Art in Second Life 2021 (108) The End of Innocence by Meilo Minotaur

14 Nov 2021 1 Comment

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

I visited the exhibition “The End of Innocence” by Meilo Minotaur at DixMix Gallery in room Amalfia. The exhibition consists of about 12 pictures, which are based on SL pictures, I think at least.

I have come across Meilo Minotaur twice so far. Meilo is in Second Life since 2008 and she owns and a homestead named “Delicatessen” where she has different installations for about 10 years now. I visited “Delicatessen” in 2019 (read here).

Then I saw a piece of her art at the exhibition “Sinners and Saints” this year in August (read here). The piece she contributed was a 3D object of three angels, angels like the one featured on the exhibition flyer above. Several of these angels and a devil-like figure are shown in several of Meilo pictures in “The End of Innocence”.

Impressions of “The End of Innocence” by Meilo Minotaur at DixMix Gallery (1) – for comparision the lower right picture was taken at the exhibition “Sinners and Saints”

Most probably “The End of Innocence” has at least one potential interpretation, it could be meant religiously. Another recurring element at “The End of Innocence” is a group of 3 genderless figures. They seem to turn away from the angel, seduced by the devil? And then there’s this woman with the red scarf. Is she watching the scene? Are the pictures in her head only. Is she the sinner who lost her innocence?
I leave it up to you to interpret Meilo’s art. These are just my thoughts.

Impressions of “The End of Innocence” by Meilo Minotaur at DixMix Gallery (2)

I couldn’t get more information about Mielo Minotaur, I just found a flickr account of her. “The End of Innocence” is a very intriguing exhibition, for sure. Thank you Meilo.

Thank you Dixmix for providing and curating the DixMix Gallery, thank you Megan for building it and for contributing at it. I enjoyed my visit and seeing “The End of Innocence” by Meilo Minotaur. The exhibition will stay open until November 26th.

Landmark to Dixmix Gallery
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Madori%20Bay/46/213/22
Meilo Minotaur’s flickr
https://www.flickr.com/photos/meilominotaur/

Art in Second Life 2021 (75) Sinners and Saints

16 Aug 2021 Leave a comment

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

Following Inara Pey’s blog I came across the exhibtion “Sinners and Saints” (read her article here). Thank you Inara for blogging about it

“Sinners and Saints” extends over the two sims “Sinful Retreat” and “Angels Rest Arts Collective”. The provided landmark leads you into the center, right close to the sim border, that is indicated on the floor.
And just like the exhibition extends almost seamlessly over the two sims, the landmark descriptions of the two sims fit together:

Sinful Retreat is a land where worlds and times collide. A virtual playground where artists are welcomed with open arms to show their works. Home of the Janus Galleries and Janus Java.
Where art and music collide in an immersive environment for the senses. Curated by Chuck Clip, Angels Rest is the sister sim and mirror to Sinful Retreat with a focus on the performing arts and large 3D art installations.

Chuck Clip is a graphic designer, prim sculptor, co-owner of Sinful Retreat & Angels Rest, and co-curator of the Janus Galleries. He and his RL wife and SL partner, Jewell, seek to help breathe new life into the SL art community.

Sinners and Saints – an overview. The sim boarder is in the center. Angels Rest to the left, Sinful Retreat to the right. In the center is the event area.

Inara Pey wrote about the background of the exhibtion “Sinners and Saints“:
“First announced in February 2021 (see Inara Pey’s blog: Sinners and saints, a new arts challenge in Second Life), the exhibition is in many respects the spiritual offspring of the great Art Challenges sponsored and hosted by the University of Western Australia and their partners (both in-world and out-world), and organised by FreeWee Ling and Jayjay Zifanwe on behalf of UWA.“

Sinners and Saints: Merranda Ginssberg “Imprisoned” and “Divine Intervention”

