Art in Second Life 2021 (84) Numb by Lex Machine

09 Sep 2021 Leave a comment

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

When I was looking at scoop.it SL Destinations  for a place to visit on Sunday, August 29th, I came across the latest installation of Lex Machine (archetype11 Nova), named “Numb“.
Lex Machine (Archetype11 Nova) was formerly known as Schmexysbuddy Resident and created the Hotel California sims, which I visited in 2019 (read here and here). I saw Lex Machine’s installation “Isolation’s Passengers” last year (read here) and his installation Bermuda Locket earlier this year (read here). The last installation I saw from Lex was “The House that Love Built”, which I saw end of February 2021 (read here).

Lex’ installation Numb is a collection of art objects of different artists. His art is arranging them in his own way and setting them into a context and into an intriguing environment. To get an overview I once set environment to “Midday” to create an overview. But to get the full experience you have to use the shared environment. In this environment the installation is quite dark and bloody.

Impressions of “Numb” by Lex Machine – overview and first pictures

I started my visit with the blood licking heads wearing top heads. The heads as also quite some other objects in the installation “Numb” are from Stabitha (what88 zond). The bloody gears are from Noke Yuitza, an artist who I covered in the blog already. In the center is a nurse distributing pills. Put together the scene is quite depressing. It is best seen from the chess board, where Lex has placed a piano and a cello.

Impressions of “Numb” by Lex Machine (1)

Quite dominant are the flying captured hearts as if someone has ripped them off the bodies. The flying hearts are from Rebeca Bashly. And there are quite some dead bodies hanging on balloons, surrounded by dead trees. There’s also a scene with playing kids. As if they don’t mind all the misery around, open to begin something new, being just curious.

Impressions of “Numb” by Lex Machine (2)

Lex was present during my visit and I had the opportunity to talk with him. “Numb” wasn’t built with happy thoughts, he told me. Lex was a soldier and just recently lost another brother in arms to suicide. In the end more veterans commit suicide than are killed in action. They have memories of things that used to kill people and the pictures drive them nuts. Far too often the only cure given are drugs … with the known results.
Lex’ anger with that and his own struggles with recovering from what war has done to him is the basis for the “Numb“.

In the light of this background “Numb” is quite depressive, but it is also a very artful way to express feelings. Art can be healing, expressing yourself in art can be healthy: “There’s a pill for everything these days…. none of them actually cure what’s wrong”

I dicovered a little girl on the palm of a creepy figure sitting on the ground. For me the girl expressed hope and it made me smile in all this darkness.
What else? A scene with a mermaid (created by Ginger Chevalier) surrounded by floating fish. I also saw two faces by the artist Wassa (wassaabii) almost buried in the ground. I saw objects from Frank (meshmastermind), Raya Jonson, Runa (alrunia ahn), Krys (krystali rabeni), C. Edo (cory edo) and Paco Pooley. But there might be more…

Impressions of “Numb” by Lex Machine (3)

Oema (Oema Resident) made a video on “Numb” which is really very well made and she must have changed the environment setting as the pictures are quite brighter and she selected a fitting music. Great work, Oema!

Lex told me the installation “Numb” shall be available a few days more although it was already set up one month ago. I learned though that it was closed down on September 6th to make room for another temporary installation:
“I will build a short lived installation to remember 9/11/01. This event changed my life and others I know personally and I always remember it with a build every year. On 9/12 the sim will be closed again and re-opened as soon as the new build is completed.”
Hence when you go there right away until Saturday, September 11th, you can see Lex’ 9/11 installation.

“Never Forget” by Lex machine

Thank you Lex Machine (archetype11 Nova) for the installation “Numb” and for our open conversation laying out your thoughts. I did enjoy our talk and my visit.

Landmark to “Numb” by Lex Machine
https://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Solveig/103/119/22
Lex Machine (archetype11 Nova)’s flickr
https://www.flickr.com/photos/sorrythatnameisinuse/
Oema’s video of “Numb”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkAZyOTpBTs

Simploring 2019 (67) Heaven, art installation @LEA1

15 Jun 2019 2 Comments

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

I selected “Heaven” from scoop.it SL Destinations for my simploring tour on Sunday, June 2nd.

Heaven, art installation @LEA1 by Oema and Van Loopen

 

“Heaven” is a drawings series thought to add a value of women. The evocative church is the 3D part, and the fascinating media lights are the machinima part of this installation for LEA. Media enable are very important to see optimally.

