Art in Second Life 2023 (20) A minimal gaze by Melusina Parkin @ UASL

16 Apr 2023 Leave a comment

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

Melusina Parkin invited me to her newest exhibition “A minmal gaze” at United Artists of Second Life (UASL) Galerie Principale on the 1st floor.

I am a fan of Melusina Parkin’s art and have seen quite some of her exhibitions. Melu’s style is minimalistic. She usually takes her pictures in Second Life. The minimalism forces the spectator to focus on details, that might stay unseen when too much distracts the view. Lately Melusina has tried out herself and other themes and techniques. She made pictures of ladies (read here), she played with AI generated pictures (read here and here), or she reduced her pictures to black&white only (read here). With “A minimal gaze” Melusina returns once again to her traditional pure minimalistic style.

Impressions of “A minimal gaze by Melusina Parkin @ UASL (1)

Melusina wrote about “A minimal gaze“:
“At this moment I’m experimenting AI generated images, but I don’t give up my passion for minimalistic photography. So I selected this series, collecting images of details seen in many SL places, to whom I wanted to give the dignity of photograph subjects. That’s what I always have done in these 10+ years of photography: enhancing and proposing what all of us could see and very often don’t “feel”. Minimal details talk of solitude, of uniqueness, of a kind of strangeness, like when we repeat a word until it looses its meaning, or acquires another one. Without a context, a detail can appear meaningless, but this senselessness can be rich of different possible meanings. Isolating a detail – making the usual unusual – does mean taking possess of something and giving it the meaning we want.“

“A minmal gaze” consists of 20 of these objects, which Melu gave a prominent place for us to look at them. That might be the view on a calm see from a window, a fence, a chair with a piece of clothes at the beach or a bus stop. It might be a pipeline, a warning beacon, the branch of a tree, a sun umbrella or a washling line with some clothes drying outside. No matter what it is, simple everyday objects in Second Life (and in Real Life) are the stars of the exhibition.

Impressions of “A minimal gaze by Melusina Parkin @ UASL (2)

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, “Melu’s Photo Gallery” 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.

UASL is a unique artist group in SL that hosts opportunities for visual 3D, 2D and performance arts in it’s full region area at no cost to the artist. UASL is funded primarily by donations and by Riannah Avora. Thank you for enabling this exhibition.

Landmark to A minimal gaze by Melusina Parkin
United Artist of Second Life – Galerie Principale
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Karpov/128/53/64
Landmark to Melusina Parkin’s Melu Photo Gallery
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Time%20Portal/248/101/1940
Landmark to Melusina Parkin’s Minimum Gallery
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Lunula/129/107/621
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 2023 (9) Reflections by Maddy (Magda Schmidtzau) & Onceagain Art Gallery

06 Feb 2023 Leave a comment

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

I got an invitation to visit Maddy (Magda Schmidtzau)’s latest exhibition named “Reflections” at Onceagain Art Gallery. A good reason to visit Onceagain Art Gallery (once) again, as it is more than one year since I my last visit there (read Art in Second Life 2022 (2) Onceagain Art Gallery).

The landmark leads you to a small gazebo within a park. From there you walk through the park, cross the gate, turn left twice and walk a path upwards to reach the exhibition “Reflections” which is shown in kind of a cloistered court.

Impressions of “Reflections” by reflections by Maddy (Magda Schmidtzau) (1) – from the landing point to the exhibition

Onceagain (Manoji Yachvili) wrote about “Reflections”:
“I’m really pleased to host in my gallery a delicate artist, who I discovered last year by chance when I won one of her works at an auction.
In life you don’t always need to look for deep meanings, sometimes beauty is enough to reconcile you with the world and Maddy with her works is what she manages to do.”

The exhibition consists of 11 pictures all showing woman, mainly portraits, in their beauty. Most of the pictures are monochrom (not all) and the women are all dressed beautiful and they wear flowers, ornaments, jewelery and other accessories underlining their beauty and attracting the spectator to look for details and to get pulled into the picture.

