Art in Second Life 2022 (48) Waitings by Melusina Parkin

31 May 2022 1 Comment

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

I got an invitation of Melusina Parkin to see her newest exhibtion “Waitings” at “IMAGO’s Suburbs Galleries“. It has been opened on May 25th.

The exhibition is featured in two large storage halls that look a bit like hangars. IMAGOLand and Art Galleries are owned and curated by Mareea Farrasco.

Melusina’s pictures are at the walls of the hangars, 12 pictures in each hangar. I am a fan of Melusina Parkin’s art. Melusina succeeds to make you focus on details, to see the hidden beauty of some designs. Her art is minimalistic, often there’re only a few elements in her pictures. In the center of the right hangar you find a table with a book about “Waitings” sold by Melusina Parkin. Those who are regular visitors to Melusina Parkin’s exhibitions know these books already. Melusina makes one of every exhibition. The book about “Waitings” is sold at the exhibition, all others are sold under her brand “Melubooks” in a seperate book store: Melubooks shop.

Impressions of “Waitings” by Melusina Parkin at IMAGO’s Suburbs Galleries (1)

Melusina wrote about “Waitings“:

“All of us spend a lot of time waiting for someone or something. Waiting can be anxiety, fear, boredom, whishes. We don’t know what will happem when the waiting will end and something new will start: waiting is facing the void and filling up that void with hopes or worries, fear or desires. 
Representing waitings could be simple: people standing at a bus stop, sitting alone at a cafe table, looking at a watch, stopping at a crossroad… I’ve choosen different ways, photographing mostly empty scenes; only few of the photos in this exhibition show people, and when that happens, the picture shows details that express the emotions that waiting can make arise. They are taken at rail stations, waiting rooms, crossroads, theaters, cafes, trains, street corners… the countless places where usually we stay waiting. I wanted to show that the scene itself is waiting for being filled up with people.“

Impressions of “Waitings” by Melusina Parkin at IMAGO’s Suburbs Galleries (2)

The photos of “Waitings” invite the spectator to create own stories around them. They make us focus on the main object, there’re only little details that distract the focus. The pumps … how might the woman look who wear them? Old? Young? Who or what is she waiting for? Will she sit in the cafe of which we just see two empty chairs? Or is she waiting for the bus and will play the cello in another photo? I simply love Melusina’s minimalsim, her way to pull the spectator into her photos.

Impressions of “Waitings” by Melusina Parkin at IMAGO’s Suburbs Galleries (1)

Melusina Parkin is in Second Life since September 2008. She has been a fashion manager, a journalist, a furniture creator, a builder, a decorator and a photographer. Her work as a photographer has been showcased in more than 50 exhibitions – from which I saw just a few. Melusina has a flickr account which counts more than 13,000 (!) photographs. Extensive collections of her photos can be seen also on her blog Virtual Exhibits and on some slideshows on Youtube (links also under this post).
There’s also an online book with her Second Life exhibits 2011-2019 here.
Melusina Parkin has an own gallery at Time Portal and an own store for Art Deco furniture called “Melu Deco“. Melusina also owns a second place (Melu Space) with another gallery (Minimum Gallery), a bookstore and another “Melu Deco” inworld store.

Thank you Mareea Farrasco for enabling the exhibition “Waitings” at your gallery. Thank you, Melusina for another great exhibition. I enjoyed my visit and creating my own stories.

Landmark to “Waitings” at IMAGO’s Suburbs Galleries
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Shaker%20Beach/76/77/3552
Landmark to Melusina Photo Gallery
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Time%20Portal/248/101/1940
Landmark to Melu Space (Minimum Gallery, Melubooks, Melu Deco)
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Lunula/192/9/21
Landmark to Melubooks shop
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Lunula/127/112/647
Landmark to Melusina Parkin’s store for Art Deco furniture “Melu Deco”
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Time%20Portal/243/99/1930
Melusina Parker’s flickr
http://www.flickr.com/photos/melusina_parkin/
Melusina Parkin’s Virtual Exhibit blog
http://meluphoto.blogspot.it/p/home.html
Melusina Parkin’s youtube channel
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVzglBiqhrOLXnAp3Qt3Zjw
On line book Second Life exhibits 2011-2019
https://www.calameo.com/books/005997622f28dd58ca75d

Art in Second Life 2021 (111) The Art of Water and Colours by Sophie de Saint Phalle