“Heaven” is created by Oema for the “Linden Endowment for the Art” in collaboration with Van Loopen.
18 drawings in black & white by Oema showing female faces a presented at the walls of a cathedral built from mesh. This way the church is just a frame. In the altar area colourful forms appear permanently changing, giving the impression of fireworks. The experience is accompanied with music and other holographic figures that you can see hoovering through the cathedral if you look from farer away, if you look closer, the figures are made of net as well.

Heaven, art installation @LEA1 by Oema and Van Loopen

This all makes a visit to “Heaven” a virtual experience. I recommend reading Oema’s text about Heaven in her blog here and to watch the machinima she published here. Then go there and get impressed.

Thank you for providing this piece of art for us all, Oema and Van Loopen.

Landmark to Heaven (LEA1)
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/LEA1/183/135/21
Oema’s blog post about “Heaven”

“HEAVEN” for Linden Endowment For The Art


Oema’s Machinima

Simploring 2019 (27) La Maison d’Aneli March

08 Mar 2019 1 Comment

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

I missed the opening of the current joined exhibtion at La Maison d’Aneli on Wednesday, 27 February, but I visited the day after. In March La Maison d’Aneli presents the work of 6 artists: Reycharles, Jeaneos7, Serena Parisi, Rofina Bronet, Kiana Jarman and Oema.

At “La Maison d’Aneli” March 2019

I started my tour through the exhibtion with Reycharles, who is in Second Life since 2012. In RL he works with digital and 3D graphics. He likes creating and manipulating to experiment with colour and effect forms both in 2D and in 3D – and he brings it to Second Life as well. Besides presenting his work in exhibtions, Reycharles also has an own gallery (here). At La Maison d’Aneli we see a variety of 3 D scupltures together with graphics and get some insight into his work.

Reycharles at “La Maison d’Aneli” March 2019

Jean (Jeaneos7) joined Second Life in 2016 and began making profile pictures of friends in 2018. Soon he opened a photo studio named J7Studios, that also serves as a permanet gallery nowadys. Besides portraits he also loves to take picture of beautiful landscapes. At La Maison d’Aneli we see an excerpt of his work.

Jean (Jeaneos7) at “La Maison d’Aneli” March 2019

Serana Parisi describes herself as an explorer in RL and SL. Being in SL for more than 12 years, she still likes the joy, the simplicity, her friends of course and always to discover even more in SL (in this relation she’s like myself). The photography allows her to share her life. In the exhibition at La Maison d’Aneli she shows picture of her journey to Vietnam. She encountered people who’s smile and emotions intrigued her. She’s enthusiastic about the explosion of colours, which she thinks characterises this country. And her pictures serve as a proof that.

Serana Parisi at “La Maison d’Aneli” March 2019

Rofina Bronet is in Second life for 11 years and decribes herself as a dreamer, maker, thinker, crazy, charming, with inner fire, open mindeds and much more. Two years ago she started with videos and pictures, she mixed pictures and video material recorded in Second Life. Her videos contain 3D effects, special effects and supports the music and art scene in Second Life. At La Maison d’Aneli you can watch her video of art installations of other artists like Bryn Oh or from festivals and other events. Besides that you see related pictures of these installations and events.

Rofina Bronet at “La Maison d’Aneli” March 2019

Kiana Jarman also joined Second Life 11 years ago. She simply loves to take pictures in Real Life as well as in Second Life. She says: “Photography is like writing with light, making music with shades, such as paint with time and seeing with love“. The pictures exhibited at La Maison d’Aneli transport a lot of emotions. You can sense the passion that went into creating them.

Kiana Jarman at “La Maison d’Aneli” March 2019

Oema is quite renowed as an artist in Second Life. I visited her sim Enchanted Art back in 2017 where Oema presented not just her art (read Simploring 2017 (34) Enchanted Art). Enchanted Art is no longer existent. Oema said about herself “I am an artist, an art curator, an art blogger and a magazines writer … so I am an art passionate:-). Art is a very important part of my life, one of the best ones“.
The exhibition at La Maison d’Aneli shows the broad spectrum of Oema’s art. She loves virtual landscapes, she tries to make them look realistic and she loves surreal art. At La Maison D’Aneli her pictures are shown in a dark environment, that gets a mystic atmosphere by moving sparkles of lights. Oema also writes about art in her blog Virtuality.

Oema at “La Maison d’Aneli” March 2019

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 this new joined exhibtion, Aneli. And thank you to all artists. It’s really worth a visit.