Impressions of “Reflections” by reflections by Maddy (Magda Schmidtzau) (2)

Maddy wrote: ““Reflections” is a journey of portraits that experiments with new ideas using A.I. technologies. The exhibit showcases photos created with Midjourney and Second Life Avatars, combined with the use of A.I. to create a melancholic and dark atmosphere that captures the essence of the subjects portrayed. The soft colors and blurs emphasize the intense emotions and intimacy of the portraits, inviting the viewer to immerse themselves in the images.”

Maddy (Magda Schmidtzau) is in Second Life since 2009. She’s passionate about photography in RL and SL. She writes: “I’m not an artist but a researcher of images to be developed… a dreamer with open eyes of this world “out of time”. In SL always open to new possibilities of experimentation trying to convey the magic that I see.”
I’ve seen Maddy’s art the first time back in 2017 at Enchanted Art where her exhibition “Maddy 2017” was showcased (read here). Further on I saw Maddy’s work at La Maison d’Aneli in 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2022 and at GenovArt Glass Gallery in May 2021 (read here). You can see more of her art at her flickr page.

Once at the gallery I took the teleporter, where I landed for my visit to “Reflections” and visited the Onceagain Art Gallery.

Impressions of Onceagain Art Gallery (1) – Two buildings / Two sculptures (Cherry Manga and Bryn Oh)

The place has changed quite a lot, the concept is still the same. In a large park are several buildings. The park and the buildings are full of Onceagain (Manoji Yachvili)’s art collection. In the park you find 3D art as well as inside of the buildings at windows or larger spaces. The buildings are galleries and feature the art of many artists.

Impressions of Onceagain Art Gallery (2)

I know and wrote about most of them, though I admit that there’re some, who I didn’t come across yet. The following list of artists is certainly not exhaustive, but it testifies to the size of the art collection and the many styles:
Moki Yuitza, Mihailsk Syros (mihailsk), June Langer, Kika Yongho, Eviana (eviana.robbiani), Maddy (Magda Schmidtzau), Milena Carbone (mylena1992), Filthy Fluno, Marina Münter (vivresavie), Melusina Parkin, CioTToLiNa Xue, Zia Branner, Maloe Vansant, ZYNTHEA, Mareea Farrasco, Celestial Demon (celestialdemon), Gully Rivers (gullyrivers), Karma Daxeline (Karma Weymann), Cad (cadwallader), Lika Cameo (LikaCameo), Scylla Rhiadra, Mara Telling, Frank Atisso, Cherry Manga, Harbor Galaxy, miu miu miu (miumiumiusecond), Therese Carfagno, Bryn Oh ….

Impressions of Onceagain Art Gallery (3)

onceagain (Manoji Yachvili) ist in Second Life since 2007. Manoji is Italian and lives and works in Tuscany, Italy. She “likes photography, art, landscapes, animals, visiting strange places, most of these things she also does in RL“. You find more of her also on her flickr account.

Thank you for showcasting so many artists in a great environment and for enabling Maddy (Magda Schmidtzau)’s exhibition “Reflections”.
And thank you Maddy for your art.
I enjoyed my visit.

Landmark to Onceagain Art Gallery and to Reflections by Maddy
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Peaceful%20Mountains/51/173/3502
Maddy (Magda Schmidtzau)’s flickr
https://www.flickr.com/photos/magdyne/
Onceagain (Manoji Yachvili)’s flickr
https://www.flickr.com/photos/69389809@N03/

Art in Second Life 2023 (8) Melusina Parkin’s February 2023 exhibitions

04 Feb 2023 Leave a comment

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

Melusina Parkin invited me to her February 2023 exhibitions. She has two new exhibitions: “Ladies” shown at Melu’s Photo Gallery and “Outskirts” shown at her Minimum Gallery.

I am a fan of Melusina Parkin’s art and have seen quite some of her exhibitions. Melu’s style is minimalistic. She usually takes her pictures in Second Life. The minimalism forces the spectator to focus on details, that might stay unseen when too much distracts the view. I visited “Ladies” at Melu’s Photo Gallery first and this exhibition fits perfectly into the exhibitions in which Melu pursues her minimalism.

