Art in Second Life 2022 (3) SecundaVida Body&Art Store

08 Jan 2022 Leave a comment

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

Thursday, January 6th, I got an invitation from Akim Alonzo, owner and curator of the Itakos Art Gallery. I covered the Itakos Art Gallery in this blog since March 2020, my last visit was in March 2021 when I saw “Soulportraits” (read here). Since then I had thought of visiting again but I didn’t get any invitation and being busy I forgot about it again and again. Getting the invitation now I decided to visit immediately.

The title “SecundaVida Body&Art Store” and missing an artist name did irritate me already. Akim wrote in the accompanying notecard:
“The Itakos Project is proud to present the “SecundaVida Body&Art Store“.
The first shop on Secondlife for all those who love stylish tattoos. A project that concerns everything about the Body and decoration with Tattoos, but also Artworks and more.
Possibility of customization and tailor-made products.
I cordially invite you to visit the Store, to share the Art of Living in Second Life with you.“

The provided landmark did not lead to the Itakos Art Gallery but to a store. Later I found out that the gallery is currently closed and that the SecundaVida Body&Art Store is a devision of the Itakos Project in Second Life.

Impressions of the SecundaVida Body&Art Store (1)

Tattoos are widely spread in Second Life, way more than in real life. It is easy to get a tattoo in Second Life and it is easy to get rid of it and get a enw one. Some change their tattoos like clothes in this virtual world. For some it is part of their personality to use their skin like a canvas for art. Even I wear tattoos in Second Life – and I have changed them over time (yet very rarely as I personally try to stay close to reality).
Tattoos can be and actually are very often artful, they are body art.

Impressions of the SecundaVida Body&Art Store (2)

The SecundaVida Body&Art Store is quite large and extends over 4 rooms. It has a clear Asian atmosphere. And you find not only tattoos there but can also buy art, right now Akim Alonzo’s own art. In addition the store is decorated with some picture of Fiona Fei (FionaFei), an artist that I also covered in this blog. Again it has been quite a while ago since I wrote about Fiona the last time in April 2021 (read Art in Second Life 2021 (37) Spring by Fiona Fei).

In the four rooms you can buy tattoos about different themes:
Room 1: Zodiacal Tattoos / the Japanese Kanji / the Four Elements
Room 2: the Oreint Express / Tell Me a Story
Room 3: Read My Body it’s a Book
Room 4: Mandalas and Other Stories

From what I saw and can tell, the offered tattoos are stylish and artful. They reach from simple Zodiacal tattoos to tattoos that cover the whole body and that you literally can read. I have seen those inworld on some avatars and tried to read them, but often the clothes prevent reading the whole “book”.

Impressions of the SecundaVida Body&Art Store (3)

The store is stylish and spacious. You also find spots to sit an enjoy the atmosphere. You could also see it as an art gallery. In addition I learned a lot about different tattoos and in this respect my visit was also educational. I learnd about “Kanji”. Kanji, along with hiragana and katakana, makes up the Japanese writing system. I learned about the origin and the history of Mandalas and about the background of the tattoos that can be read like a book.

Akim Alonzo is in Second Life for 15 years now. Actually his SecundaVida Body&Art Store was opened on his 15th rezzing anniversary. He describes himself as a traveller and photographer in Second Life. And now I know why I didn’t get any invitations anymore, he was working on a new project – the SecundaVida Body&Art Store. The website of the Itakos project and art gallery still exists yet hasn’t been updated since the last exhibition at the gallery.
You can see more of Akim Alonzo’s art on his flickr page.

Impressions of the SecundaVida Body&Art Store (4)

Products of SecondaVida Body&Art Store can also be purchased on the marketplace and Akim made an own flickr account for the store. There are more people involved in the project of creating the SecondaVida Body&Art Store, at least Fiona Fei (FionaFei), who’s art is featured, and Carle (carleonie), who is working for the store.

Hence if you seek a tattoo with an Asian touch, have a look at the SecondaVida Body&Art Store. They also make customized tattoos. If you look for art or an artful design store, then the SecondaVida Body&Art Store is also for you.
Last but not least – have fun and enjoy.

