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 (34) Non-Perishable by Marina Münter at Art in the Park

15 Jun 2020 Leave a comment

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

A few days ago I got an invitation to attend the opening party of “Non-Perishable by Marina Münter” at Art in the Park. The opening was on June, 7th. I visited a few days later.

Non-Perishable was Marina Münter (vivresavie)’s first exhibtion back in September 2017 and it is now presented again at Art in the Park. Art in the park is a public area next to Valium Creek, a sim with rental homes and a public area that I visited in January 2020 (read here).

Non Perishable consists of 6 containers. Opposed to these 6 containers is an event area fitting to the exhibtion with 3 more containers.

Non-Perishable by Marina Münter at Art in the Park – exhibition poster and overview

Each container holds distinct groups of objects, objects Marina can relate to. And each container is given a title, a description that can be found at the entrance. Each container is in a different main colour: White, Green, Yellow, Orange, Red and Blue.
Marina has a connection to containers as she was born in a port city and grew up with seeing this boxes, innumerously piled up at the port. Marina writes in the accompanying notecard that she always asked herself, if she could live inside of a container.

Non-Perishable by Marina Münter at Art in the Park – White container

Next to each container you find a picture of the inside of it and always a woman is in the container admist of all the stuff inside. “The same woman is portrayed under different personas; from trauma (birth) until the unavoidable (death). The visitor is invited to enter, inspect and interact with what, for some, can be seen as a “neat way to organize your inventory”, and for others, an obsessed way of coordinating non-perishable objects in monochromatic containers.” (taken from the accompanying notecard)

Non-Perishable by Marina Münter at Art in the Park – Green container

Each of the containers also contains at least one opportunity to sit and I tried that in all six containers (and took a picture). But getting out can be tricky as you’re stuck behind other stuff when you stand up (I used the seat in the white container to “escape”).

Non-Perishable by Marina Münter at Art in the Park – Yellow container

Marina Münter (vivresavie) is almost 8 years in Second life. She’s an artist, curator and photographer. As mentioned above “Non-perishable” was her first exhibtion in Second Life and soon after she founded the GBTH project, which I came across this year the first time (read here). GBTH means Grab By The Horns, the GBTH Project is an urban sim dedicated to contemporary art. It is Marina’s main interest on the grid nowadays. You find more information at www.thegbthproject.com.

Non-Perishable by Marina Münter at Art in the Park – Orange container

The containers at Art in the Park are stuffed with objects, silly objects, useless objects, bizarre objects like the penis candelabra in the green container or the collection of dildos of all sizes in the blue container. There are seats, a record player, beach toys, all kind of illuminated signs, pictures, candles, flowers, cooling boxes, a piano, a chess game, a paddling pool, a television, cooking pots, a bicycle, a fridge, a coffee can …… I could extend this list endlessly. Nonetheless the objects are sorted by the theme, not just by the colour itself (which fits mostly) but also by the overall theme of the container.

Non-Perishable by Marina Münter at Art in the Park – Red container

I bet if I look at all of my RL stuff, it must look like a whole mess for all others, but not for me! Every item tells its story – but only to me. And I couldn’t tell anyone every story as they’re not of any interest for outsiders. Nonetheless looking at other people’s stuff does tell a lot about them, at least we tend to interpret what we see and the objects might tell a story, but not the true story, just another story, a story that fits to our life and prejudices.

I had fun looking at each container and at all the stuff – and the stuff told me a story *winks*.

Non-Perishable by Marina Münter at Art in the Park – Blue container

Thank you Marina for the exhibition. Thank you Vally Prodigy (Valium Lavender) for providing Art in the park. I enjoyed my visit a lot!

Landmark to Art In The Park
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Broken%20Vessels/141/53/21
The GBTH Project website
http://www.thegbthproject.com
flick-group Art in the Park
https://www.flickr.com/groups/valium/pool