Art in Second Life 2022 (58) “Body Language / The invisible woman” by Wicked Eiren

28 Jun 2022 1 Comment

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

Dido Haas invited me to visit “Body Language / The invisible woman” by Wicked Eiren. The exhibition is shown in the annex to the Nitroglobus Roof gallery, the space that Dido has dedicated originally to display her own art but that is also used to feature the art of other artists every once in a while.

This is the first time Wicked Eiren is showing her work at an SL Art Gallery. It is an intriguing and very emotional exhibition by Wicked who with these images asks for acknowledgement of/attention for her situation, and that of many others in the world who are suffering from Central Sensitivity Syndromes (CSSs), an umbrella term which houses a series of complex chronic diseases like myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), fibromyalgia, and many more. For more information about CSSs read here)
A diseases that you can not see, but which needs to be heard, the silent scream! (taken from the accompanying notecard)

I am an invisible woman.
Not because people refuse to see me.
They know I am here.
But it’s as if my (pain) detracts from my existence.
My presence too often mistaken for absence.
I am an invisible woman.

poem by Toni Blackman

Wicked Eiren is from Wales and lives in Canada nowadays. She’s in Second Life since 2009. She wrote in the accompanying notecard, that her challenge is to make SL photography look like RL photography with the help of digital elements. And looking at the showcasted monochrome pictures of “Body Language / The invisible woman” I can confirm that she succeeded. Chapeau!
Wicked has a flickr account as well as a website.

“What was once a vibrant beautiful engaging woman who’s passion was dancing, now hides from a world which has no understanding of this disease.
People only see “you look normal on the outside” no one knows who I was before this disease took me. You cover your body and start to shield it from light, touch, sound, and movement…eventually love!
You try to join the living and put on a face for others, but the cycle repeats after you return home, the inner scream your body rebels and no one can see the pain inside, never knowing if or when you overdo. Receiving remarks as ”you look fine” or ‘it must be in her head’…the stress you battle within and the pain in your limbs.”
(Wicked Eiren’s description of the exhibition)

The 14 pictures Wicked selected for the exhibition reflect her symptons. For each picture you find a short text in the notecard that you can grab by touching the exhibition poster. But the titles alone explain it already as well. The pictures are just beautiful, an homage to the female body. Lights and shadows are set to perfection and at least for me the pictures are very erotic. Nonetheless with Wicked’s titles the spectator (me) notices another level, an emotion that’s not seen on the first glance but becomes dominating once you know it. You get very aware of the body language. And all of a sudden the pictures tell another story.

The set-up of the exhibition with the light art and the mirroring floor makes Wicked pictures even more intriguing.

Nitroglobus Roof Gallery is owned and curated by Dido Haas. Thank you, Dido for providing the space for the art and for enabling the exhibition “Body Language / The invisible  woman” by Wicked Eiren. Thank you Adwehe for the light art. And a big thank you to Wicked for her great artwork. I enjoyed my visit.

Landmark to Nitroglobus Roof Gallery – “Dido’s part” / direct landmark to “Body Language / The invisible woman” by Wicked Eiren
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Sunshine%20Homestead/166/41/1001
Wicked Eiren’s flickr
https://www.flickr.com/photos/wicked_photogaphy/?
Wicked Eiren (Georgina Hannay)’s website
https://georgina-hannay.pixels.com/
More info about CSSs
http://www.bcwomens.ca/health-info/living-with-illness/living-with-complex-chronic-diseas
Dido Haas’ blog
https://exploringslwithdido.blogspot.com

Art in Second Life 2022 (51) “Alone” by Mihailsk

08 Jun 2022 2 Comments

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

I got an invitation from Dido Haas to visit “Alone” by Mihailsk, the June exhibition at Dido’s Nitroglobus Roof Gallery. The exhibition was opened on June 6th, I visited on June 4th. Therefore it might be that I didn’t see last changes as Adwehe, who contributed the light installation, might have had not completely finished yet with her work.

Alone is the third solo exhibition of Mihailsk at Nitroglobus Roof Gallery. I saw “Baptism of Fire” (read here) and “Red Sky” (read here) by Milhailsk in 2021.

“Alone” consists of 14 monochrome pictures, all of them show the artist himself – naked. There’s an erotic touch, yet that is not at all the intention and the message of the pictures, it’s more a side effect. They express pain, not physical pain, but psychic pain – although the boarders between the both can blur. The pictures can develop their strength at the Nitroglobus Roof Gallery very well with the mirroring floor and the light effects as well as with the few 3D art objects.

Impressions of “Alone” by Mihailsk at Nitroglobus Roof Gallery (1)

Mihailsk wrote about his exhibtion:
There are moments in life when you feel like you are losing everything; the laughter, the joy, in short the color disappears from your life. You are ALONE, nude, mourning about what you lost. You have to find the strength to stand on your own feet again and find the light in the darkness that surrounds you.
A week alone: me and myself. stripped of thoughts, feelings, clothes.
Absence, falling into the void, tears, sinking into myself. Dangerous balance, escape, mute crying, introversion, denial.
The images I made in the period described above are moments from a sad, lonely week.
Me in black and white.