20 Nov 2021 Leave a comment

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

I got an invitation to see Sophie de Saint Phalle (perpetua1010)’s newest exhibtion “The Art of Water and Colours” at IMAGO Art Gallery that opened Nvember 5th.
I had visited IMAGO Land in April 2021 the first time (read here). IMAGO Land is a moderate homestead owned Mareea Farrasco. There are several skyboxes that are used for exhibitions. Saint Phalle (perpetua1010)’s exhibtion “The Art of Water and Colours” is in main IMAGO Art Gallery. If the direct landmark doesn’t bring you to the skybox, use the teleporter at the landing point to get to the gallery. And if you’re there – don’t miss out to see the other galleries and IMAGO Land itself.

I have covered Sophie’s art in this blog quite often already. The last exhibtions I saw from her was “Escape” at Nacotic Concept (read here).

“The Art of Water and Colours” consists of about 25 pictures presented at the walls of the IMAGO Art Gallery As the title implies there are all watercolour pictures, some of these pictures were already shown at ][Octopussy][ goes Cuba last month (read here). But the presentation at IMAGO Art Gallery is more compact, the pictures have a stronger connection with eachother, you recognize patterns, pictures that belongs together but still have their own character. Most of the pictures are related to female and male bodies, yes erotic in some way, but also just showing the beauty you might see in them, others deal with emotions.

Impressions of “The Art of Water and Colours” by Sophie de Saint Phalle @ IMAGO Art Gallery (1)

But there are also pictures, I had never seen before, they seem to belong to another phase of Sophie’s work. They are more classic watercolour pictures. I was very surprised seeing “Sophie as Baby”, a picture that doesn’t fit to the others. Also the pictures named “Namibia” are outstanding, probably they were made on the occasion of a vacation.

Sophie de Saint Phalle (perpetua1010) is a Austrian RL painter and book author. She mainly paints nude from models and abstract art. She loves to experiment with different kinds of paint and lithography. Her favourite materials are sand, plaster, glue, terracotta, stones, bones, ash, charcoal, natural pigments and more.
Sophie has made several book illustrations and was for many years political cartoonist for a well known satire magazine. She lived and worked in the Unites States, Australia, Rome and Monaco. Sophie de Saint Phalle (perpetua1010) has an own gallery, The “SUBCUTAN Art Gallery and Multimedia Centre“.

Impressions of “The Art of Water and Colours” by Sophie de Saint Phalle @ IMAGO Art Gallery (2)

Thank you, Mareea Farrasco for providing the space for the arts at IMAGO Land. Thank you Sophie for another great exhibtion of your artwork. The exhibtion will stay open until end of 2021,

Landmark to IMAGO ART GALLERY “The Art of Water and Colours” by Sophie de Saint Phalle
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Broken%20Mountain/114/162/621
Sophie de Saint Phalle (perpetua1010)’s “SUBCUTAN Art Gallery and Multimedia Centre”
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Ocean%20Island/136/128/1002

Art in Second Life 2021 (104) Mindstorm by Bamboo Barnes

28 Oct 2021 Leave a comment

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

I got an invitation to see Bamboo Barnes newest exhibtion “Mindstorm” at IMAGO Land – gallery 3, that opened October 6th.
I had visited IMAGO Land in April 2021 the first time (read here). IMAGO Land is a moderate homestead owned Mareea Farrasco. There are several skyboxes that are used for exhibitions. Bamboo Barnes exhibtion “Mindstorm” is in gallery 3. If the direct landmark doesn’t bring you to the skybox, use the teleporter at the landing point to get to gallery 3. And if you’re there – don’t miss out to see the other galleries and IMAGO Land itself.

Back to “Mindstorm” by Bamboo Barnes. The exhibition consists of about 15 pictures arranged along the walls of a large squared exhibition room. In the center is a big dance floor, I assume it was used for the opening event. The inside area is decorated with huge golden figures that liven up scenery.

All pictures show female faces or upper bodies under a layer of coloured abstract forms or objects or other pictures, thus providing several levels of how to look at the pictures. By the layers the pictures also develop a 3rd dimension. And – as I had expected it from Bamboo Barnes, the pictures are all very colourful.