Impressions of Melusina Parkin’s February exhibition “Ladies” at Melu’s Photo Gallery (1)

No wonder “Ladies” shows pictures of women, more precisely of ladies. The women are all adult and gracefully depicted. Often you see them only unreal, either blurred or only from the backside, sometimes a no contrasting uni background is selected, furtheron they don’t wear any colourful clothes. Thus you have to focus to see the details, the secret behing these ladies. You can speculate about their age, or there origin. Are they happy or depressed? What do you conclude from their posture?

Impressions of Melusina Parkin’s February exhibition “Ladies” at Melu’s Photo Gallery (2)

At Melu’s Minimum Gallery is the exhibition “Outskirts”. In this exhibition Melusina Parking worked with Artificial Intelligence once again, like in her exhibition “Wrong Mirrors” which I saw last month (read “Art in Second Life 2023 (1) Wrong Mirrors by Melusina Parkin“).

Impressions of Melusina Parkin’s February exhibition “Outskirts” at Minimum Gallery (1) – Melusina Parkin herself was there

At the exhibition is a board explaining more about “Outskirts”:

“This exhibition shows 80 images based on AI generated ones, depicting scenes of everyday life in the outskirts of a big city. Each of the 20 panels shows 4 images, available by clicking on them.
Years ago, I did an exhibit titles “Outskirts, Images of a neglected world”, showing photos of SL places. Now I tried to do the same using the AI tool. Maybe the introuction to the former show can be suitable for this one, so I reproduce it here below…..”

The pictures at “Outskirts” are not necessarily minimalistic, yet they all express a bit of depression and sadness. No strong colours appear, mostly the world in the outskirts is grey and hazy.
I clicked on a few of the 20 pictures to see the other 3 pictures of the same frame. I admit, that I didn’t find a scheme. The 4 pictures have no common motif, at least I couldn’t recognize it. Instead all 80 pictures show typical scenes of the outskirts. Very intriguing as the conditions of life in the outskirts can be felt when looking at the pictures.

Impressions of Melusina Parkin’s February exhibition “Outskirts” at Minimum Gallery (1) – examples of 2 frames with 4 pictures each

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, “Melu’s Photo Gallery” 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 for your February exhibitions. I enjoyed my visit!

Landmark to Melusina Parkin’s Melu Photo Gallery – exhibition Ladies
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Time%20Portal/248/101/1940
Landmark to Melusina Parkin’s Minimum Gallery – exhibition Outskirts
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Lunula/129/107/621
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 2023 (1) Wrong Mirrors by Melusina Parkin

08 Jan 2023 Leave a comment

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

I visited Melusina Parkin’s newest exhibition “Wrong Mirrors” at Melusina’s Minimum Gallery.

I am a fan of Melusina Parkin’s art and have seen quite some of her exhibitions. Melu’s style is minimalistic. She usually takes her pictures in Second Life. The minimalism forces the spectator to focus on details, that might stay unseen when too much distracts the view.

“Wrong Mirrors” is once again an exhibition featuring something new from Melusina, something that I didn’t expect from her. Melusina played with Artificial Intelligence. Each exhibited picture consists of one bigger and four smaller images. My fist thought was that the big picture was taken in Second Life and provided the source for changes by the AI. But I was wrong.

I talked with Melusina about “Wrong Mirrors” and she revealed a bit more about her work:

Diomita: I’m curious ….. Is the large picture the one you took in SL and the smaller ones is what the AI made of it?
Melusina Parkin: All the images have been generated by AI, then I worked on them… I’ve thought to show them that way to put more similar images in the exhibit 🙂
Diomita Maurer: but the AI must have got initial settings, right?
Melusina Parkin: yes, they work after a “prompt” written by me. I describe the image I want to generate, adding some parametes about light, style, size and so
Diomita: Do you use Midjourney?
Melusina Parkin: Not only Midjourney, mostly Stable Diffusion
Diomita Maurer: The result looks very “Melu”-like. It sounds so easy, but it isn’t! In the end it is still the artist, who selects what to keep, what to further develop
Melusina Parkin: yes, AIs are totally driven by the author, who decide style, subject and other features
Diomita Maurer: well done, Melu. I like the result!
Melusina Parkin: Thank you!