Impressions of “Alone” by Mihailsk at Nitroglobus Roof Gallery (2)

There is even a weak hologram of Mihailsk as if he and his pain were present in the exhibition. Looking at the pictures you can feel the pain, and most probably you have been yourself in such a situation already – I have been and I know the feeling, the helplessness, the finality, the absence of hope, the knowledge that life won’t be the same anymore. It takes time to get on your feet again, to continue. But it won’t be the same life anymore. Really great and expressive photographs, Mihailsk!

Mihailsk is from Greece and in Second Life since 2014. Mihailsk started photography in Second Life and according to his own words, that was when he really started his journey in Second Life:
“It was January 2020 when I started this beautiful journey in light, colors and emotions. A journey to fantastic places and loved persons, trying to capture special moments in eternity. Sometimes with a smile, sometimes with pain. Each of my images is a part of me, an expression of my mood at that particular moment.
I wish to share with people what I see and what I feel, rejoicing when I manage to make someone see through my eyes and feel with my soul.“

There are also two quotes on the walls at Nitroglobus Roof Gallery. Both are in Greek and in English and they fit very well to Mihailsk pictures. My favourite picture shows Mihailsk sitting alone on a chair looking at an empty chair. I could literally feel his pain.

Nitroglobus Roof Gallery is owned and curated by Dido Haas. Thank you, Dido for providing the space for the art and for enabling the exhibition “Alone” by Mihailsk. Thank you Mihailsk for your art, even when you yourself consider not being an artist – you are! And many thanks also to Adwehe for the light effects and to David Silence for creating the exhibition post for “Alone” by Mihailsk.
As “Alone” is the June exhibition at  Nitroglobus Roof Gallery and hence shall be open until end of June 2022.

Landmark to Nitroglobus Roof Gallery
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Sunshine%20Homestead/38/22/1001
Mihailsk’s flickr
https://www.flickr.com/photos/156100744@N03/
Dido Haas’ blog
https://exploringslwithdido.blogspot.com

Art in Second Life 2022 (41) Gravity by Lika Cameo

04 May 2022 Leave a comment

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

Friday, April 29th, Dido Hass invited me to visit “Gravity” by Lika Cameo in her Nitroglobus Roof gallery. The exhibition opened officially on Sunday, May 1st.

“You know you’re in love when you can’t fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams.” (Dr. Seuss)

Love can be scary only because you realize you care about someone as much as you care about yourself. You open your hearth knowing that it could be broken, however being vulnerable is the only way to allow your heart to feel true pleasure, joy and excitement, and make you feel that true bond and energy that is pulling you to belong to the other.
The collection “Gravity” outlines the force between the two, that calling and longing which makes two humans to be so attracted to each other. Through this project I wanted to convey that connection and bond. I called gravity a synonym of love, only because, like gravity, love is pulling two sides.
Each piece showcases different aspects of that bond that love brings.
(text taken from the accompanying notecard by Lika Cameo)

Impressions of “Gravity” by Lika Cameo @ Nitroglobus Roof Gallery (1)

I know the gallery space in the meanwhile quite well, yet the mirroring effect of the floor always excites me again. The presentation of the art is simply a piece of art itself and adds a lot to the experience. There’re again some light effect and objects, these were done by Adwehe, another artist who I have covered already a few times in this blog.
Lika’s pictures are showcased at the walls and they mirror in the floor. Take a closer look and you will find differences though. Some pictures are coloured in the mirrored version, others a black an white while the original is coloured.
The large exhibition space is separated by two pictures that are placed into the room. You will notice that from the other side these pictures are partly transparent just leaving the motive standing alone. You get a whole different view!

Lika added poems to her pictures. Twelve poems are from Celestial Demon (celestialdemon), two are from Pablo Neruda and one was written by Lika herself. The two poems of Pablo Neruda refer to a series of three pictures each, the twelve poems from Celestial Demon are illustrated by one picture each.
Celestial Demon (celestialdemon) is an Italian artist, who is in Second Life for more than 10 years. I couldn’t find out much about him, as his profile is in Italian. He’s not only a poet but makes artful pictures as well. You can see his art on his flickr page. Dido Haas told me that Celestial Demon (celestialdemon) and Lika are friends. And for “Gravity” Celestial Demon wrote the poems fitting to Lika’s pictures, thus creating an artful connection of texts and pictures.