I look forward to Akim’s next projects, mabe the re-opening of his Itakos Art Gallery.

Landmark to SecundaVida Body&Art Store
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Smeraldina/192/95/1504
SecundaVida Body&Art Store on the marketplace
https://marketplace.secondlife.com/stores/243764
SecundaVida Body&Art Store on flickr
https://www.flickr.com/photos/194371193@N06
Akim Alonzo’s flickr
https://www.flickr.com/photos/akimalonzo/
Akim Alonzo’s website
http://www.itakos.it

Art in Second Life 2021 (37) Spring by Fiona Fei

22 Apr 2021 3 Comments

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

Fiona Fei (FionaFei) is one of the artists that I have featured in this blog quite often already, but not yet this year. I visited her Shui Mo Gallery (read here), I saw her installation at La Maison d’Aneli (read here), I saw “Impostor” at Sim Quarterly (read here), I saw her exhibit “Chuanghu (Windows)” at GBTH Project (read here) and I saw her installation “I Had a Dream, and You Were There” at the Hannington Art Foundation (read here).

Saturday, April 17th, her newest installation was opened at DixMix Gallery and I went there and attended the last minutes of the opening party. There was quite a crowd, mostly artists and I knew quite some of them from my art tours. The party took place outside of the Dix Mix Gallery building in front of Fiona’s installation, which is installed on a half round object, that looks like the screen of a photo studio. Hence it almost invites you to add poser and make extraordinairy pictures of avatars as part of the installation.

Fiona is Chinese by decent but spent the majority of her life in the West:
“I have a fascination with Chinese history and culture, but I often feel like I’m viewing my ancestry through a filter of Americanized information and experiences. Furthermore, my artistic background has been in charcoal and oil painting mediums, and I’ve had very little experience in actual ink-brush painting. Much of my early years were spent painting landscapes and portraits using oil paint on canvas. However, I developed a love for non-photorealism over the years as an artist. In continuation with my love of non-photorealism, I now produce Chinese ink-brush art in Second Life and exhibit my work around the grid.”
For more information look up FionaFei’s own website.

Impressions of “Spring” by Fiona Fei at DixMix Gallery (1)

If you have been to any of FionaFei’s installations before, you’ll recognise her specific style of art immediatiately. You literally enter an ink brush painting and become a part of it. If you look at the installation at DixMix Gallery built into the “photo studio screen” from a bit farer away you see some quite high mountains in the background with bushes and trees in the foreground. This time the ink-brush painted environment is not just in black and white. The bushes and trees are bloooming in red. You can also recognize a few birds, also in red, picking food from the ground.
Considering the strong third colour (red), the birds, and the bushes and trees almost exploding to new life, it does make sense that Fiona herself called her installation “Spring”.

Impressions of “Spring” by Fiona Fei at DixMix Gallery (2)

As always I had fun walking through it, seeing it from different angles and becoming part of it. Thank you Fiona for another piece of art.
Thank you Dixmix for providing and curating the DixMix Gallery, thank you Megan for building it and for contributing at it. DixMix was also present at the opening and I asked him how long FionaFei’s installation will be available. His spontaneous answer was funny considering that Fiona works with ink: “Until it rains”. Luckily that was just a joke. “Spring” by Fiona Fei will stay open until mid of May.

Landmark to Dixmix Gallery 2020
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Madori%20Bay/46/213/22
DixMix Gallery website
https://www.dixmixgallery.xyz/
FionaFei’s Shui Mo Gallery
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Dreams/149/42/2554
FionaFei’s own website
https://fionafei.portfoliobox.net/
FionaFei’s Flickr:
https://flickr.com/photos/fionafei/

Art in Second Life 2020 (47) FionaFei – “I Had a Dream, and You Were There”