As mentioned in the conversation with Melusina, the pictures clearly show Melu’s style even though generated by AI. And they made me smile. Imagine you’d look into such a mirror, what a surprise not to see yourself in the mirror but someone else, or your backside! Look for all the details and enjoy Melu’s art.

On the second floor of the Minimum Gallery is Melusina’s exhibition “Art Deco Symmetries”. I wrote about it in June 2022 (read here).

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, “Melu’s Photo Gallery” 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 for “Wrong Mirrors”, Melusina. I enjoyed my first gallery visit in 2023!

Landmark to Melusina’s Minimum Gallery and to “Wrong Mirrors”
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Lunula/129/107/621
Melusina Photo Gallery
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Time%20Portal/248/101/1940
Landmark to Minimum Gallery
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Lunula/130/107/621
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 2022 (94) Forgotten Things by Melusina Parkin

27 Nov 2022 Leave a comment

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

I got an invitation of Melusina Parkin to see her newest exhibtion “Forgotten Things” at Kondor Art Square.

I am a fan of Melusina Parkin’s art and have seen quite some of her exhibitions. Melu’s style is minimalistic. She takes her pictures in Second Life. The minimalism forces the spectator to focus on details, that might stay unseen when too much distracts the view.

The exhibition “Forgotten Things” is shown at Kondor Art Square.
The Kondor Art Square is an open court surronded by neoclassical buildings. Melu’s pictures are shown at large boards at three sides of this court. I have seen a few exhibitions of Melusina in which she tried out new forms or techniques. “Forgotten Things” is an exhibition coined by Melu’s passion for minimalism. And this time she focused on single objects, that were “forgotten” by their owners. In some of the pictures Melusina blurred the background and just focused the forgotten object.

Impressions of “Forgotten Things” by Melusina Parkin at Kondor Art Square (1)

What are these things? I saw several glasses, wallets, books, newpapers, still glowing cigarettes, a package, luggage, or empty mugs and bowls. While the glasses were forgotten (most probably), the empty mug was just not forgotten, but intentionally left to clean up later or to be cleaned up by someone else. Quite surprising is missing earphone of a phone booth, you just see the cable. Someone has forgotten the earphone in the picture?

Close to the landing point in the center of Kondor Art Square you you find a table where you can purchase a photobook about “Forgotten Things”. Those who are regular visitors to Melusina Parkin’s exhibitions know these books already. Melusina makes one of every exhibition. The book about “Forgotten Things” is sold at the exhibition, all others are sold under her brand “Melubooks” in a seperate book store: Melubooks shop.

Impressions of “Forgotten Things” by Melusina Parkin at Kondor Art Square (2)

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, “Melu’s Photo Gallery” 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.

Impressions of “Forgotten Things” by Melusina Parkin at Kondor Art Square (3)

The Kondor Art Square is owned and curated by Hermes Kondor.
Hermes Kondor (aka Luis Vasconcelos) is from Lisbon, Portugal. He’s a former teacher of photography and photojournalism and looks back on 40 years of photography experience. Hermes likes to see and shoot and he loves street photography. Hermes is in Second Life since 2007.
Thank you Hermes for enabling the exhibition “Forgotten Things” by Melusina Parkin. And thank you Melusina for another great exhibition focusing on the little forgottent things, be them left intentionally or accidentially. I enjoyed my visit.

Landmark to Kondor Art Square and to Forgotten Things by Melusina Parkin
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Waka/235/129/1905
Melusina Photo Gallery
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Time%20Portal/248/101/1940
Landmark to Minimum Gallery
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Lunula/130/107/621
Landmark to Melu Space (Minimum Gallery, Melubooks, Melu Deco)
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Lunula/173/25/22
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 2022 (91) Greyscale Magic by Melusina Parkin

11 Nov 2022 Leave a comment

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

I got an invitation of Melusina Parkin to see her newest exhibtion “Greyscale Magic” at Artsville.