Impressions of “Gravity” by Lika Cameo @ Nitroglobus Roof Gallery (2)

The synonym of Love:

You are gravity…
I am bound to you
My heart’s anchor
My soul’s keeper

You are gravity…
Sink into your gaze
Drown into your smile
Stitched to your skin

You are gravity
My mind’s perception
My DNA complexion
My love magnet
My You…

Lika Cameo

“Gravity” is a very touching exhibition that deals with the attraction of two people called love. We can’t really explain it, we are attracted to the other as if gravity holds us close. On the other hand love provides wings and make us light. Lika expresses the different aspects and feelings in her pictures, that show the connection be it my madness, melody, magnet,  roots, earth, white noise, oxygen, skin, fire or my universe.

Lika Cameo (Likacameo) is in Second Life for more than 4 years. She’s passionate about art, photography, architecture, travel, yoga and people. Lika has a flickr account with more of her art and she has an own gallery in Second Life, the Cameo Art Studio.

“As the pandemic emerged, I found myself drifting more into art. In the last two years I had several exhibits in Second Life, each one was a story, an opportunity and a learning experience. The intent of my work is not to make changes or to solve problems, or answer questions, all I do is convey feelings a human can have through my eyes.
Visual perception of feelings is an incredible dive for me. I am mostly focused on human body, I am drawn towards portraiture, use of lights and shadows with mostly a monochrome pailleté.
I always challenge myself and experiment, I don’t have one specific style that I totally contemplate. I use several technics, mixed media, starting with hand sketching or taking pictures, to digital painting and editing.”
(text taken from the accompanying notecard by Lika Cameo)

With “Gravity” Lika Cameo succeeded to convey feelings!

Impressions of “Gravity” by Lika Cameo @ Nitroglobus Roof Gallery (3)

Nitroglobus Roof Gallery is owned and curated by Dido Haas. Thank you, Dido for providing the space for the art and for enabling the exhibition “Gravity” by Lika Cameo. The exhibition will be open throughout May.
Thank you Adwehe for the light effects and thank you David Silence for creating the exhibition post. Last but not least, thank you Lika for your art. I really enjoyed my visit!

Landmark to “Garvity” by Lika Cameo at Nitroglobus Roof Gallery
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Sunshine%20Homestead/38/22/1001
Lika Cameo’s flickr
https://www.flickr.com/photos/184680643@N05/albums
Cameo Art Studio
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Bragg/105/230/2202
Celestial Demon (celestialdemon)’s Flickr page
https://www.flickr.com/people/celestialdemon/

Art in Second Life 2022 (32) Status Menti by Elfi Siemens

03 Apr 2022 2 Comments

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Art in Second Life 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 2021 (114) La Maison d’Aneli December 2021

02 Dec 2021 3 Comments

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

On Wednesday, December 1st, a new exhibtion opened it’s doors at La Maison d’Aneli. Aneli Abeyante presents 8 artists for the last exhibition of 2021: Adwehe, Calypso Applewhyte, Awesome Fallen, Sweet Susanowa, I am Free… (libbberamente), Tamashii (TamashiiRent Starsider), ZackHerrMann, and 9Volt Borkotron.
I visited the exhibition before it’s opening – and thus I had the opportunity also seeing Tamashii (TamashiiRent Starsider)’s work. Tamashii had to cancel his participation.

My visit began with Adwehe. 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. The last time I came across her was also at La Maison d’Aneli (read here). And once again Adwehe playes with lights, with line, beams of lights, with one motif, that migh be a dancer. She plays with colours and with a dark forest in which the scene takes place. You can see more of her art at her flickr page.

Calypso Applewhyte is not new to me. I wrote already quite several times about her and her art. Calypso Applewhyte is a SL Photographer from France, who joined SL in 2010. Her focus is the avatar itself as a means of expression to transport emotions. She processes her pictures with Photoshop. You can recognise her style, she has found her personal characteristic artistic style. Her pictures do tell stories, like good art has to do.
This time her skybox is quite dark and fog is covering the floor. The pictures are at the walls a little bit set back in alcoves. All pictures show a woman in fear, desperate and trying to retreat in her fear and pain. Caly uses facial experssions as well as the postures to express the emotions and she succeeds very well in it. The spectator can feel with the woman.
According to her profile Calypso also blogs and has written articles for several magazines. And she also makes portrait pictures of course. You can see more of her work on her flickr account.


I saw Sweet Susanowa’s art the first time at another exhibition at La Maison d’Aneli back in July 2019 and later once again in May 2020 (read here). Sweet joined Second Life 13 years ago without thinking about any exhibition at a gallery. She is a photographer now in real life as well as in Second Life. The 4 walls of her skybox at La Maison d’Aneli show 4 different themes: monochrome female portraits of women at different ages, monochrome snapshots of a couple in love enjoying each other’s touch, colourful scenes of party life with a touch of pop art and pictures of female display dummies that look like the bluprint of a female.
Now you can make a connection between the 4 themes. Do they show the different phases of life? As there are 5 pictures of each theme – are we looking at the scenes of 5 lifes? Or is Sweet just showcasting the different styles and techniques she had developed for herself? Anyway – intriguing.

