Art in Second Life 2022 (84) Noir by Joanna Kitten @ Nitroglobus The Annex

10 Oct 2022 2 Comments

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

Dido Haas invited me to the opening of new exhibition at in the annex of her Nitroglobus Roof Gallery: “Noir” by Joanna Kitten (joaannna). The exhibition will be opened officially today, Monday, October 10th, at 12 PM SLT (9 PM Central Europe Time). The music will be provided by Jewell, the particles will be added again by Venus Adored.

I saw Joanna Kitten’s work at Michiel Bechir Gallery in March 2022 (read here). Kitten is in Second Life since December 2019. She wrote about herself and her art: “Kitten was first drawn to second life photography in 2020 initially by seeing the results produced by entrants in a photography competition at the sim where she works. All her pictures are taken inworld and are only a little edited afterwards.
Her big love is landscape photography and she travels the grid in search of the perfect shot her pictures revealing her love of nature, the sea, exotic ruins as well as parasols and umbrella’s. Her pictures look to showcase the myriad ways in which light makes a picture, the gaudy autumn colours, reflections, the play of light on the water and towering cloudscapes.“

And that fits to what Dido Haas, the owner and curator of the Nitroglobus Roof Gallery wrote about Joanna Kitten. Dido met her taking pictures of landscapes and saw more of her work at Joanna Kitten’s flickr page. She liked what she saw and invited her to exhibit at her gallery. But she had a challenge for Joanna and asked her to make something different, not landscapes or nature. The result is “Noir”.

Impressions of “Noir” by Joanna Kittan @ Nitroglobus Roof Gallery Annex (1)

The exhibition consists of 8 black and white pictures, all inspired by Joanna’s love of the 1950’s Film Noir: “The images shown in this exhibition were made at various locations and Kitten would like to thank those who have assisted her in bringing these pictures to life. In particular Frau Jo Yardley whose 1920’s Berlin Project sim is the location for a number of these images. Other sims featured are Isle de Noir, Blue Orange, Temple Hof and Omerta City.“

Once again the mirroring effect of the floor, the showcased 3D objects along with the light art provided by Adwehe add to the overall impressive pictures. The exhibition room is seperated in the center by a transparent wall. You can only see a little bit of the picture that is hidden in this almost fully transparent wall. What you can see is the text on the lower right side of the wall: “Of all the Gin Joints in all the Towns in all the world, She walks into mine”

Impressions of “Noir” by Joanna Kittan @ Nitroglobus Roof Gallery Annex (2)

Joanna’s pictures impress by some minimalism which makes the spectator focus on the details. The woman in the pictures is Joanna Kitten herself in a dress fitting to the theme. When I visited the exhibition before the opening, I had the luck to meet Joanna there and she changed into the dress she was wearing for some of the presented pictures.

Impressions of “Noir” by Joanna Kittan @ Nitroglobus Roof Gallery Annex (3) – Joanna Kitten at her exhibition

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 “Noir” by Joanna Kitten (joaannna). Thank you Kitten for your art, and thanks also to Adwehe for the light effects.

“Noir” shall is the October/November exhibition at the Annex of Nitroglobus Roof Gallery.

Landmark to the Annex of Nitroglobus (and to “Noir”)
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Sunshine%20Homestead/166/41/1001 
Landmark to Nitroglobus Roof Gallery (main gallery)
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Sunshine%20Homestead/38/22/1001
Joanna Kitten (joaannna)’s flickr
https://www.flickr.com/people/substratum_kitten/
Dido Haas’ blog
https://exploringslwithdido.blogspot.com

Art in Second Life 2022 (29) Michiel Bechir Gallery in March/April 2022

16 Mar 2022 Leave a comment

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

I got an invitation to the opening of a new exhibition at the Michiel Bechir Gallery featuring the artwork from Joanna Kitten (joaannna), Cynthia Deere and Madoka Kawabata.

The Michiel Bechir Gallery consists of two large exhibition rooms on the ground floor and one exhibition room on the 2nd floor.

The room on the left side shows the art of Cynthia Deere. Cynthia has decorated her room for the upcoming Spring. The ground is a meadow, there are places to sit, a path and a picknick place that has been occupied by rabbits. The scenery radiates quite some happiness.
Same is true for Cynthia’s Second Life photographs. They show nice landscapes in the colours of Spring and Summer. Each of the pictures is processed with love for the detail, thus creating artwork from a SL photograph.


I have never seen Cynthia Deere’s artwork before. Cynthia is in Second Life since 2006. In her profile she says about herself: “Teacher, techie and gadget junkie who came to Second Life many moons ago and never found my way home. I am simply here to unwind and relax.”
You can see more of her art at her flickr account.

The room on the right side is dedicated to Joanna Kitten aka. Kitten (joaannna). Kitten is in Second Life since December 2019. On the table close to the big window is a small baord where you can grab a notecard with more information about Kitten:
“Kitten was first drawn to second life photography in 2020 initially by seeing the results produced by entrants in a photography competition at the sim where she works. All her pictures are taken inworld and are only a little edited afterwards.
Her big love is landscape photography and she travels the grid in search of the perfect shot her pictures revealing her love of nature, the sea, exotic ruins as well as parasols and umbrella’s. Her pictures look to showcase the myriad ways in which light makes a picture, the gaudy autumn colours, reflections, the play of light on the water and towering cloudscapes.”
I can’t express it any better.

Kitten (joaannna) has a flickr page and she is also the owner of the Ammonite Photography & Gallery.

Madoka Kawabata is a friend of mine, not very close but we talk every once in a while, had one short play together as far as I remember and we’re both watching each other at deviant Art. Hence I know a bit of her art. Most of her pictures are taken inworld and are a bit processed. She loves gloomy scenes and a retro or vintage look for her pictures. But I never saw any exhibition of her in Second Life. Her art is featured on the second floor of Michiel Bechir Gallery.

There’s an esel with a picture of Madoka and you can grab a notecard bout Madoka there:
“My long life in Second Life began in 2005. All along I took photos, but it was only about 3 years ago that I finally began spending more time and effort on SL photography.
Ansel Adams said “You don’t take a photograph, you make it.” By which, as I understand it, he would take his large format black and white negatives in the field, then in the darkroom use dodging and burning techniques to lighter or darken different areas on the final print. Although sometimes I upload a photo directly from what Black Dragon or Firestorm produced, more often I use Photoshop to make it into something of my own. I’m certainly no Ansel Adams, though!
I owe so much to content creators in SL, both the builders that create a sim build, and to those building the objects used, who are sometimes the same people!
Enjoy this exhibition! My thanks go to Michiel Belchir, who offered me this chance, my first in-world photo exhibition.“

Madoka has an account on flickr and you can find her on deviant Art.

Another great exhibition. Thank you Michiel for providing the space for the arts and many thanks to the artists. I enjoyed my visit. The exhibition will be avalable until April 15th.

Landmark to Michiel Bechir Gallery
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Embrace/30/228/2502
Cynthia Deere’s flickr
https://www.flickr.com/photos/cgarrety/albums
Kitten (joaannna)’s flickr
https://www.flickr.com/photos/substratum_kitten/
Kitten (joaannna)’s Ammonite Photography & Gallery
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Manor%20Suites/64/141/602
Madoka Kawabata’s flickr
https://www.flickr.com/photos/madokakawabata/
Madoka Kawabata on deviant Art
https://www.deviantart.com/madokakawabata