04 Aug 2020 Leave a comment

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

FionaFei is one of the artists that I have featured in this blog quite often already this year: I visited her Shui Mo Gallery (read here), I saw her installation at La Maison d’Aneli (read here), I saw “Impostor” at Sim Quarterly (read here) and I saw her exhibit “Chuanghu (Windows)” at GBTH Project (read here).
When I scrolled through scoop.it SL Destination, I came across her latest installation at Hive 4 at “Hannington Endowment for the Arts at Xeltentat Enterprises” (HEA). It is called “I Had a Dream, and You Were There”

Right when you enter the installation you FionaFei gives an explanation for the title and it provides the right mindset for your visit (at least form my visit):
“This is and installation about losing someone and missing them. It is a creative manifestation of thinking about someone and wishing that they were here. It dwells on a moment in our greams and wanderings when we feel like someone we lost is with us again.
The artwork is not about any specific person in a physical form depctied in the installation. Instead, personal items are left to be discovered around the exhibit, such as a book or a piece of clothing. After all, we do not always have to see someone to feel them.
I Had a Dream, and You Were There“

Impressions of FionaFei’s “I Had a Dream, and You Were There” at HEA (1)

Fiona is Chinese by decent but spent the majority of her life in the West:
“I have a fascination with Chinese history and culture, but I often feel like I’m viewing my ancestry through a filter of Americanized information and experiences. Furthermore, my artistic background has been in charcoal and oil painting mediums, and I’ve had very little experience in actual ink-brush painting. Much of my early years were spent painting landscapes and portraits using oil paint on canvas. However, I developed a love for non-photorealism over the years as an artist. In continuation with my love of non-photorealism, I now produce Chinese ink-brush art in Second Life and exhibit my work around the grid.”
For more information look up FionaFei’s own website.

Impressions of FionaFei’s “I Had a Dream, and You Were There” at HEA (2)

If you have been to any of FionaFei’s installations before, you’ll recognise her specific style of art immediatiately. You enter an ink brush painting and become a part of it. This time it is a forest. Once you have entered it you can easily get lost in it as the background is melting into the forest. You get lost like you can get lost in your memories.

While you walk around you will notice red spots and getting closer you can see the single items FionaFei has written about: a piece of clothes, a mirror, a bird cage, a book, a bow or a hat. They are placed more or less randomly, just like your memories pop out uncontrolled anywhere. You will also find a bench to sit and to let your mind wander while you become a colourful part of FionaFei’s ink-brush world.

Impressions of FionaFei’s “I Had a Dream, and You Were There” at HEA (3)

Who you will think of and what thoughts will the items and the environment initate in you? You have to find out yourself.
Thank you Fiona, I enjoyed visiting your installation “I Had a Dream, and You Were There”

Diomita at FionaFei’s “I Had a Dream, and You Were There” at HEA

“Hannington Endowment for the Arts at Xeltentat Enterprises” – despite ist name “Xeltentat Enterprises” is not a commercial sim in any way. It is a peaceful and private area for contemplation and relaxation, and is proud to host artists at The Hive!”
It is owned by Hannington Xeltentat. “Hanningtom Endowment for the Arts at Xeltentat Enterprises” – or short HEA, was built by Tansee, who also runs the gallery.  Thank you Hannington for providing the space and thank you Tansee from enabling the FionaFei’s installation “I Had a Dream, and You Were There”

FionaFei’s “I Had a Dream, and You Were There” at HEA will be open until October 31, 2020

Landmark to Hannington Endowment for the Arts at Xeltentat Enterprises
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Xeltentat%20Enterprises/129/128/3503
FionaFei’s Shui Mo Gallery
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Dreams/149/42/2554
FionaFei’s own website
https://fionafei.portfoliobox.net/
FionaDei’s Flickr:
https://flickr.com/photos/fionafei/

Art in Second Life 2020 (18B) Chuanghu (Windows) – FionaFei Exhibit – GBTH Project

14 Apr 2020 3 Comments

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

I saw quite some installations of FionaFei this year: at her Shui Mo Gallery (read here), at La Maison d’Aneli just a few days ago (read here) and Impostor at Sim Quarterly (read here). Fiona brought my attention to Chuanghu (Windows), her exhibit at GBTH Project. I went there on Friday, April 10th.