I am Free… (libbberamente) is in Second Life since March 2018. She says about herself: “I am not a realistic woman, I am only a cartoon”. Her skybox at La Maison d’Aneli is full of things to discover, it’s a Metaverse in which she invites the visitor. I am Free… (libbberamente) wrote about her installation in the accompanying notecard:
“The theme is always the journey, constant in the life of the artist: the movement, the change, the exploration, emigration, until the banal transfer for work reasons. In Second Life she found another dimension to travel to especially walking on the streets and driving a locomotive on the remarkable heterocetera railroad. Impossible buildings alternate with
perfect reconstructions of reality, approximations are accompanied by detailed manifestations of maniacality. Everything existing in the world, or that has existed, that has been thought, imagined, filmed or sung in poetry …… And then she photographs the possible and tries to build the impossible and another fragment of dreamadds to the reality of Second Life”
Discover objects, science fiction, space ships, videos, structures … dive into the metaverse.

 

ZackHerrMann is a French psychedelik artist from the French Riviera. He’s in Second Life since 2012. He writes about his work in the accompanying notecard about himself:
“Early I was attracted by arts, nature was my first inspiration. Later I have discovered the Marvel Comics and that increase my drawning passion. I have done years of art school, than was trying to go to stylism school, but it was too expensive. So, I started to discover the nightlife, especially in the LGBT Community. There I got in touch with a ‘lil around Drag queen and the creature universe. I discovered the power of making creations with a PC, with Photoshop and other tools, with grapic tablet, etc.
With thoses new tools, a creature I made when i was younger was reborn, her name is Linda Cluster. In SL, I focus a lot of my Linda Cluster creations ’cause its probably the more advanced works that I’ve done in RL. With SL, I renew some works and give another light to my previous works!”

I have seen ZackHerrMann’s art before at La Maison d’Aneli and I could identify immediately that I see ZackHerrMann’s art when I entered his skybox. It is very impressive. The visitor is overwhelmed by the light, by the shine of gold. You feel like in an ancient treasure chamber. And it takes some time to adjust and to see the details. I enjoyed the luxury and the art, the many many things you can discover here. It’s nothing I can easily describe. I hope my pictures provide an idea – best is to see it yourself.

ZackHerrMann has a little museum in Second Life – Zack Herr Mann Universum. You can also see more of his art at his flickr page.

I came across 9volt Borkotron just once back in 2018 and also at La Maison d’Aneli. 9volt Borkotron is in Second Life for more than 13 years. His digital works are most influenced by the gradual and often musical stages of natural transformation in all it’s forms ranging from the macro/micro biological material to the quantum electromagnetic on all scales.
The installation for December 2021 is very colourful and you get great views walking up a spiral into the sky. At it’s end is a platform where you can sit and look down into the sea of colours. The textures and colorus, the constantly changing explosion of colours and lights are made specifically so that hearing impaired can also get the music. As the music is playedm the geometric shapes or bars pulse to the various tones. Hence make sure to have media enabled. For me it was very impressive.

I saw Awesome Fallen’s artwork in January 2021 the first time when I visited “Mind the Gap” at Itakos Project and Art Gallery (read here).
Awesome Fallen is in SL for almost 12 years, yet the profile does not give away much: “…… just another wave in the ocean …….”. Awesome has a flickr page tough with a lot of followers and I can understand why. The pictures are intriguing, invite you to take a closer look and to comprehend what Awsome wants to express or to make up your own story to the pictures.
In her skybox at La Maison d’Aneli Awesome showcasts 12 pictures. The space is kept in black and you barely see any frame or conture as the pictures melt into the black walls. The pictures comes 3 themes: clown faces, imprisonment in a small inescapable room and a young girl with a balloon visiting a fair. I can’t tell why, but I was fascinated by Awesome’s pictures and by the stories they tell for me.

Tamashii (TamashiiRent Starsider) is in Second Life for 12 years. Tamashii ‘s exhibition at La Maison d’Aneli is called “Surviving is an experience”. In the accompanying notecard Tamashii wrote: “It is the first installation in a series on the same theme that I believe I will be working on for the next few months. It will be enriched with new elements over time in the next installations. Most of the items you can see here will also be available for sale in my shop in the marketplace.
The theme of my works, even if it can vary, essentially expresses existentialist concept.”
Tamashii had issues with his pc and Aneli helped arranging the objects, but on a short notice Tamashii did decide not to particpate. I got an insight in his owrk nonetheless. I’m sure we will see more soon.

The skybox featuring Tamashii’s work featured a scene with 3 figures in front of a wall of stones and boxes. On the three remaining walls you could see pictures of the aforementioned wall with boxes and of the 3 figures as the artist began to create them in Blender. It might give an impression of how much work is behind this all.