And furtheron Inara quoted the Sinful Retreat team in her blog:
“In the wake of the UWA gratitude art show back in November which Chuck Clip curated alongside Maripose Upshaw, we here at Sinful Retreat and Angels Rest decided to carry UWA’s torch onward into the future in the form of occasional themed art shows. Sinenrs and Saints art show is our first show which serves the dual purpose of carrying the aforementioned torch and celebrating the culmination of our first year in Second Life.
Sinful Retreat and Angels Rest are mirrors for each other, highlighting the dichotomy of light and dark in the art and humanity as a whole. We thought it appropriate that our first show should reflect that … with submissions form 50 artists and poets from across the grid, and over 20 hours of performances by musicians and DJ’s, plus poetry and Science Fiction readings, this show is sure to encapsulate all of us and serve to start some interesting conversations.”
(Sinful Retreat team)

Sinners and Saints: Exhibit 2021 by Dusty Canning

You can find the program of events on the Sinful Retreat website. On the website is also the list of participants.

There’s really a lot of art to see and enjoy, to immerse into and to experience how and with which stylistic means the artists expressed the contrast between Sinners and Saints, Light and Dark, Good and Evil.
The dark part is at Sinful Retreat, the light part at Angels Rest.

The 3D objects are in the center of the exhibition and the pictures are showcased at the walls. Most artists have 2 exhibtis, one on the Sinner side and one on the Angels side. Also many of the 3D art objects are created twice and contrasting.

Sinners and Saints: London Junkers “Diva” and “Muse”

As mentioned before the list of artists is long and compromises a lot of artists that I covered already in this blog as well as some of who I have never heard of before. Morlita Quan’s picture couple is exactly on the sim boarder hence it is easy to see the contrast. Other artists contrasting pictures are farer away but you can recognize each artists signature and the exhibits are also marked.

Sinners and Saints: Morlita Quan “Lights and Shadows” (upper left), ArtemisGreece “Dancing with the devil” (lower left), Hermes Kondor “Blue Memories” and “The Dark Side” (center), Meilo Minotaur “Metamorphosis Part 3” (right)

The exhibtion “Sinners and Saints” opened July 10th and will be open until September. You can get the current program of events on the Sinful Retreat Website. There you can also find a video clip (14 minutes) of the opening event.
To get notified of upcoing events and exhibition you can join the remote subscription in the center of the exhibition.

Thank you Chuck Clip for curating and organizing this great exhibtion. I spent one hour there and must return as I haven’t seen all yet. A big thank you also to all the participating artists who took the challenge.

Landmark to “Sinners and Saints” at Sinful Retreat & Janus Galleries
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Sinful%20Retreat/138/239/3501
Sinful Retreat Website
https://www.sinfulretreat.com/
List of participanting artists
https://www.sinfulretreat.com/artists
Video of the opening event
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94IhN9a0lwM&t=3s
Inara Pey’s blogpost “Sinners and Saints in Second Life”
https://modemworld.me/2021/07/10/sinners-and-saints-in-second-life/

Dio’s 12th year in Second Life Feb 11th, 2019 – Part II

12 Feb 2020 Leave a comment

by diomitamaurer in anniversary blog entries, Art in Second Life, Exploring sims in Second Life Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Yesterday, I had my 12th anniversary of joining Second Life.
It has become a tradition for me to write a longer blog post on the occasion of my rezzdays, to have a look back on the last year and to realize the changes in my Second Life as well as the things that didn’t change. Yesterday, I published Part I of my anniversary entry and talked about my closer family and the changes in my family. Today’s part II is about the simploring tours I made in my 12th year.

