Art in Second Life 2022 (61) City Scenes – Modern and Vintage by Colm Midnight @ Galerie ARTCARE

07 Jul 2022 Leave a comment

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

I got a group message about a new exhibition of Colm Midnight (colmmidnight) at Galerie ARTCARE. The artists name rang a bell. I had visited the exhibition “Bouquets and Flowers” by Colm Midnight at Noir’Wen City Gallery back in 2020 (read here).

The new exhibition of Colm Midnight is called “City Scenes – Modern and Vintage“. It consists of 12 smaller vintage pictures of city scenes and 16 larger pictures of modern scenes. The pictures are arranged around a court, so that you are in a city scene with a few trees, a fountain and some benches to sit.

Impressions of City Scenes – Modern and Vintage by Colm Midnight @ Galerie ARTCARE (1)

The vintage pictures are arranged in groups of 3 pictures in each of the 4 corners of the squared exhibition space at ARTCARE Gallery. As far as I could gather, all pictures are based on pictures taken in Second Life. The vintage pictures are monochrom,e processed to look old, a bit blurry and with shadows in the corners. Also the scenes were selected accordingly.
What you don’t notice on a fist glance is that some one the modern pictures – not all – are based on exactly the same picture as the vintage pictures. That is a nice contrast showing what can be done with processing.

Impressions of City Scenes – Modern and Vintage by Colm Midnight @ Galerie ARTCARE (2)

When you hoover your mouse over the pictures you can also see where the pictures were taken and I recognized some places, like Soft Melody, a palce that I visited this year (read here).
Also the modern pictures are processed in different ways. For some pictures Colm added a colour filter or exchanged colours thus making them more colourful and intriguing. One picture of the modern scene is in black and white, it could be a vintage picture as well (although it is not placed in the corners. Here Colm used another technique, using a semi-transparent layer of a flower above the corner of a city buildiung with a fire escape. This picture is my personal favourite.

Impressions of City Scenes – Modern and Vintage by Colm Midnight @ Galerie ARTCARE (3)

Colm Midnight (colmmidnight) is from the US, he’s an artist, creator, and admirer of all that is beautiful in SL. He is in Second Life since 2017. Colm “specializes in vivid photography and colorful painting. He seeks to create unique, positive, and bright abstract artworks that enhance and complement the favored environments of Second Life. Rather than presenting a factual reality, he fabricates an illusion to conjure the imagination and lure the viewer into each canvas. He also is a sculptor in real life.” (taken from the accompaying notecard)

Colm has an own gallery, the Gallery CM at Noir’wen City. I decided to have a quick look. At his gallery Colm showcases colourful pictures, mainly pictures of his exhibition “Bouquets and Flowers”.

Impressions of Colm Midnight’s Gallery CM at Noir’Wen City

ArtCare Gallery is owned and curated by Carelyna. Thank you Carelyna for providing the space for the art and for enabling “City Scenes – Modern and Vintage” by Colm Midnight. I enjoyed my visit.

ARTCARE GALLERY – City Scenes – Modern and Vintage by Colm Midnight
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Melody%20Valley/208/234/3081
CM Gallery Noir’Wen City
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Noir%20Wen/89/221/42

Art in Second Life 2021 (123) The path by Bamboo Barnes

23 Dec 2021 Leave a comment

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

I got an invitation to see Bamboo Barnes newest exhibtion “The path” at ArtCare Gallery.

The gallery space at ArtCare Gallery is a large quatratic room. Bamboo placed her picture at all four walls. But the walls are also decorated with other objects, pieces of walls, stones. 3D-objects are placed in the corners, one is colourful and contains Bamboo Barnes’ biography. The large free space in the center is obviously used for events and limited by figures that remind of display dummies. In the bodies of these display dummies you can see other pictures of Bamboo, the heads are like ballons and spin. Also in there you can recognize something.

Impressions of “The path” by Bamboo Barnes at ArtCare Gallery (1)

The pictures at the walls, no surprise, are in the typcial style of Bamboo. All pictures show female faces or upper bodies under a layer of coloured abstract forms or objects. By the layers the pictures also develop a 3rd dimension. In the accompanying notecard Bamboo shared her thoughts about “The path”:

“As I walk through the morning mist, I see a person standing far ahead of me. I’m sure that person is confused, does he want to go on or not? I turn my head and see the tips of the person’s shoes, brown suede. A person whose past has caught up with him. People who want to go back but don’t know the way anymore. In the fog, there is a path to nowhere. Where do we go? Where do you go?“

Impressions of “The path” by Bamboo Barnes at ArtCare Gallery (2)

I personally can’t combine Bamboo’s thoughts with the picture featured at “The path”. Just a few pictures have something to do with a path, like the one with the arrows in the picture above. What I see are the wonderful colourful pictures of Bamboo Barnes, each of them invites me to immerse into it and to let my mind wander. I’m atrracted by her art and choice of colours.

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

Impressions of “The path” by Bamboo Barnes at ArtCare Gallery (3)

ArtCare Gallery is owned and curated by Carelyna. Thank you Carelyna for providing the space for the art and for enabling “The path” by Bamboo Barnes. I enjoyed my visit.

Landmark to ArtCare Gallery – level 4
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Sweetest%20Thing/143/202/1535
Bamboo Barnes’ flickr page
https://www.flickr.com/photos/bamboobarnes/