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
Adwehe’s flickr
https://www.flickr.com/photos/187796045@N03
Calypso Applewhyte’s flickr
http://www.flickr.com/photos/calypsoapplewhyte/
I am Free… (libbberamente)’s blog
https://free-libbberamente.blogspot.com/
ZackHerrMann’s flickr
https://www.flickr.com/people/7706
Zack Herr Mann Universum
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Pop/136/214/243
Awesome Fallen’s flickr
http://www.flickr.com/photos/awesomefallen/
Tamashii (TamashiiRent Starsider)’s shop on the marketplace
https://marketplace.secondlife.com/stores/119884

Art in Second Life 2021 (48) La Maison d’Aneli June 2021

27 May 2021 Leave a comment

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

On Wednesday, May 26th, a new joined exhibition opened at La Maison d’Aneli. It features the art of Adwehe, DAK Amat, Eylinea, Fly Kugin (flyqueeen), NewFantasy, Senka Beck and Vita Theas. I came across some of the artists before, others were new for me.

NewFantasy paints colourful abstract pictures in in various formats using acryl, ink and markers. She joined SL in 2014, inspired by her friend who she met in Second Life and who insisted that she exhibits in SL. In her skybox at La Maison d’Aneli she showcases about 10 pictures, sorted by theme. You can easily imagine what an eye catcher these picture are in RL.

Vita Thea’s skybox at La Maison d’Aneli showcases many pictures in a broad variety from portraits in black and white to colourful pictures of landscapes, from atmospheric black and white scenes to surreal scenes, from more fantasy pictures to erotic art. Vita can’t be defined by one style.
Vita is in Second life since 2007, she has varied experiences as a maker of clothes and a builder within Second Life. And she spends much time taking pictures for her creations and art projects. Vita has a flickr account as well as an own little gallery “Vita’s camera“.

Senka Beck is another SL veteran with far over 14 years. She sees SL as her playground where she enjoys interacting with peeps and prims, where she captures and releases her inner being.
The work presented at La Maison d’Aneli is titled Alexithtymia. Alexithtymia is the absence of feelings. “The signals are fuzzed the world is black and gray, dimmed. And I sit with it.” When I visited Senka was still setting up her installation and was sitting admist of it. You can grab a seat and sit yourself. Don’t forget to turn sound on: “Every dark has its light – but about that some other time.” There’s also a teleporter that brings you to a second floor.

Dak Amat’s installation at La Maison d’Aneli is a big house of cards, several stories high. Each card is a picture, and there are many of them! The themes vary over the floors. While the motifs on the first floor are very colourful, mostly comic-like drawings, you find portraits (also more like in a comic strip) on the 2nd floor and more serious drawings of mostly older people on the 3rd floor. On the top of the house of cards is an ampule of BioNTech’s Covid 19 vaccine and a speech bubble “Covid Demission”. In the center of it all is a spinning silver spiral. Inside is a teleporter that you can use to to switch between the different floors. The spinning spiral adds some nice effects, in particular when you stand inside of it. The installation is best discovered flying as there is so much to discover!
I couldn’t find out much about Dak Amat. Dak is in SL for more than 14 years and has an own artist studio together with Sof Yify called “Dekape Virtual Land“.

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 dominated by a central 3D object that spins and changes permanently. It’s quite intriguing to watch it. The walls are covered with pictures of a ballet dancer.
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 it 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.

Adwehe is also quite new to Second Life, just 2,5 years. And like Eylinea, I saw her art before at La Maison d’Aneli and at VeGeTaL PLaNeT Gallery.
Adwehe writes about her current skybox: “I have always fantasized really walking inside my drawings, like in a dream. SL is the perfect platform to realize this dream. In this work i explore an ever changing drawing using lines, light and darkness, and many shades. Creating depth and perspective expanding the dimensions of the exposition room. There are very little colors but some appear dependent on the random choices the script makes. I used textures made up of small parts of charcoal drawings. The charcoal gives a certain warmth against the harder lines. Depending on your viewpoint and the presented state of the room many drawings can appear. You might have to walk/cam around and wait a bit because of the random nature of this. Thoughts about the meaning of this work spin in my head around the topics of information overload and emergence of information actually creating reality itself.”
In Adwehe’s skybox walls, the floors and the objects are constantly changing. Yet you can also influence how they change by walking over pads spread over the floor. But you shouldn’t expect that you can reproduce any setting. One ot the facinating issues with virtual art is that it is temporary, nothing remains. The installation extends over 4 levels, huge poles reach from the ground to the top floor. You can travel between the floors with teleporters. The main installation is nonetheless on the ground floor. But the view from the higher levels down to the the lower levels is intriguing, in particular when other people change the setting by walking over the pads or clicking them.
Adwehe has a flickr page and a gallery at VeGeTaL PLaNeT.