12 years in Second Life – part II: My simploring tours

Let me start with my simploring tours about art in Second Life. I admire the creativity of artists in this virtual world, I visited galleries like Lyric Art Gallery, La Masion D’Aneli, 20][21 gallery, Rey’s Gallery, Shui Mo Gallery, Milly Sharple’s Fractal galleries, Daphne.Arts and Deva Westland’s Galerie Des Beaux-Arts. I visited and wrote about 7 installations of Cica Ghost, who continues to conjure a smile in my face with every of her funny whimsical creations. I saw fewer art installations since the Linden Endowment for the Arts (LEA) is on hold. But some private initiatives luckily provide space or the artists themselves dedicate their own space. Just recently I saw an exhibition of Mistero Hifeng’s art at Valium Creek Art Park. I saw “The Mind Melter” by Thoth Jantzen at VeGeTaL PLaNeT, I saw “Lalawood” by Theda Tammas, Yoon (onyxxe), Iono Allen and JadeYu Fhang at La Maison d’Aneli as well as “Binary Radiation” by Nino Vichan. I saw Twilights Doors by Bo Zano (Bozanonl Resident), “The Outer Garden” by bisou Dexler, “Inferno” by Noke Yuitza, “Avaloir” by Eupalinos Ugajin, Undertones by Oluja (artistik Oluja) and “Delicatessen – Tell Me a Story” by Meilo Minotaur.

Shui Mo Gallery (upper left) / Aneli Abeyante’s art at La Maison d’Aneli (upper right) / Delicatessen – Tell Me a Story (lower left) / INFERNO by Noke Yuitza (lower right)

Since January 2020 the blog has a new category for blogposts about art in Second Life, I won’t categorize old entries though.

I found many cosy and lovely sims where people built their own dreamworld, peaceful and picturesque. You don’t need many prims or a large place for it, Nevgilde Gaard or Black Mire – around hi-cafe are examples for that. Most of these dreamworlds were homesteads: Florence Bay, Authors Point, Secondlife National Park, Maderia Springs, Blaylock Island, Scarlett Isle, Carolina, Broken, Alternate Reality, Fleur Nederland [Dutch], La Digue, Northern Shore – Skärgården, Soul of Dreams … just to name a few. In these sims I spent relaxing hours and enjoyed the views and the peace.

Northern Shore – Skärgården (upper left) / Scarlett Isle (upper right) / Secondlife National Park (lower left) / Black Mire – around hi-cafe (lower right)

Some were really particular. I want to mention Last Dove, a sim like a movie. It’s setting is based on Lonesome Dove, a 1985 Western novel by American writer Larry McMurtry. Last Dove is still open if you haven’t seen it yet. I also liked Kun-Tei-Ner, a sim that provided a scary view into mankind’s future, a place with no land, a city that grew up on a huge mountain of containers filled with broken technological stuff. And just recently I visited the SS Galaxy, the largest cruiseship in Second Life – impressive, in particular when you consider it’s history.

Last Dove (upper and lower left) / Kun-Tei-Ner (upper right) / SS Galaxy (lower right)

Then there were the sims that have a real background, where a place in the physical world was build in Second Life. This way I got a picture, an idea of the real places and my visits gave reason to do a little bit of research. Venice in Italy was one of these impressing places and I spent some time exploring it.
I had never heard about Ukivok before and now I have the feeling that I’ve been there already. I had heard of Huntington Beach before but wasn’t aware of it’s oil industry history. I also had heard and read of North Brother Island, yet I haven’t been there in real life (yet). Now I somehow feel like I’ve been there. I learned a lot about Chesapeake Bay, a place I’ve been to twice in reality already being not aware of it’s history.

Ukivok (upper left) / North Brother Island (upper right) / Chesapeake Bay (lower left) / Huntington Beach (lower right)

I also discovered many places related to my kinky side, to BDSM. That’s another dream you can live in Second Life and I do. Unfortunately some of these places don’t stay long like the Elevate Femdom Lounge, Windhaven or Meadow Rose. Also some adult places, that we liked to visit every once in a while, are gone now like The Apostasy or Angel of Pain’s BDSM island (Remark: Angel of Pain has a successor sim)

Gone: The Apostasy (upper left) / Angel of Pain’s BDSM Island (upper right) / Dungeon at Windhaven (lower left) / Meadow Rose (lower right)

Just recently I discovered Caged Elegance, a club with many member, lots of events and all sort of kinks. I enjoyed my visit to Catena et Cavea, an adult sim that is also really picturesque. Amrum is another place I not only went to for simploring but also for a session with Mistress Jenny when I had a green light. I like in particular the BDSM vacation home there.
We visited The Obliviation Hole RLV Prison of Starbright Wingtips who gave us a full tour. The prison and what is going on there is a regular subject when we chat during our Friday night parties.

