many pictures and it was not that easy to decide which ones to take for this blog entry – but I got it done.
Her or his art can also be seen at Shoshisn Shilova’s flickr page.
Françoise Waroux is an RL artist. Here’s an excerpt of the text in the accompanying notecard: “From a childhood marked by several stays in Africa I kept the taste of the great outdoors, the light and colors. I have always collected flowers, branches, seeds, shells, feathers, pebbles for their beauty and for the pleasure of holding them in my hands. I started with collages, but the collages are fragile, difficult to transport and resist poorly time, the branches and shells break, the leaves and flowers lose their color… So I turned to photography to keep my collages intact. I enlarge or light a detail or a hidden side of an object or landscape, or on the contrary, I strip it to preserve only the characteristics that I feel as essential. I play with shapes, colors, light and proportions for bold, colorful and very original creations that sometimes surprise me myself. Each image is unique.“
I couldn’t write it any better. The pictures are colourful and unique, yet I hadn’t thought that they were based on collages of flowers and branches and other stuff. Well done!
The avatar holding the ownership of the showcased pictures is Jeff (legrandjeff). To see more or to contact look up Françoise Waroux’ website.
NicoleX Moonwall is in Second Life for more than 11 years. She’s one of the outstanding machinama film-makers in Second Life. Filming in SL and RL since 2011, she has over 900 films that illustrate her unique style of filming, with sweeping long takes and little or no editing, on YouTube and Vimeo. She has received international recognition and has participated in over 150 film festivals around the world. For more information look at NicoleX’s website.
NicoleX’s installation at La Maison d’Aneli wasn’t finished yet, when I visited the first time. I visited it at the opening again. It’s quite difficult to interpret or understand this installation. It is a 3D artwork, a bit like a snippet of a nightmare involving Jesus Christ a bunny head, blocks and a loo. It looks different depending on the viewing angle and the Christ cross and the bunny head are connected, energy is flowing. Jesus Christ has a bunny head by the way …. I fail interpreting it.
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 always inspires me.
Landmark to La Maison d’Aneli
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Virtual%20Holland/23/65/22
Kuervo on facebook
https://www.facebook.com/PabloT0LED0
GlitterPrincess Destiny’s flickr page
https://www.flickr.com/photos/storiesglitter/
Zia Branner’s website
https://hollykaiart.wordpress.com/
Anja (neobookie)’s flickr page
https://www.flickr.com/photos/182110530@N04/
Sasha (arivalhagan)’s flickr page
https://www.flickr.com/photos/188848670@N02/
Shoshisn Shilova’s flickr page
https://www.flickr.com/people/serge_sonnino/
Françoise Waroux’ website
https://www.artactif.com/fr/artist/melissoise
NicoleX Moonwall’s website
https://www.nicolex.net/
Diomita Maurer’s Blog 