Fly Kugin (flyqueeen), as a live violin performer, is streaming into Second Life from Istanbul, since September 2019. She’s performing improvisation, Jazz & Rock genres, musicals & soundtracls from different time periods from various artists. But Fly also likes to spend her time taking pictures of landscapes and playing with them on photoshop. She is still learning different techniques. Fly started sketch drawing in March 2021. She acquired this passion in RL and it allows her to escape from the stress of everday life and main profession, music.
In her skybox at La Maison d’Aneli Fly showcases 9 pictures arranged in a half circle admist a forest glade. Each picture is placed on a seperate easel. The setting is romantic, with the stars and glowing particles it has a touch of peace and of fantasy. Fly named her exhibition “Mirrors of the earth” and added her thoughts about it written in the background of her pictures: “The earth is our home, our heart is as much as the earth. The only island we have in the ocean of stars. Get rid of hate fron your heart. Because the earth is a place to live in peace”
Fly has an own website with more information and a flickr account.

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/23/59/22
Vita Thea’s flickr
https://www.flickr.com/photos/153849716@N05/albums
Vita Thea’s gallery “Vita’s camera”
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Danpoon/52/247/489
Dekape Virtual Land – Artist Studio of Dak Amat and Sof Yifu
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Fort%20Stygian/232/124/615
Eylinea’s flickr
https://www.flickr.com/photos/189037651@N07/
Adwehe’s flickr
https://www.flickr.com/photos/187796045@N03
Adwehe’s gallery
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Oreo/64/96/501
Fly Kugin (flyqueeen)’s website
https://www.flyofficial.org/
Fly Kugin (flyqueeen)’s flickr
https://www.flickr.com/photos/134260978@N05/

Art in Second Life 2021 (2) Nils Urqhart – A Winter Tale 2020

05 Jan 2021 Leave a comment

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

I got an invitation from Nils Urqhart to see his newest exhibition “A Winter Tale 2020” at his own gallery, the Art Gallery Rill’Arts. It is Nils Urqharts 100th (!) exhibtion in Second Life since 2010.

“A Winter Tale 2020” by Nils Urqhart at Art Gallery Rill’Arts (1)

I came across Nils just a few weeks ago at La Maison d’Aneli joined exhibtion of December (read here). The Art Gallery Rill’Arts is a 3 story gallery in a classic building. Outside of the building is an ice rink and a Christmas market with quite some stands. At the stands you find examples of the artwork of 16 other artists that are active in Second Life, quite some of them have been covered in this blog already, namely: Abby Fairlady (Abby Burner), Adwehe, Arty, Bonach Ireton, Duna Gant, Hana Hoobinoo (CybeleMoon), Klaus Bereznyak, Mareea Farrasco, Marylin Breen, Natas Janus, Nils Urqhart, PrettyMiracle, Sisi Biedermann, viktorsavior, Vita Theas and Xirana Oximoxi. Some of the stands offer also gifts.

The Christmas Market next to Art Gallery Rill’Arts

“A Winter Tale 2020” is an exhibition with 50 Real Life pictures taken in the French mountains. They have never been showcased in Second Life so far. The ground floor of Art Gallery Rill’Arts is dedicated to pictures of forests and becks in Winter. The 2nd and 3rd floor are dedicated to pictures taken in higher Mountain areas. Some of them reminded me of the views I get when I drive ski in the alpes (well not this season though for known reasons).

“A Winter Tale 2020” by Nils Urqhart at Art Gallery Rill’Arts (2)

Nils Urqhart (Paul Maurice in RL) is a French landscape photographer in RL. He takes his photos mainly in French Alps and other French mountains (Vosges, Jura, Bugey, Aubrac…). And even if I didn’t come across him so far yet, he has a lot of exhibitions in different SL galleries every year. Nils is in SL since December 2007. Since 2010, his photos have been on display year-round at Art gallery Rill’Arts. Nils (or Paul in RL) has an own website where you can purchase his pictures to decorate you RL home.

“A Winter Tale 2020” by Nils Urqhart at Art Gallery Rill’Arts (3)

Nils was present during my visit on December 21st, 2020. He told me that the exhibition shall stay open to the public until March 2021. But the Christmas market will close on January 10th, hence you have to hurry to see it.
Thank you for your art, Nils. I enjoyed my visit.

Landmark to Art Gallery Rill’Arts
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Helvellyn/58/206/31
Nils Urqhart (Paul Maurice in RL)’s website
https://paul-maurice.pixels.com/

Art in Second Life 2020 (76) La Maison d’Aneli Nov/Dec

26 Nov 2020 Leave a comment

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

On Wednesday, November 25th, a new exhibtion was opened at La Maison d’Aneli. It features the art of Bebop Xue, Adwehe, Eylinea, Aleallo, Nils Urqhart, DameKlaudia Demonia, Red Bikcin and kjs Yip.

As usual I didn’t wait until the opening and I couldn’t attend the opening event due to my other obligations in RL and SL. Hence I peeked in again early.