GBTH means Grab By The Horns, the GBTH Project is an urban sim dedicated to contemporary art. You find more information at www.thegbthproject.com

Fiona is Chinese by decent but spent the majority of her life in the West:
“I have a fascination with Chinese history and culture, but I often feel like I’m viewing my ancestry through a filter of Americanized information and experiences. Furthermore, my artistic background has been in charcoal and oil painting mediums, and I’ve had very little experience in actual ink-brush painting. Much of my early years were spent painting landscapes and portraits using oil paint on canvas. However, I developed a love for non-photorealism over the years as an artist. In continuation with my love of non-photorealism, I now produce Chinese ink-brush art in Second Life and exhibit my work around the grid.”
For more information look up FionaFei’s own website

Chuanghu (Windows) by FionaFei – Exhibit at GBTH Project (1)

Fiona has also written a short text about her installation Chuanghu (Windows):
“Chuānghu is an architectural installation in the style of ink wash.  It is a modern take of today’s urban environment, especially crowded areas filled with buildings and structures that are close together.  In the meantime, it also provides a type of openness, where all the “walls” are see-through, acting as windows.
The space is meant to be explored, with poses set up in various elements of the installation.  Visitors can sit on the windows and “swap” to pose in other areas within the space.  It is my hope that visitors will take pictures, where each picture is a piece of art.”

Chuanghu (Windows) by FionaFei – Exhibit at GBTH Project (2)

You reach the installation with a seperate teleport from where you land at GBTH Project. Having seen some of Fiona’s art already I felt immediately familar “in” her installation. One of the features of her art is that you can walk through it and thus experience it in a different way. Chuanghu (Windows) is completely held in Black and White and thus the visitor is the colourful element in her installation. You see not just windows, but doors, even houses, rooms, roofs and sometimes they melt together to a thick black, at other times or viewing angels all elements look transparent and gray and light. Of course I also tried to “sit” and tested a few poses. That was fun! And also provided another view on Chuanghu (Windows).

Thank you Fiona for another piece of your art. And many thanks to the GBTH project for enabling this exhibtion.

Landmark to Chuanghu (Windows) – FionaFei Exhibit – GBTH Project
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/the%20GBTH%20project/219/100/47
FionaFei’s own website
https://fionafei.portfoliobox.net/
GBTH Project website
http://www.thegbthproject.com

Art in Second Life 2020 (17) La Maison d’Aneli April 2020

09 Apr 2020 7 Comments

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

On Wednesday, April 8th, the April exhibtion at La Maison d’Aneli was opened to the public. This time it features the art of Agleo Runningbear, Eifachfilm Vacirca, Etamae, FionaFei, Tralala Loordes, Xirana Oximoxi and Kalyca McCallen. I peeked into the exhibtion already on Sunday, April 5th.

I started my visit with the room presenting the art of Etamae.
Etamae is from the UK and began transforming her pictures from  the things she has seen and loved in Second Life into something else, in digital art in 2018. I came across Etamae in 2019 when I visited her exhibtion “Dominance and Submission” at Elevate Femdom (see here). Today Etamae has also an own gallery to showcase her art, the Extempore Gallery and Lounge, another gallery I might visit soon. At La Maison d’Aneli Etamae works with animated pictures that change permanently either with fading in and out different perspectives of the same picture or with zooming in and out. Two of these pictures are on twisted surfaces thus increasing the animation effect. We see heads and bodies or broken bits of them, the walls are covered by webs of barb wire, faces watch us… you can let your mind wander in the complexity of thoughts and impressions.

