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 (116) Hotel California – Off the Grid

18 Nov 2019 7 Comments

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

In April 2019 I visited Hotel California, an adult sim owned by Lex Machine (schmexysbuddy) (see Simploring 2019 (46) Hotel California). When I looked for a place to visit at scoop.it SL Destinations for my simploring tour Sunday, November 17th, I came across Hotel California again, this time with the subtitle “Off the Grid” and the pictures indicated that it is about art. I read Maddy Gynoid’s blogpost “Simtipp: Hotel California ‘Off the Grid’” before going there myself. Maddy wrote that he visits Hotel California regularly and that the sim is changed every 4 weeks. He also wrote that it is not only owned by Lex Machine (schmexysbuddy) but also by Racey Boom (Raceyy). The name rang a bell. I visited Skull Creek, just last month (see Simploring 2019 (106) Autumn @ Skull Creek) and Skull Creek is owned by Racey Boom (Raceyy).

The current installation is described in the landmark description with “When the power goes out, you’re left with nothing but what’s inside your head” and is tagged with “Space, cyber, apocalyptic, photography, photo, art sim, art, photography sim“

Hotel California – Off the Grid: bird eye views

Hotel California – Off the Grid has absolutely nothing to do with the sim I visited back in April, the only combining element is that by then also some art was displayed. And now the whole sim is packed with art. Hotel California is an artifical island in the endless sea. It is quite flat, the ground is made of steel panels and 8 highrise buildings grow into the sky. You see power poles and some single trees growing through the steel panels (I counted 6 trees) – and art objects that are spread all over the place.

Each single object including the skyscrapers is worth a detailed look. Now the landmark description makes sense: “When the power goes out, you’re left with nothing but what’s inside your head“.

Impressions of Hotel California – Off the Grid: The horses from Wasabi Yuki (wassaabii) did remind me of Mistero Hifeng. The woman laying on stairs is also created by Wasabi Yuki (wassaabii). The old coach nearby is from danielitosway

Impressions of Hotel California – Off the Grid: Another laying woman by Wasabi Yuki (wassaabii), the “elefants” with the long stilt legs are from Paco Pooley, the tree stumps with the hearts are created by Cica Ghost.

Impressions of Hotel California – Off the Grid: The prison court with the watch tower is created by DRD (deathrowdesigns), the tied hulk of a man is created by Holy (Qutsal Alex), the couple is from Wasabi Yuki (wassaabii)

Impressions of Hotel California – Off the Grid: The phone is from danielitosway, the gear wheels from Noke Yuitza and the hourglass is created by Zelest (Zelest Fall) , the skyscrapers are designed by Nite Row (nitergloom) and look at the hands at 2 of the skyscrapers, these are from Groll (Groll Greggan)

Hotel California – Off the Grid is a thoughtfully installation of art objects together with objects usually used for other purposes. These objects were all created for the Second Life grid (from the grid). They are, I assume, a personal art collection of Lex Machine (schmexysbuddy) and Racey Boom (Raceyy). The power poles refer to the Landmark description …. when the power goes out…

Thank you Lex and Racey for making your this collection available for us all.

Landmark to Hotel California – Off the Grid
https://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Hotel%20California/128/114/22/
Maddy Gynoid’s blogpost “Simtipp: Hotel California ‘Off the Grid'”
http://echtvirtuell.blogspot.com/2019/11/simtipp-hotel-california-off-grid.html