Impressions of “Mindstorm” by Bamboo Barnes (1)

Bamboo wrote about “Mindstorm” in the accompanying notecard that she had been working on this eries of pictures for several years. She added a short text, that conveys her own feelings about “Mindstorm“:

“When you are feeling low, isolated, misunderstood.
Look at your disturbed soul pretending it’s never hurts,
the ocean of the pain’s roar to sweep all the goodness from you so you can feel the bottom.
Like the wind & the tide, there are no keys to open the sea, keep you face over the surface to keep the breath.
When the sun’s up your skin is dry, start feel it’s in the past, then the life goes on, there’s another day.

Don’t know what will come tomorrow, beneath the surface there is mindstorm.

Wish the best for you.
Bamboo Barnes”

Impressions of “Mindstorm” by Bamboo Barnes (2)

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) and I saw “Conjure” at OCUS Magazine F.A.I.R Gallery in August 2021 (read here). I also had a look at her flickr page.

Impressions of “Mindstorm” by Bamboo Barnes (3)

Thank you, Mareea Farrasco for providing the space for the arts at IMAGO Land. Thank you Bamboo for another great exhibtion of your artwork. The exhibtion will stay open until end of November,

Landmark to IMAGO Land – Gallery 3 – “Mindstorm” by Bamboo Barnes
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Broken%20Mountain/128/136/2003
Bamboo Barnes’ flickr page
https://www.flickr.com/photos/bamboobarnes/

Art in Second Life 2021 (68) La Maison d’Aneli Summer 21

29 Jul 2021 Leave a comment

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

On Wednesday, July 28th, a new exhibtion was opened at La Maison d’Aneli: “Summer 21”. It features the artwork of Giovanna Cerise, Marylooooe, Elodiecasa Dragovar, Deyanira Yalin, lo01ner01, Mareea Farrasco and Fly Kugin (flyqueeen).

For this exhibtion Aneli Abeyante, owner and curator of La Maison d’Aneli, has a special gift for the visitors. She offers a (attachable or displayable inworld) SL booklet that shows examples of the artwork of the participating artists on 2 pages for each artist. Hence – I could have refrained from taking pictures. You find the booklet at the end of the main hall, next to the event area for the opening event. It is displayed at the seating groups.

Aneli Abeyante’s booklet about the Summer 21 exhibition

The event area is also the space where Fly Kugin (flyqueeen) has her exhibition space.
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 & soundtracks 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. And she is still learning different techniques.

At the event area Fly showcased some of her pictures, all of them were taken in Second Life and processed afterwards to make them look like oil paintings. The combiantion of art and Second Life offers great opportunities for artists. Fly also gave a violin concert on the opening event. Fly has an own website with more information and a flickr account.

Fly Kugin’s pages in Aneli’s booklet

Giovanna Cerise is not unknow to me. The last time I came across her art was in May 2019 at La Maison d’Aneli (read here). Before I visited Flash Back / Flash Forward in 2017 (read Simploring 2017 (42) Flash Back / Flash Forward), in 2016 I visited her LEA-installation Monochrome (read here) and in April 2015 I saw Otium (read here: A visit to Otium). Giovanna is an Italian literature teacher and musician. In Second Life she’s active since Ende of 2008 and had many exhibtions and installations. She particpated in the LEA program participations and her list of activities and appearances is long. For more information look up her website.

Giovanna Cerise used her space at La Maison d’Aneli to showcase her “Doll’s house”. It is a space main held in black and white with clear structures that is partly in 3D and party in 2D (but looks 3D). The space has several houses, more a Doll’s village. And there are dolls, I’d rather say ballerinas or dancers. The dolls are stylised, performing alone or as couples in front of the houses or on the open space. There’s quite some to discover viewing at Giovanna Cerise’s installation from different viewing angles.

Giovanna Cerise’s pages in Aneli’s booklet

It is the first time that I came across the artist Marylooooe, She is in Second Life for 5 years and had several small and two larger exhibitions in favor of “Feed a smile” and the “Parkinson foundation”.

Marylooooe set up a 4 story gallery building in her skybox at La Maison d’Aneli. She named her exhibtion “Art of me – coynty art”. Marylooooe uploaded her RL artwork into Second Life. All of her art is very colourful, strong and expressive colours. On the four floors Marylooooe grouped her pictures. The ground floor shows some abstract pictures along with pictures in which you can recognize an animal, a goat? The 2nd floor is dedicated to flowers an abstact pictures, which could also be flowers because of how colourful they are. On the 3rd floor are some pictures showing a cow or a cow’s face. And finally the 4th foor is used to showcase some landscapes, towns and villages. For all of her pictures you need imagiantion, you have to connect with them to see the details beside the colours. Marylooooe wrote about her skybox in the accompanying notecard: “All my pictures exist in the original in rl. This exhibition country art is based on an idea originated when a friend asked: do you paint cows too, why not, and so i got down to work. A series of works was created and I hope you will have as much fun looking at them as I had painting them.” (from the accompanying notecard)