La Maison d’Aneli – April 2020 – Etamae

Kalyca McCallen and Proton d-oo-b (Eifachfilm Vacirca) formed Alchemelic, a Zurich-based music and art project with cinematographic background, mixed media, and 3D modeling. Proton d-oo-b (Eifachfilm Vacirca) is from Switzerland and looks back on decades of experience in different media businesses. His music style ranges from traditional to experimental. Kalyca McCallen is a multi-media artist from California and loves experimenting with texture and color. They aspire to spark our imagination and elevate our mood with their unique blend of visual art and original music. Kalyca McCallen and Proton d-oo-b (Eifachfilm Vacirca)’s installation at La Maison d’Aneli is titeled “The Space Between”. In their room you see three large 3D heads on both long sides of their room leading you to a door that brings you to platform with the core installation. You enter the space … planets and stars around you between 2 even larger 3D heads, a strange world, a fantasy, science fiction in your mind. Imagine that with experimental music!
Unfortunately I had no music from Alcemelic during my visit though but I had a look at their youtube channel, where you find many long and short clips of their music and their 3D art. The provided notecard at La Maison d’Aneli provides much more information and many more links.

La Maison d’Aneli – April 2020 – Kalyca McCallen and Proton d-oo-b (Eifachfilm Vacirca)

April Louise Turner (Agleo Runningbear) is an artisan shaman with native American, Romanian, German and Irish roots (wow). She makes perfomances, poems and paintings. Her art is also featured at ArtCare Gallery, another place to be added on my list of places to visit. At La Maison d’Aneli we see portraits in different techniques, mainly pencil drawings. At the time of my visit, her room was not yet finished and the pictures weren’t yet aligned perfectly, but the pictures itself were already there and the longer you look at them, the more they impress.

La Maison d’Aneli – April 2020 – April Louise Turner (Agleo Runningbear)

Tralala Loordes is in Second Life since SL 2009 and devoted to everything post-apocalyptic. But she’s also tempted by LODE headpieces. To her “they’re so much like Renaissance flower paintings. Flowers also have stories, myths, lore”. I never heard about LODE headpieces nor did I find a definition. In her room at La Maision d’Aneli you can see them: fantasy portraits with huge headpieces made of flowers and other elements. The pictures are presented in a fantasy environment, each picture held by a hand, a few pigeons on the floor and flying around and 2 large trees at the entrance so that you enter a different world.

La Maison d’Aneli – April 2020 – Tralala Loordes

Xirana Oximoxi is a Catalan artist, children’s books writer and illustrator. She works with different mediums, oil, watercolor, acrylic, ink, charcoal and pastel. At La Maison d’Aneli she presents her exhibition “Lost Souls”, which is in some way related to the current situation in all of our real lifes: “During these days of confinement many of us have to reinvent ourselves a bit so we can have a better time locked up at home. Walking around the rooftop I noticed the irregular surface of the walls and they have become a source of inspiration. “Lost Souls” is the title of a series of images I discovered following a small crack or the configuration suggested by the little fragments of rock of the conglomerate. The technique is a mixed media of photography and digital retouch.” It is fun to look at these stone surfaces and to discover faces, it attracts your attention to look more intensively and to abstract. It is not the first time that she is featured at La Maison d’Aneli. I saw her exhibtion “Women Artists XVI-XIX” there in February 2019 (see here)
Xirana has her an own website and an own blog.

La Maison d’Aneli – April 2020 – Xirana Oximoxi

I came across FionaFei’s art already two times this year visiting her Shui Mo Gallery (see here) and visiting her installation Impostor (see here).
Fiona is Chinese by decent but spent the majority of her life in the West: “I have a fascination with Chinese history and culture, but I often feel like I’m viewing my ancestry through a filter of Americanized information and experiences. Furthermore, my artistic background has been in charcoal and oil painting mediums, and I’ve had very little experience in actual ink-brush painting.” For more information look up FionaFei’s own website.
At La Maison d’Aneli we see 6 2D paintings of Fiona arranged at the left and at the right side of her installation. The installation itself is a bit more colourful then what I saw from her so far, held in black, red and green. And again you can walk in and get a part of the installation – and walking in your get different perspectives. Another piece of art, another technique – and I like it.