I started my visit with the skybox of Bebop Xue. Bebop is a French artist und in Second Life for over 12 years, yet I haven’t come across her before. Bobop’s skybox is devided in 4 rooms, the floor, the walls and the ceiling are animated with a light effects projecting combs on the surfaces and they are permanently changing. Bobop uses kind soap bubbles that rain from nowhere and vanish again. This way there is a steady motion in the exhibition box and the showcased pictures and the few hoovering 3D objects become more static. Her pictures are colourful, are often showing faces or scifi elements and are in my opinion really artful.

With less than 3 years Adwehe is still quite new to Second Life. I saw her art already a few times, twice at La Maison d’Aneli and at VeGeTaL PLaNeT Gallery. So far I saw always something different, Adwehe is is experimenting with different forms of art and with the possibilities that Second Life offers. The main part of her skybox is filled with a structure of different, mainly black and white and grey transparent layers, sometimes with a touch of blue, with stairs inside. You can walk into the structure and you get different views depending on your position and viewing angle. Inside of the structure several figures are kneeling ..  standing .. they appear and vanish, sometimes you see just one, sometines the other, sometimes none and rarely all. The structure tempts you to stay and try out more views.

 

Eylinea is with 2,5 years also quite new to Second life, and I saw her art before also at La Maison d’Aneli and at VeGeTaL PLaNeT Gallery. And like Adwehe she’s still exploring the possibilities and trying out new things. Her passion seem to be objects and moving light effects. Her room in the current exhibtion at La Maison d’Aneli is filled with cubes and spheres. While some cubes stay fiexed at their places, the spheres and other cubes are constantly moving around on fixed routes, they turn and they shine and glow, producing different effects. It’s fun watching and letting your mind wander.
Eylinea writes abotu 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 it up: creator of lots of things, curious about everything. That’s how I could qualify my sl… and my rl!“

Allo (Aleallo) is in Second Life for 4 years. It is the first time I saw his work. Allo makes portrait pictures of people in Second Life. He keeps them im black and white. The showcased portraits at La Maison d’Aneli all seems to tell a story as portraits should do.

I visited the skybox of Nils Upqhart next. It is designed like a classic gallery space, the walls are filled with photographs of landscapes and of some wildlife. The floor is designed fitting to the pictures as a green meadow and there are some opportunities to sit. There are really quite a lot of photographs and they show how beautiful and even lonesome the nature even in Central Europe can be. Some of Nils’ photographs are awesome and capture a very particular atmosphere.
Nils Urqhart (Paul Maurice in RL) is a French landscape photographer in RL. He take s his photos mainly in French Alps and other French mountains (Vosges, Jura, Bugey, Aubrac…). And even if I didn’t come across him so far yet, he has a lot of exhibitions in different SL galleries every year. Nils is in SL since December 2007. Since 2010, his photos have been on display year-round at Art gallery Rill’Arts. Nils (or Paul in RL) has an own website https://paul-maurice.pixels.com/.

Claudia C. Erdesathi (DameKlaudia Demonia) is from France and in Second Life for far over 12 years. She’s a former roleplayer and became a SL photographer and thematic setting builder for her own use. She “creates scenes around many fields of the science-fiction and fantasy: cyborgs, gynoids, Giger style inspired characters, dragons, vampires, etc… and sometimes explores the paths of intimate portraits or special effects with the depths of the technical boundaries…”
Her skybox at La Maison d’Aneli is an ancient temple with female statues embedded in the walls and in the center of the temple some angel statues. The four walls of the temple are used to showcase Claudia’s picture … most of them I’d categorise fantasy or scifi fantasy.

I saw Red Bikcin’s art before, the last time in 2018 (read here). Actually one of her pictures is at our home. Red’s skybox at La Maison d’Aneli is colourful and futuristic as I expected it to be. All walls, floor and ceiling are animated with a blue/green starry sky with some fog and clouds moving. There are several animated colourful fractals at the walls and round fractals that even radiate light in form of beams into the room. It is fun to be in Red’s box and just to watch the animations and the every changing impressions.
Red Bikcin is from Spain and in Second Life for more than 13 years (like me). She has her own gallery, the R&D Art Gallery Diotima. Her artworks are especially fractals, although also has made exhibitions with photography and installations.

kjs Yip (aka Jochen Schülpke in RL) is in Second Life for almost 14 years. Since January 2007 he has been dealing with light, color and prim, the basic elements of the virtual world and quite soon began exhibting his art work.
“Jochen Schülpke worked for a long time as a TV journalist, wage clerk, photographer, TV editor and cameraman, is now retired. Now he acts with the pictures of kjs Yip from the virtual world. He shows them as collages in the real world. Of course, J. Schülpke is only a representative, an appearance, an avatar of kjs Yip. 😉”
His skybox at La Maison d’Aneli is very colourful. In the center is a structure in blue, red yellow, and green that is used as a stairwell to get to a platform within the skybox. At this platform kjs provides some basics about his work. You can downlod three books of him about “Painting with light, colours and prims” or scroll through displayed books. The walls of the skybox are used to display more of his art. I admit, I was impressed – well, I do like colours.