Marylooooe’s pages in Aneli’s booklet

Elodiecasa Dragovar is also a new artist for me. She’s in Second Life since 2010. Art is part of her life, she started getting lessons in art aged 9. Since 13 years Elodiecasa lives in Morocco. In the accompanying notecard as well as on a board in her skybox at La maison d’Aneli she wrote about herself: “I don’t consider myself as an artist but a passionate person. I love art in all forms, I touch everything. Art is a part of my life, it’s a need“

Her skybox is quite packed with pictures. All of them are imported into Second Life from RL pictures as far as I could gather. Elodiecasa uses all kind of techniques for her art and thus we get a broad picture of her artwork, which ranges from abstract alcohol ink pictures to acrylic portraits, from watercolour pictures of villages to abstract oil pictures. The variety is impressive and I couldn’t categorize her art at all.

Elodiecasa Dragovar’s pages in Aneli’s booklet

Deyanira Yalin has been in Second Life since 2007. Her creations started with oils and acrylics shown at exhibitions in Mexico City, and has continuously expanded to incorporate other media: “As a graphic designer, the influence of Second Life has help me to embrace the digital art form, which culminated in several exhibits currently displayed in Second Life. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I believe that my art is the product of cumulative dreams and visualization.” (taken from the accompanying notecard)

Deyanira Yalin’s skybox at La Maison d’Aneli is a dark blue box with a 3D object in the center. Her pictures glow colourful in this environment. They range from animal faces over geometric forms, from portraits to flowers. Deyanira often uses different layers in her pictures so that you have to immerse into her art.
Deyanira has an own gallery in Second life and a store “DeyLyn Creations” on the marketplace,

Deyanira Yalin’s pages in Aneli’s booklet

Neel (lo01ner01) is in Second Life for 4 years.
“Neel was born in the Himalayan foothills of India but now lives in the vast city of Mumbai. He is a passionate animal lover and cares greatly for the earth and all its creatures. A university graduate trained in business, Neel is also a student of poetry, art and literature in Hindi, English and Sanskrit. But he is especially interested in science. He combines abstract painting with imaginative birds, insects, and fish. Thus Neel explores the inner world of emotions and feelings, and how they connect to the natural world around us. His work draws on observation of the fine detail of the natural world together with an inner vision, which he paints as he sees with the eye of the spirit.” (from the accompanying notecard)

Neel (lo01ner01)’s skybox at La Maison d’Aneli is a light 2 story box held in white. His pictures are shown on the walls. Some pictures are abstract, others are a combination of abstract pictures with objects as described in the notecard. All of them seem to be RL pictures that were uploaded into Second Life.

lo01ner01’s pages in Aneli’s booklet

Mareea Farrasco is “a SL photographer and the owner of IMAGO Land and IMAGO Art Galleries, a Nature, Art & Culture area open for visitors who love to explore, relax, take photos or admire the highly talented artists works displayed in the galleries… My photography covers a large field, from portraits to landscapes, from concrete to metaphoric images, from narrative scenes to still life pictures.” (from the accompanying notecard)
I visited IMAGO Land in April 21 and reported about my visit (read here)

Mareea’s skybox at La Maison d’Aneli is complete held in black in order to provide a contrast to pastel colours of her photographs, that mainly show landscapes along with only few details. I don’t know (but suspect) that Mareea porcesses her pictures a bit to make them a little bit blurry, which fits perfectly (no critique meant). Mareea proves the almost endless possibilities that Second Life offers for our creativity.
Mareea Farrasco’s pictures can also been seen at her flickr account.