La Maison d’Aneli – April 2020 – FionaFei

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/36/55/3501
Extempore Gallery and Lounge
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Blarn%20Isle/13/210/1502
Alchemelic YouTube’channel:
https://www.youtube.com/user/doobeifachfilm/videos
ArtCare Gallery
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Prychek/229/105/431
Xirana Oximoxi’s website
http://nuriavives.com/
Xirana Oximoxi’s blog
http://nuriavvives.wordpress.com/
Landmark to FionaFei’s Shui Mo Gallery
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Dreams/147/44/2554
FionaFei’s Website:
https://fionafei.portfoliobox.net/

Art in Second Life 2020 (14) Impostor by FionaFei

23 Mar 2020 4 Comments

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

I had an art afternoon on Wednesday, March 4th, and went to Sim Quarterly once again. Currently Sim Quarterly presents “impostor” by FionaFei.

Sim Quarterly 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.”
The current installation “impostor by FionaFei” will stay opened until May 30, 2020.”
Learn more about Sim Quarterly at their website.

I came across FionaFei visiting her Shui Mo Gallery in January 2020 (see Art in Second Life 2020 (2) Shui Mo Gallery)

Impressions of “impostor” by FionaFei (1) – upper left is the landing spot from where you teleport into the Installation itself

FionaFei choose the title “impostor” as the installation is “a self portrait and a critique of myself as an artist. The exhibit showcases an ink-brush painting of mountains layered over each other to form landscapes often seen in many traditional Chinese landscape paintings. However, there are metaphorical “big red-flags” in the scene that interrupt the perfect serenity of the painting. The inspiration behind this exhibit came from her cultural background as a Chinese American immigrant and her technical background as an oil painter.”

Fioma is Chinese by decent but spent the majority of her life in the West: “I have a fascination with Chinese history and culture, but I often feel like I’m viewing my ancestry through a filter of Americanized information and experiences. Furthermore, my artistic background has been in charcoal and oil painting mediums, and I’ve had very little experience in actual ink-brush painting. For these reasons, “impostor” is meant to be a self critique and reflection of my inexperience with the actual ink-brush medium, where I feel like I’m never “good enough,” but I’m embracing it.“

Impressions of “impostor” by FionaFei (2)

Just like at the Shui Mo Gallery you walk through the Chinese ink painting, becoming a part of it once you teleported from the landing point to the installation itself. Quite dominating are 2 giant red hands rising from the ground that seemingly try to grab you. You walk through the installation along a wooden walkway, also painted in black ink. The installation/picture surrounded by high mountains and you see some trees scattered on the slopes.

When following the path you also come through a field of red flowers and signs, a real contrast to the black and white and if you further walk on you get to the other side of a mountain and find the ink brush, a strong picture that you actually exist as a part of a painting.

Impressions of “impostor” by FionaFei (3)

Needless to say that the impressions are overwhelming. The painting does fulfill all stereotypes that we might have in mind about Chinese ink art. You really get great backgrounds for pictures. By concidence I fitted into the Chinese painting very well with my quite erotic outfit.

On the top of one mountain you find kind of a temple, a tempel for ink! Try to sit on the central element inside, an ink pot. You can worship the ink there – and I did.

Impressions of “impostor” by FionaFei (4) – worship the ink!

FionaFei herself characterized the elements of her installation “impostor” as follows:
Red Hands: My hands reach out from the white abyss of the painting to forcefully touch the scene.
Red Flowers: The red flowers signify my imagination beyond Chinese ink, and my love of whimsy.
Giant Ink splatters: Ink splashes across the surface of the landscape as my inexperience becomes ever more present.  All the mistakes with the “brush” has manifested itself in explosions of ink. 
Red Chinese Characters: The Chinese Characters 你是谁 (Ni Shi Shei?) asks “Who are you?”

Thank you Fiona for this installation. I enjoyed becoming part of it and walking through it. Thank you Electric Monday so much for your initiave and for hosting “impostor“ by FionaFei, which shall stay opened until May 30, 2020.

Landmark to Sim Quarterly
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/The%20Sim%20Quarterly/6/6/1403
Sim Quarterly website
http://thesimquarterly.com/
Welcome to “Impostor” by Fiona Fei
http://thesimquarterly.com/2020/03/01/welcome-to-imposter-by-fiona-fei/
Sim Quarterly Flickr group
https://www.flickr.com/groups/thesimquarterly/
Landmark to FionaFei’s Shui Mo Gallery
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Dreams/147/44/2554
Fiona’s Website:
fionafei.portfoliobox.net
Fiona’s Flickr:
flickr.com/people/fionafei

Art in Second Life 2020 (2) Shui Mo Gallery

11 Jan 2020 5 Comments

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

Saturday, January 4th, I visited Shui Mo Gallery, a gallery a came across following scoop.it SL Destinations.