I am a fan of Melusina Parkin’s art and have seen quite some of her exhibitions. Melu’s style is minimalistic. She takes her pictures in Second Life. The minimalism forces the spectator to focus on details, that might stay unseen when too much distracts the view.
For Greyscale Magic Melu tried out something different again. As the title implies the pictures of this exhibition are monochrome. There’s an accompanying text at a board right where you land when you visit. In the text Melu gives an historic abstract about photography and films in black and white and later in colour. And while films are all produced in colour nowadays, black and white photography is still widely spread in art photography. Thinking of it, one reason is that the spectators have to add the colours in their mind and thus translate the greyscales into colours.

Impressions of “Greyscale Magic” by Melusina Parkin @ Artsville (1)

Processing pictures taken in Second Life into monochrome pictures make them look very real, in particular if the pictures are a bit blurred. As the spectator compares the picture with known patterns, a picture of a “real” situation or view appears. It’s quite facinating. For example cars do look always a bit unnatural in Second Life photography. Maybe we miss the dirt, the traces of usage. In black and white picture we add that in our mind – and they look real!

Impressions of “Greyscale Magic” by Melusina Parkin @ Artsville (2)

The exhibition is shown in one large exhibition room with two smaller rooms. I didn’t count the pictures, it might be roughly 20. And every picture is a piece of art. I was quite intrigued.

Next to the board with the accompanying text you find a table where you can purchase a a photobook about “Greyscale Magic”. Those who are regular visitors to Melusina Parkin’s exhibitions know these books already. Melusina makes one of every exhibition. The book about “Greyscale Magic” is sold at the exhibition, all others are sold under her brand “Melubooks” in a seperate book store: Melubooks shop.

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, “Melu’s Photo Gallery” 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.

Impressions of “Greyscale Magic” by Melusina Parkin @ Artsville (3)

Artsville was created in collaboration the Art Korner blog, owned and founded by Frank Atisso. Frank is also the curator of exhibitions at Artsville.
Thank you for another great exhibition, Melusina. I enjoyed my visit and seeing again something different from you.

Landmark to Greyscale Magic by Melusina Parkin @ Artsville
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Caribbean%20Ocean/49/59/2251
Art Korner blog
https://www.artkornersl.com/
Melusina Photo Gallery
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Time%20Portal/248/101/1940
Landmark to Minimum Gallery
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Lunula/130/107/621
Landmark to Melu Space (Minimum Gallery, Melubooks, Melu Deco)
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Lunula/173/25/22
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 2022 (80) Fading Melu by Melusina Parkin

13 Sep 2022 Leave a comment

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

I got an invitation of Melusina Parkin to see her newest exhibtion “Fading Melu” at Melusina Parkin’s Photo Gallery.

I am a fan of Melusina Parkin’s art and have seen quite some of her exhibitions. Melu’s style is minimalistic. She takes her pictures in Second Life. The minimalism forces the spectator to focus on details, that might stay unseen when too much distracts the view. “Fading Melu” is a different exhibition, something I have not seen before from Melusina Parkin. The exhibition consists of 22 portrait pictures (if I counted correctly). I assume from the title that Melusina selected for this exhibition that all portraits show Melusina herself.

“Fading Melu” is shown at Melu’s Photo Gallery right above store for Art Deco furniture “Melu Deco”. In the center you find a table where you can purchase a photobook about “Fading Melu” as well as a free catalogue of all photobooks published 2021-2022 and a free book with the exhibition posters 2010-2021.
Those who are regular visitors to Melusina Parkin’s exhibitions know these books already. Melusina makes one of every exhibition. The book about “Fading Melu” is sold at the exhibition, all others are sold under her brand “Melubooks” in a seperate book store: Melubooks shop.

Impressions of “Fading Melu” by Melusina Parkin (1)

The portraits are all blurred – faded. That is another way to force the spectator to focus on details. It is also a technique to inspire the spectator to add details that are not visible from own experience. For me personally in most of the pictures Melusina looks a bit mysterious. And if I were asked to estimate a time period I’d say that most of them look a bit 1920/30ish. My personal favourite picture shows Melusina with big sun glasses and a red scarf. The blurring makes the portrait look very real and you can see that there’s something in the background  (other people?). Quite intriguing. Melu picked the backgrounds for her portrait picture intentionally, some are also just plain black.

Impressions of “Fading Melu” by Melusina Parkin (2)

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, “Melu’s Photo Gallery“, where “Fading Melu” is presented 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 for another great exhibition. I enjoyed my visit and seeing something unexpected different from you, Melusina.

