When I visited Milena Carbone (mylena1992)’s newest exhibition named “Resilience 2049” at Michiel Bechir Gallery (read here), I saw that the Gallery features also other artists. Actually Michiel had invited me to the opening even, that happened tuesday, July 11th.
I visited the other parts of the July exhibition at Michiel Bechir Gallery on Wednesday, July 12th. The overall theme in July is “Portraits”
The Michiel Bechir Gallery has been remodeled. It now provides 4 exhibition rooms on two floors. In July you can see Michiel Bechir’s own artwork on the 1 floor left, Myra Wildmist’s art on the 1st floor right, Karma Weymann’s pictures on the 2nd floor left and Milena Carbone (mylena1992)’s exhibition “Resilience 2049” on the 2nd floor right.
I started my 2nd visit with visiting Michiel Bechir’s exhibition. Usually Michiel’s takes pictures of extraordinairy landscapes in Second Life. The selected pictures for July are different as they all show females, but not portraits or close-ups. Instead the female avatars enrich the landscape in which they are photographed. In my personal opinion, that makes the pictures of the landscape and places more lively.
Michiel Bechir has started his long virtual journey into Second Life as a photographer in 2009. Michiel enjoys seeing new places, meeting new people from all over the world and expierencing the creativity in Second Life (just like I do!). Michiel discovered the possiblities of different tools to improve his pictures. By editing them he also tries to add a personal touch and feeling.
Besides owning and creating the Michiel Bechir Gallery, Michiel also has a gallery with a selection of pictures at Art Park. Furthermore you can also see more of his work on his flickr page.
On the 1st floor to the right you find the art of Myra Wildmist. According the the theme of the July exhibtion, Myra presents portraits, female portraits. One wall shows portraits of different characters and ethnics with different techniques for portraits, another wall is dedicated to females as an element of highlightening an otherwise boring landscape or background. I personally like her self portrait, which she presents herself with 3 different filter settings – quite a difference in my opinion, and proving what can be done within Second Life photography using simple filters.
Myra Wildmist is in Second Life since 2012. With her pictures Myra’s “goal is to demonstrate that virtual photography is a new art form and Second Life is a true medium for virtual art. Using the tools SL provided, she creates her photos using many of the same photographic techniques one would use in real life, while also incorporating virtual techniques not available in real life. Myra’s photography is done entirely in-world using SL environmental effects, graphic settings, and photographic filters.” Myra also creates sculptures and installations.
The notecard, that you can grab in her exhition room at michiel Bechir Gallery contains a long list of her exhibitions in-world so far as well as links to other publications of her. Myra writes for magazines and blogs, in partilar she is a staff member of Kultivate/Windlight Magazine. You find more of her art at her flickr page and on her own blog.
On the 2nd floor left the art of Karma Weymann is exhibited. Karma makes pictures of females in everyday scences. The images initially look like snapshots. The women either look shocked that they are being photographed like this – or they don’t even notice it. And that is exactly what makes the pictures so appealing.
Karma Weymann joined Second Life already in 2007. You can grab a notecard about her in the room. Karma writes about her art: “I take most of my photos at my homemade studio in SL but there are some location shoots as well. I create my own avatars for models and try to give them an unconventional kind of beauty, a sex appeal that seems more real than cookie-cutter barbie doll avies. I usually focus on shapes, shadows and light, with overall composition and balance being the desired goal. Lastly, I try to depict my models doing ordinary things with a seemingly innocent natural sensuality.”
Karma Weymann owns the Karma’s Gallery Store at Starz and a store at Kultivate – Karma’s Store at Kultivate.
You can see more of her art at her flickr page.
Finally, on the 2nd floor right is Milena Carbone (mylena1992)’s exhibition “Resilience 2049”. I wrote already about it here.
As the name implies, Michiel Bechir Gallery is owned by Michiel Bechir. Thank you Michiel and the whole team Maggie Runo, Tresore Prada (tresore) and MsToya (Mstoya Bailey) for providing the space for the arts!
Thank you to all artists involved in this July exhibition. I enjoyed my visit.
Landmark to Michiel Bechir Gallery
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Embrace/30/228/2503
Michiel Bechir’s gallery at Art Park
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Fermat/148/36/53
Michiel Bechir’s flickr
http://www.flickr.com/photos/39613053@N03/
Myra Wildmist flickr
https://www.flickr.com/photos/myrawildmist/
Myra Wildmist’s blog:
https://myrawildmist.wordpress.com/
Karma Weymann’s flickr
https://www.flickr.com/photos/133613428@N06/
Karma Weymann’s Store at Kultivate
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Water%20Haven/51/77/26
Karma Weymann’s Gallery Store at Starz
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Draconis/109/247/32
Diomita Maurer’s Blog 