Shiu Mo Gallery is owned by FionaFei and features her unique art. Right next to the landing spot you can grab a notecard with information about the place, the presented art and about FionaFei herself.

In addition I got information in main chat and a welcome:
“This space is an art installation created in the style of Chinese ink brush (ShuǐMò) painting by FionaFei.  Initially designed as a stand-alone art installation is now also used to house Fiona’s other artworks.  Follow the scrolls to the giant red double doors to head inside!  Please feel free to roam around the space and sit on the artwork.“

Shui Mo Gallery – A walk into FionaFei’s art

“Shui Mo, meaning ”ink” in Chinese, is an art gallery and a series of installations called the ”Shui Mo Series” that I have created in the style of Chinese ink brush painting, depicting a common theme or landscape seen in many traditional Chinese paintings.
The Shui Mo Gallery hovers over Dreams, a sim dedicated to helping and supporting stroke survivors and people with autism by means of regular group meetings, classes, games, and creative building contests. The goal of the Shui Mo Gallery is to give the visitors and the Dreams community the feel of being fully immersed inside a 2D drawing as well as an escape from even ”virtual” reality, where the 3D space melts away into the mind of the artist.“

I was impressed right when I saw the first 6 art objocts present in the hall where you land. You can’t really capture the flowers, trees, butterflies and blossoms in a 2D picture. They are 3D and look different from every angle. My first picture shows the landing hall with the 6 art objects. I made some close-up pictures to provide an idea about these objects.

Impressions of Shui Mo Gallery – the landing hall

The center piece of the Shiu Mo Gallery is behind the giant red double doors. You literally enter the art of FionaFei. Fiona uses the possibilities of Second Life to provide a new perspective on this traditional Chinese art style by adding depth. She makes what has always been portrayed as 2D paintings into 3D scuptures, trees, birds, fish and other familiar structures commonly seen in traditional Chinese paintings. When the viewer looks into the art, they are looking into a 3D space and depending on the angle they are viewing it from, the art changes.

Impressions of Shui Mo Gallery – entering FionaFei’s art

I walked into the art, I crossed bridges and walked stairs and I sat on Fiona’s art as she invited me to. That is fun on on side, you dance and balance and you become a living colourful spot in a black and white environment. There’s also the opportunity for couple dances, something very particular with this background. It’s not really possible to capture the 3D experience in pictures although I tried that of course.

Impressions of Shui Mo Gallery – within FionaFei’s art (1)

The notecard, which I got at the entrance also contains information about FionaFei herself:
“As a Chinese American, the Shui Mo series is my way of not only connecting with my ancestry, but it’s also a way for me to celebrate centuries of art and old masters who painted in this beautiful art style. I am classically trained in oil painting and electronic media.  Much of my early years were spent painting landscapes and portraits using oil paint on canvas.  However, I developed a love for non-photorealism over the years as an artist. In continuation with my love of non-photorealism, I now produce Chinese ink-brush art in Second Life and exhibit my work around the grid.“

Impressions of Shui Mo Gallery – within FionaFei’s art (2)

FionaFei has her own website and you might want to get more information and background about her and her art there. Visiting the Shui Mo Gallery was a great experience. It perfectly shows the opportunities that a virtual platform like Second Life provides for artisits and Fiona found another unique way to take advantage of it.

Thank you very much for your art, Fiona. I’m pretty sure that I will come across it again in Second Life – and I will visit the Shui Mo Gallery again.

Landmark to Shui Mo Gallery
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Dreams/147/44/2554
Read more about the inspiration behind the gallery here:
https://fionafei.carbonmade.com/projects/7058075
FionaFei’s website
https://fionafei.carbonmade.com/