Melusina Photo Gallery
Landmark to Fading Melu by Melusina Parkin
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Time%20Portal/248/101/1940
Landmark to Minimum Gallery
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Lunula/130/107/621
Landmark to Melu Space (Minimum Gallery, Melubooks, Melu Deco)
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Lunula/173/25/22
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 2022 (54) Art Deco Symmetries by Melusina Parkin

16 Jun 2022 2 Comments

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

I got an invitation of Melusina Parkin to see her newest exhibtion “Art Deco Symmetries” at Melu’s Minimum Gallery.

Art Deco Symmetries is the second exhibition of a series of 4 exhibtions about Art Deco by Melusina Parkin. I visited also the first part named “Art Deco fragments” at her Melusina Photo Gallery (read my blogpost about that exhibition here). “Art Deco fragments” is still available to visit.

Art Deco Symmetries is a quite large exhibition with close to 70 pictures over 2 floors.

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.

Art Deco, sometimes referred to as Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture and design that first appeared in France just before World War I. It influenced the design of buildings, furniture, jewellery, fashion, cars, cinemas, trains, ocean liners, and everyday objects such as radios and vacuum cleaners. It took its name, short for Arts Décoratifs, from the International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts held in Paris in 1925.
Art Deco combined modern styles with fine craftsmanship and rich materials. During its heyday, it represented luxury, glamour, exuberance, and faith in social and technological progress.
(source: wikipedia)

Examples from “Art Deco Symetries” by Melusina Parkin (1)

Right when you enter the Minimum Gallery you can purchase a photobook about “Art Deco Symmetries” as well as a catalogue of all photobooks published so far.
Those who are regular visitors to Melusina Parkin’s exhibitions know these books already. Melusina makes one of every exhibition. The book about “Art Deco Symmetries” is sold at the exhibition, all others are sold under her brand “Melubooks” in a seperate book store: Melubooks shop.

A lot is symmetric in our world and we love symmetry, we tend to arrange things symmetrically and we encounter symmetry everywhere. Just look at doors, windows, hallways, buildings, arrangement of tables and chairs, lights in ceilings, at wall … it’s everywhere. Even the human being itself is quite symmetric. And hence you also find symmetrics in Art Deco.

Examples from “Art Deco Symetries” by Melusina Parkin (2)

As mentioned above “Art Deco Symmetries” is the second exhibition of a series about Art Deco by Melusina Parkin (“Art Deco fragments” is the first and still available to visit). As oposed to the exhibitions the 4 books about Art Deco are sorted sorted a bit different: Buildings, Building Details, Interios and Interios Details. The books contain even more pictures (over 450) than can be shown in the exhibitions.

The Art Deco series of exhibitions by Melusina Parkin

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.

I hope that I won’t miss the upcoming exhibitions with more about Art Deco. Thank you for another great exhibition. Art and Art Deco is just amazing! I enjoyed my visit and looking at your pictures once again – and I enjoyed our chat, Melusina.

Landmark to Minimum Gallery and “Art Deco Symmetries” by Melusina Parkin
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Lunula/130/107/621
Landmark to “Art Deco fragments” at 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/173/25/22
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 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

Backflash April 2022 “Simploring 2017 (31) The Last Forever – Marfa” (April 25th, 2017)

29 Apr 2022 Leave a comment

by diomitamaurer in Backflash of the month, Exploring sims in Second Life Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

In the “Backflash” series I select an old entry once a month and present it here. This way I force myself to browse in the archive and to fresh up a few of the many memories. For our readers the new series shall provide an insight into our Second Life without reading back the many posts and it might also give reason to browse through the archives.
For April 2022 I selected a post from April 2017 “Simploring 2017 (31) The Last Forever – Marfa”.
Back in 2017 I had never heard about Marfa, TX and thus I did some resaearch und learned a lot about this famous place in the middle of nothing. Snce then I came across Marfa in Second Life a few times and for me it feels a bit like I’d have been there in RL. At “The Last Forever – Marfa” I also saw Melusina Parkin’s minimalistic art for the first time. Whenever I get aware that Melusina has opened a new exhibtion I visit it nowadays – and often remember my visit to her exhibtion at “The Last Forever – Marfa”
Enjoy reading…