Mareea Farrasco’s pages in Aneli’s booklet

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/23/64/22
Fly Kugin (flyqueeen)’s website
https://www.flyofficial.org/
Fly Kugin (flyqueeen)’s flickr
https://www.flickr.com/photos/134260978@N05/
Giovanna Cerise’s website
http://giovannacerise.blogspot.it/
Deyanira Yalin’s gallery
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Fortinbras/20/198/27
Deyanira Yalin marketplace store “DeyLyn Creations”
https://marketplace.secondlife.com/stores/167933
Landmark to Mareea Farrasco’a IMAGO Land
https://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Broken%20Mountain/86/132/21
Mareea Farrasco’s flickr
https://www.flickr.com/photos/96165669@N06/

Simploring 2021 (16) IMAGO Land

18 Apr 2021 Leave a comment

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

For my simploring tour on Thursday, April 1st, I selected IMAGO Land from scoop.it SL Destinations. The landmark description read really tempting to me – simploring and art in one place: “Nature, Art & Culture area open for visitors who love to explore, relax, take photos or admire the highly talented artists works displayed in IMAGO Art Galleries.”
The entry led to an entry of Maddy Gynoid “Simtipp: IMAGO Land“, which I read before visiting myself.

IMAGO Land – Bird’s eye view and orientation map

IMAGO Land is a moderate homestead owned Mareea Farrasco. It consists of one one bigger and one smaller island. The islands are quite flat and connected by a bridge. The landing is close to a dancefloor where are band is playing. Some people are watching the band. Mareea used quite some prim, mesh and animesh avatars to liven up her sim and this is one outstanding feature of IMAGO Land.

Impressions of IMAGO Land (1) – Dancefloor, Bar and Beach

Right where you land is a teleporter and a big board with the destinations: Dancefloor, Bar, Beach, Forest, Rocky Shore, Small Island. These are all destinations on the two islands. The destinations Storytellers Burrow and Studio are seperate skyboxes. And the destinations Carelyna’s Red Alert and Gallery I lead to two other skyboxes dedicated to art.

Impressions of IMAGO Land (2) – Forest, bridge to the smaller island, at the rocky shore

I visited all destinations. The islands offer nice backgrounds for taking pictures, in particular if you want to take pictures with a few people. You won’t be sitting alone at the bar and you won’t be the only one taking a bath in the sun – and there are children playing on the beach.
All buildings on IMAGO Land are relative small and simple but nicely decorated outside. And of course there are some animals, seagulls and other birds. There are plenty of motifs for photographers. I enjoyed exploring and taking a few pictures.

Impressions of IMAGO Land (3) – smaller island, another bar, Diomita and a mesh avatar on a pier

The two skyboxes Storytellers Burrow and Studio can be used for taking indoor pictures. As the name already gives away Storytellers Burrow is a flat with many books. The Studio is a luxury appartment in a high-rise building.

Impressions of IMAGO Land (4) – Two more picturesque buildings, Studio (upper right), Storyteller Burrow (lower right)

Carelyna’s Red Alert is an exhibition of Carelyna’s art – her red pictures, hence the name. The pictures are quite impressive and get a particular strength as they are all held in red and black.
I had come across Carelyna in October 2020 when she had a space at La Maison d’Aneli (read here).
Carelyna is in Second Life for more than 8 years. SL gave her the opportunity to reach two dreams of her childhood. She grew up on a boat, and she took art classes and learned to paint on an easel with oil paints. This is the reason why she tries to make her photos look like paintings. She replaced the traditional tools with the computer. Carelyna has also a flickr page.

Impressions of the exhibition “Carelyna’s Red Alert”

At Gallery I is an exhibtion of Mareea Farrasco herself. It is called “Painting the Summer”. The Gallery I is a modern gallery. Mareea’s pictures are quite large. They are based on pictures taken within Second Life. Most of them are in a little bit softened, without sharp contrasts, almost a bit blurred and held on light warm tones – reflecting the Summer.
I hadn’t seen any pictures of Mareea before and have no information about her, just that she’s over 11 years in Second Life and that she owns IMAGO Land and the two galleries. And of course she also has a flickr page.

Impressions of the exhibition “Painting the Summer” by Mareea Farrasco

I spent an enjoyable hour exploring IMAGO Land and visiting the two galleries. IMAGO Land offers something different with the many mesh avatars – and the two galleries were worth a visit itself. Thank you Mareea for sharing your sim, your galleries and your art publicly!

Landmark IMAGO Land
https://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Broken%20Mountain/86/132/21
Flickr IMAGO Land
https://www.flickr.com/groups/IMAGOLand/pool/
Mareea Farrasco’s flickr
https://www.flickr.com/photos/96165669@N06/
Carelyna’s flickr
https://www.flickr.com/photos/99718983@N06
Maddy Gynoid’s blogpost “Simtipp: IMAGO Land”
https://echtvirtuell.blogspot.com/2021/03/simtipp-imago-land.html