Landmark to La Maison d’Aneli
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Virtual%20Holland/32/40/21
Raycharles gallery
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/JollyRoger/192/43/22
Jean (Jeaneos7)’s J7Studios
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Marble%20Hills/10/154/21
Oema’s blog Virtuality
https://virtuality.blog/

Simploring 2019 (26) “Inferno” by Noke Yuitza

07 Mar 2019 Leave a comment

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

My simploring tour on Wednesday, February 27th, let me to “Inferno” by Noke Yuitza. Once again I found the landmark in scoop.it SL Destinations. The landmark profile describes “Inferno” as “a glamorous free version of a part of Dante’s Divine Comedy, where magic and horror blend into retro-futuristic sophistication.“

The landing point is in a sort of an open air temple, the dominating colour is gold. Looking around you see some single pieces of art, all of which are quite impressive.

“Inferno” by Noke Yuitza – at the Landing point

Before I started to see “Inferno“, I looked up Noke Yuitza’s profile. Noke Yuitza is a performing & computer graphics new media artist and designer. She owns E.V.E Studio, a store where you can get outfits like horns, wings, dragon heads, antlers and mesh suits decorated with lights and effects, where you can get flowers and different kinds of art for creating your fantasy world. The E.V.E Studio store is on the 1.000 m level at Imaginarium and there’s a teleporter to it close to the landing point.

Impressions of the E.V.E Studio store

I had a closer look at E.V.E Studio store and there I realized that I saw Noke Yuitza’s art before when I visited “Enchanted Art” by Oema back in 2017 (read Simploring 2017 (34) Enchanted Art) and saw Noke’s 3D art “World Eyes”.

I went back to the ground level to see “Inferno“. Actually it is a quite small art installation adjacent to the landing point. It is a colourful fantasy installation. A big snake with a dragon head guards the center piece of the installation, which is submerged in colour and light, the rays of the light radiating far into the sky. In the center hoovers a face mask with a very peaceful and relaxed facial expression. The floor is covered with peace doves, stars in gold, silver and red suround the mask and some golden and red bushes complete the installation. You’re seemingly attracted to walk closer, to become a part of it.

“Inferno” by Noke Yuitza

“Inferno” might not be completed yet. Noke Yuitza called it work in progress, hence the installation might expand. I enjoyed looking at Noke’s art and there’s some of it around the landing point. I also was intrigued by the E.V.E Studio store. To see all the fantasies, the creative beeings or colourful plants, the light effects was fascinating and at least I know now where some of the fantasy avatars get their gear from.
Thank you Noke Yituza for your creations.

Landmark to “Inferno” by Noke Yuitza
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Imaginarium/185/128/22
Landmark to E.V.E Studio
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Imaginarium/62/63/1002
Noke Yuitza’s blog
https://evestudio3d.wordpress.com

Simploring 2018 (90) Hypercube – labyrinth of the mind

28 Oct 2018 Leave a comment

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

On scoop.it SL Destinations I saw a picture of “Hypercube – labyrinth of the mind“, an installation by Moki Yuitza at LEA 19. In Oema’s “Virtuality”-blog I read a short interview with Moki, then I visited it myself on Monday October 15th.

You land outside of the cube where you can grab a notecard with recommendations how to adjust the settings of your viewer, but there’re also boards explaining it. Hypercube is a maze within a cube with 3 floors, each floor contains 8 scenes, so in total there’s 24 scenes. For Moki it is “a personal journey through dreams, emotions, memories and nightmares in search of the path to the exit” and she invites the visitor to find an own story.

In most of the scenes you will see doll avatars. At the landing point you can grab a female or a male doll avatar, which you can use for your visit of Hypercube. Each scene offers two poseballs, a heart for a female pose and a star for the male pose. With these poses you can get involved into the scene yourself. I can imagine that visiting as a couple using these dolls avatars will provide another experience. I decided to visit Hypercube without using the doll Avatar.

There are two ways of exploring, either on foot or using teleport points that lead from scene to scene. The three floors are connected by a staircase in the center of the cube. Due to the transparent walls of the labyrinth and due to the many colourful light beams, that cross the cube, the scenes appear different depending on the viewing angle. Sometimes you see other scenes in the background through the transparent walls, in one scene a transparent walls seperates the two doll couple.

The 24 scenes deal with different situations of life, with love, with fear, with family, with hope and even with mortal peril. You will find scenes with large and scary monsters, monsters that seem to have sprung directly from a nightmare. You see the dolls trying to hide or to protect themselves from the monsters. Depending on your own thoughts, you will find situations of your own life expressed by the dolls.

Hypercube is creative art. By the light effects and the transparent walls every visitor gets a different view on it and makes a unique experience. In addition, the possibility to visit as a doll avatar or as a couple provides even more variations. The scenes are thoughtfully built and cover a wide range of possible interpretations, from birth to death. Hypercube is a the kind of art you can only see and experience in a virtual environment like Second Life.
Thank you Moki for this installation. I enjoyed my visit.