Simploring 2017 (31) The Last Forever – Marfa

I went on a simploring tour Saturday, April 22nd. I decided to visit “The Last Forever“, a landmark that I picked from Nix Bubbles’ blog. The landmark description was not really revealing for me: “The Last Forever is a new sim/full region inspired by Marfa, TX from the creators of West of The Rain, Oobleck Allagash and Nodnol Jameson (KraftWork), along with the creative team of Kai Mannequin, Brooke Barmy, Rooky Yootz, Triin, Misty and Jack Hanby.” I haven’t heard about Marfa in Texas before nor did I came across of any of the mentionened names. Most of “The Last Forever” I understood later, when I looked up some profiles and after reading about Marfa, TX.

April 22nd: The Last Forever – overview

Marfa was founded in the early 1880s as a railroad water stop. The town was named “Marfa” at the suggestion of the wife of a railroad executive. The Marfa Army Airfield served as a training facility for several thousand pilots during World War II. It was closed 1945. Marfa has a population of about 2,000 people, hence it is really small.
Today, Marfa is a tourist destination and a major center for Minimalist art. Attractions include Building 98, the Chinati Foundation, artisan shops, historical architecture, a classic Texas town square, modern art installments, art galleries, and the Marfa lights. The city is also 37 miles (60 km) from Prada Marfa, a pop art exhibit, which might be the most photographed and visited site in Marfa. The area around Marfa is known as a cultural center for contemporary artists and artisans. In 1971, minimalist artist Donald Judd moved to Marfa from New York City. Since Judd’s death in 1994, two foundations have worked to maintain his legacy: the Chinati Foundation and Judd Foundation. Every year the Chinati Foundation holds an open house event where artists, collectors, and enthusiasts come from around the world to visit Marfa’s art.
(Source: wikipedia) 
The landing point is at the Marker of Marfa, which is based on Marfa in the reality. Upon your landing you get a welcome “Welcome to The Last Forever SIM home of KraftWork, BIGBULLY, Powder Pack, Kiss me Poses and Triin.” KraftWork and BIGBULLY are shops for mesh creations for decorations and furniture in Second Life. Powder Pack is a store for make-up and skins for mesh heads and Kiss me Poses is a store for poses. The Last Forever is the home of these stores. I didn’t find out what Triin is.
Marfa in Second Life looks a bit like I would imagine a little town in Texas. First of all it is in the middle of nowhere and surrounded by a desert. There are some modern buildings but also some buildings that have seen better times. And there are some ruins and abandoned homes. The infrastructure is dilapidated and some corners and areas look shabby. What I noticed before I did the above research about Marfa in the real world is the art spreaded all over the sim.
I walked around town and collected some impressions of Marfa in SL. I explored the mainstores of KraftWork and BIGBULLY. I went into the radio station and I couldn’t refrain from peeking into the local sex shop. I visited the exhibit Americana, American Icons in Second Life by Melusina Parkin. Outside of the town is the famous Prada Marfa, a camping ground, and some houses. The atmosphere is dense and The Last Forever looks quite real, in particular when you know about Marfa in reality. Monday, April 24th, just 2 days after my visit, I noticed that Inara Pey published an entry about Melusina Parkin’s Americana exhibit titeled “Melusina’s American Icons in Second life“ in her blog, just the very same day that I visited Marfa. What a coincdence!

Thank you Oobleck (allagash) and Nodnol Jameson (owner of KraftWork) for providing The Last Forever to the public. You understood how to combine the site of some mainstores (including your own) with the experience of a great place in Second Life and you contributed to my education as I now know about Marfa.

 

Landmark to The Last Forever
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/The%20Last%20Forever/181/97/23
(outdated!)
Inara Pey’s blog entry about Melusina Parkin’s Americana exhibit at The Last Forever
https://modemworld.me/2017/04/21/melusinas-american-icons-in-second-life/

Link to the orignal post:
https://themaurers.me/2017/04/25/simploring-2017-31-the-last-forever-marfa/

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