The current exhibition stays opened at least until December 10th.
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
Landmark to VeGeTaL PLaNeT Gallery
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Oreo/64/100/501
Art gallery Rill’Arts
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Helvellyn/56/197/30
Nils Upqhart (or Paul Maurice in RL)’s website
https://paul-maurice.pixels.com/
Red Bikcin’s R&D Art Gallery Diotima
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Gigli%20Waves/156/241/41

Art in Second Life 2020 (54a) VeGeTaL PLaNeT Gallery – Addendum

04 Sep 2020 1 Comment

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

After my blog entry about the visit of VeGeTal PLaNet Gallery was published on August 31st, I had contact with Eyelinea, Adwehe, Aneli Abeyante and Vroum Short. They all told me that the VeGeTaL PLaNeT Gallery is going to open officially on September 12th and 13th at 12:30 pm SLT.
Eylinea told me that her pictures are actually animated, yet slowly. No suprise that I was not sure about it when I visited.

This addendum has three reasons. Firstly I wanted to point out to that VeGeTal PLaNet Gallery isn’t opened officially yet and there still might be some changes. Secondly I wanted to point out to the opening events on September 12th and 13th at 12:30 pm SLT. But the main reason is that I missed out a room, that is really worth a visit and needs to be mentioned. The room is next to the Chat Noir Club in the basement and you can easily enter it from the club. Vroum told me about it:  “It’s a room called Immersiv’Art. This room is an invitation to travel in different paintings, by clicking on the TP just next to the painting, you are transported in the universe of the painting, it is possible to walk inside the creation. Eylinea, Adwehe, Sasha (arivalhagan) and myself have been able to create different atmospheres.“

Take a trip into art – Immersiv’ Art by Vroum Short, Eylinea, Adwehe and Sasha (arivalhagan)

I went there Tuesday, Sept 1st, and I was really thrilled! Once again the installations are animated so they change not only depending on your viewing angle but also in themselves. If you take pictures, there might be not a single one reproducible. And actually I think my snapshots look really artful – but it is not really my own art!
There are 10 pieces of immersiv’ art. Again I took a lot of pictures. For this addendum I picked just one picture of each installation as this entry would become too long if I described each one in detail. These pictures are just little teasers of these 10 art world. You could lose yourself in each of them for quite a long time.

Impressions of Immersiv’ Art at VeGeTaL PLaNeT Gallery (1) Splash (upper left) / Cloudy (upper right) / Glowing Fall (lower left) / Metamorphosis (lower right) – all by Vroum Short

In some of them are opportunities to sit and watch how the installation changes. Vroum’s installations are colourful, the installation “Mirrors” fits to the work of Vroum with a more technical look. Eylinea’s installation “Ghost Lights” once again plays with spirals and colours, while her installation “In and Out” doesn’t fit into this scheme.

Impressions of Immersiv’ Art at VeGeTaL PLaNeT Gallery (2) Lucid Dreams by Adwehe (upper left) / Ghost Lights by Eylinea (upper right) / Not a Maze by Sasha (arivalhagan) (lower left and right)

Adwehe’s “Lucid Dreams” has several different levels and I can’t really find a good description of it. You have to see it! And unfortunately I lacked time to explore her and all the other installations more in detail. But they are all intriguing and pull you into other worlds. I never saw anything of Sasha (arivalhagan) before. The installation “Not a Maze” is extending over several levels which are quite different. Not all of Sasha’s work is animated, but the pictures on the first level do change with the viewing angle … and there are moving elements on the other levels.

Vroum also gave me a picture book of the VeGeTaL PLaNeT, the sim she owned for 12 years. The picture book is one of the free gifts that you can grab at the VeGeTal PLaNet Gallery. It’s worth having a look into it, beautiful pictures of a virtual place that isn’t available anymore. But Vroum saved a little bit of this place at the ground level of the new VeGeTal PLaNet Gallery, a garden. The garden crowned my second visit to this new gallery. Here’s also a direct landmark landmark to the VeGeTaL PLaNeT – Garden.

Impressions of Immersiv’ Art and the garden VeGeTaL PLaNeT Gallery: In and Out by Eylinea (upper left) / Medusa by Vroum Short (upper right) / Mirror by Vroum Short (lower left) / VeGeTaL PLaNeT – Garden (lower right)

So – there’s a lot to discover at VeGeTaL PLaNeT Gallery! I’m sure, that I’m not the only one looking forward to seeing more art at this gallery. Good luck for the opening event, Vroum, and thank you for the hint. I really enjoyed my short immersion into your art and into those of Eylinea, Adwehe and Sasha.

Landmark to VeGeTaL PLaNeT Gallery
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Oreo/64/100/501
Direct landmark to Immersiv’Art at VeGeTaL PLaNeT Gallery
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Oreo/64/40/472
Direct landmark to VeGeTaL PLaNeT – Garden
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Oreo/36/93/22

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