Landmark to Hypercube
https://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/LEA19/238/242/21
Interview with Moki Yuitza published in Oema’s “Virtuality”-blog
https://virtuality.blog/2018/10/11/hypercube-by-moki-yuitza-lea19/

Simploring 2017 (34) Enchanted Art

08 May 2017 5 Comments

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

Friday afternoon, April 28th, I was in the mood for simploring and had a look into the blogs I follow. In Inara Pey’s blog I came across her entry about “Enchanted Art in Second Life“. Enchanted Art is owned by Oema. Artists have the opportunity to present their art on a monthly basis. The landmark description gives already an idea what to expect: “Enchanted Art is a tribute to 2D and 3D Second Life Artists in a fantasy landscape. Explore projections, photos and statues in a surreal and magic environment.” I strongly recommend to watch the video about Enchanted Art. It’s 5 minutes long and a piece of art itself.
Upon my landing I met Oema by accident, who welcomed me. I read her profile and was suprised that I didn’t come across her before. Even after far over 9 years I still discover edges of Second Life and areas I’ve never heard about before. Oema owns Astralia, the homesim of Enchanted Art, she makes content for Sansar, LL’s new platform and she blogs about art (Oema Fine Art – www.oemafineart.com) and writes for magazines: “I am an artist, an art curator, an art blogger and a magazines writer … so I am an art passionate:-). Art is a very important part of my life, one of the best ones“. Impressive!
Back to my visit to Enchanted Art. First of all you should use the windlight setting provided by the sim. I tried my own settings first but the effects and the lights at Enchanted Art look much better in the (night) setting. From the landing point you can either walk on foot or use the sim’s teleporter network. I first explored the area next to the landing where most of the monthly changing art by different artists is exhibited. There are big boards promoting the artists names and there’re links to flickr to see more from these artists. This exhibition is to the left and the right of a path leading up a hill from where you can see other parts of Enchanted Art but you have to return to the landing point if you want to continue on foot – there are paths which will lead you around (or you take the teleporters).
Enchanted Art is very photogenic and full of art. What is facinating most are the lights and the effects that give new views depending from where and when you look at it. Overall Entchanted Art seems to be a world of itself, a fantasy in art. I’m really not an art passionate like Oema, but what I saw was really amazing and is hard to put in words for me. I roamed around for about hour and took many pictures.
Highlights of Enchanted Art besides the exhibition around the landing point are: the main gallery, the 3D art “World Eyes”, the 3D art “World Pain”, the Botanical garden, the Fae Waystone, the big mushroom trees and the 3D art from Oema called “Pain bitten”
The main gallery shows the exhibition “Maddy 2017” by Magda Schmidtzau at the time on my visit. I found items created by Colpo Wexler used in the gallery. Colpo is  the CEO of Digital Cult Lifestyle, a group of Italian designers specialized in 3D modeling in Second Life. Their skills range from high quality terraforming to big areas’ settings, making of buildings and structures of any kind, and interior design. After visiting Enchanted Art I had a look into it. Read more at their website www.mydigitalcult.com (by the way I hadn’t heard of them before).

Elicio Ember’s creations at Enchanted Art

The Botanical garden is made with plants and creations from Elicio Ember who is a plastic artist and desginer. Elicio makes fantasy landscapes, plants, architecture and art. The sculpture “Fae Waystone” and the big mushroom trees are also from Elicio Ember.
The 3D art “World Eyes” by Noke Yuitza is for sure another highlight of Enchanted Art. As it is in the center it is very present and attracting views. Noke Yuitza is owner, artist & designer of E.V.E. Studio. And she runs her own blog “http://evestudio3d.wordpress.com/“. “World Pain” just close by is another 3D art from Noke Yuitza.
Last but not least close to the landing point is the 3D art “Pain bitten” by Oema herself.

Enchanted Art is not just for those interested in art but also for those who are facinated by the creativity and the possibilities Second Life offers (like me) and it is a great place to take colourful and extraordinairy pictures. I had not only a lovely hour visiting but also got some suggestions for more reading and exploring. Thank you Oema for providing Enchanted Art!
Landmark to Enchanted Art
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Astralia/166/77/22
Video taken at Enchanted Art
https://youtu.be/vitR_j2wBtc
Inara Pey’s blog about Enchanted Art in Second Life
https://modemworld.me/2017/04/27/enchanted-art-in-second-life/
Oema’s fine art blog
http://www.oemafineart.com/