Caged Elegance (upper left) / Catena et Cavea (upper right) / Amrum BDSM vacation home (lower left) / The Obliviation Hole RLV Prison (lower right)

Thank you all for building, for creating and for sharing your dreams (kinky or not kinky) with the rest of the community. And please apologize if I did not mention all of my tours, it were simply too many. I did really enjoy all of my simploring tours!

End of part II, tomorrow’s part III will be about the other highlights of my 12th year.

Simploring 2019 (20) Delicatessen – Tell Me a Story

21 Feb 2019 Leave a comment

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

I picked “Delicatessen – Tell Me a story” from scoop.it SL Destinations for another simploring tour related to art in Second Life. It is a homestead owned and created by Meilo Minotaur. And I learned that Delicatessen is already open for more than 8 years with different installation, this one is “Delicatessen – Tell Me a Story“

Upon landing your stand in front of 10 boxes, each contains a free artful fantasy avatar. There’re birds, animals, a boy and several girls to choose from. I selected a skinny girl with an Asian touch. Also upon landing you get at notecard with the background and the thoughts from Meilo Minotaur:

“Whoever tells a tale, adds a point,” it is said in Portugal. In english we could say: whoever tells a tale adds a tail. “Tell me a story” is an installation that calls for the participation of the visitors. Contrary to what is usual, in which the image helps to illustrate the story, I ask you to tell me a story that links the various scenes of the installation.
The characters of the island have their correspondence in avatars. They do not have names, you can give any name you think fit them. It will not be necessary to use all the characters or scenes, you will use those that you understand.
The stories will be told as you please: only with text, text and image, video or whatever you want. If you want you can give them an ending or leave them in suspense. If necessary I will add a final scene to the installation. I can choose only one story or several, this part is still open. I still do not know yet how they will be presented, depending on what you do.
I’m waiting for you.
Thank you
meilo.minotaur@gmail.com

That sounds interesting and it is! Delicatessen is mostly held in shades of grey. At one side is a huge mountain and skycrapers are built in a way that they almost snuggle into the mountain. Opposed to the mountain is a large swamp with many trees and their crowns build a platform. On the platform a several small huts, inhabited by birds. And as birds can fly, there’s no stair up there.

Impressions from “Delicatessen -Tell Me a Story” (1)

I encountered several fantasy beings and most of them correspond to the fantasy avatars you can pick upon landing. That’s very obvious when you get to a group of three humanoid avatars with 2 girls and the boy, the fourth small girl in this picture is me *winks*.

Impressions from “Delicatessen -Tell Me a Story” (2)

The seperate scenes seem not to connect at all. A huge grasshopper reading a book to a girl, 2 bird avatars with antlers dancing on the tree platform, a group of animal avatars standing under the hut of a mushroom together with a girl (for some reason that scene reminded me of the three holy kings) or a huge swan holding a birdcage in its bead with two dancing beings.

Impressions from “Delicatessen -Tell Me a Story” (3)

I encountered a few scary stork like creatures standing in groups. Depending on your viewing angle their heads look like skulls, and depending on your viewing angle you see their dense feathering – or not. Another scene looks like a procession for a high priest.

Impressions from “Delicatessen -Tell Me a Story” (4)

The whole scenery with all it’s fog makes Delicatessen looking cold and unreal, which is for sure intended. The 10 characters themself do look not scary, some of them even happy and carefree. The scenery is like walking through a strange dream. Can I tell Meilo a story? Anything combining the seperate scenes? No, I can’t. But I enjoyed exploring and looking at the single scences and searching to come up with something.

For sure “Delicatessen – Tell Me a Story” is worth a visit and it’s very intriguing. Thank you Meilo for creating and let’s hope that you get many inspiring stories.

Landmark to Delicatessen – Tell Me a Story
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Porto/12/132/22