Sneak Preview: Three Artists at Split Screen

Today opens a new monthly installation at Split Screen and as usual it is a highlight.

Simotron Aquila: Conditioned Actions

In her clear and humorous style she let us feel the constant restrictions of our life in a civilised culture. It got the strong feeling, all choices are at the end no real chances to change something. Great work!

Misprint Thursday: Ile de Couer

With the provided HUD to wear you can float over the water and can create your own design. It will look especially great when more avatrs are using that. Make sure to have water setting on Reflections and particles on. I found that water on Murky has the best reflections.


Rose Borchowski: Echos in the Garden

...or Susa Bubble is back. I think beautiful and poetic are the right words to describe the work. Is anybody listening? Make sure to have sound on :) Susa is still becoming more mature and learns to enjoy life by taking it just as it is and making the best of it. I felt in love with it!

Dancing in the rain

Opening today at 1 PM SLT!
Taxi: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Beleza/36/217/1501

Gallery Hopping with Closures

ANELI'S GALLERY

As Dividni Schostakovich pointed out in his blog, sadly several large galleries has been closed and are missed . Therefore I try to find interesting installations in smaller galleries.

Giovanna Cerise

 Aneli Abeyante, artist herself, has always a wide mixture of RL and SL artists in her gallery. The current show is especially interesting: Tani Thor, Solkide Auer, Giovanna Cerise, DB Bailey and Asperix Asp. Let's start with the highlight: Giovanna Cerise's installation 'Distortion' looks not only different from every angle, it changes the appearance of the visitors too. And they love walking through. Great work!

The builds of RL architect DB Bailey are always special and beautiful:, although they always look to me as trials for future builds.

DB Bailey

Solkide Auer

I could not get a good photo of Tani Thor's works, photos and 3 works. Nice as always, so just look for yourself. Wizardoz Chrome did a funny  photo of me in front of Tani's works. I wonder why other see the avatars sometimes laughing, despite I never use such animations. Does she has her secret own life???

But let me mention Asperix Asp too. As far as I got from from the note card, he quite succesful in RL with his digital paintings. An I can well imagine, if you have a close look on the displayed works you see the subtle beauty. They are very well done. But sorry, for me they don't work in SL.

Asterix Asp

Taxi: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Boom/161/225/205


GITU ART STUDIO

Gitu Aura, Lilyane Inshan, in Inaka and Alessa Rossini are presenting damned good SL photography in this small gallery.

And they have a sweet roof garden to relax.Worth a visit!

Taxi:  http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Arico/143/142/2402


ART INDIA GALLERY CLOSURES

It is time to say goodbye to two successful installations: Fiona Leitner's 'Best of Eye Candy'  will close on Sunday at Midnight.

Come and take the chance for a last view! Next Friday will open the "Art of Protest" contest. Still time for entrances ;)

William Weaver's build 010 is already gone as for major reconstructions in the sim.

Taxi: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Shekhawati/215/28/35
 

First Opening @ LEA : C i c a

Not even a month after starting of the next round at LEA, the first installation is opening tomorrow.

Cica Ghost has created a world in black and white, which has the charm of a children's painting  which turned to life. Cute little houses, playing children, animals, moving grass and wind.... It looks as if Cica had loads of ideas which urgently needed to be built. And she plans to add more!

Opening tomorrow, September 27.  at 11 AM SLT!

Taxi: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/LEA13/128/128/22

Lovecraft Community Lovefest

Last Sunday started the Lovecraft Festival. I will last thru Sept. 30. It is held by several sims which are dedicated to the novels by h.P. Lovecraft. There are events, a fair, carnival and activities as i.E. an artifact quest.

Get all information and gifts from the kiosk at the landing point:
Taxi: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Staccato/234/118/22

I must admit that I do not know much about Lovecrafts works, but I travelled around the sims and present some which I found interesting. As far as I have seen, provide all sims role play.

In Lovecrafton is much information around the author and his novels. And it hides the Chultu. It took me a while to find him...

Taxi:  http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/New%20Toulouse%20Jardin/123/92/25


Innsmouth is a classic for Lovecraft fans. I presented that great sim already last year and it is still one of my favourites.

Ravenfalls has interesting Water Settings.

Taxi: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Belfast%20Island/146/184/21


Sheffield has a haunted house where you have to find a murder. You have the chance to win prices when you guess right.

Taxi: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Staccato/104/115/22


On Valbella I met resident Malco Darfury who does RP there. He showed me the highlights of the greatly build sim. It is really wort to be explored. Different species live here together.

Taxi:  http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Valbella/158/147/1496


This is just an incomplete list. All places are worth to be explored.

Play with Light

A real challenge for builders, artists, gallery- and simowners ist the fact, that the visitors have a dramatically different experience of a place according to internet connection, hardware- and software level and viewer settings. And that means they do not have control over the visitors impression. This goes so far, that still bloggers go to mesh builds with non-mesh viewers and blog about it as I was more than once told by artists. This may sound funny, but is frustrating for the artists. I have myself the challenge with William Weavers's 'build 010' at Art India Gallery where it is not about mesh, but just the graphic settings. In that case they have a massive impact in the visitors experience of the artwork. I installed a greeter at the landing point with detailed information to the viewer settings at the installation but it can happen, that the visitors have limited graphics and crash - if they even read and follow it!

A quite new feature is lighting and shadows. Regi Yifu has build an interesting installation which plays with the possibilities of different light angles and projectors. The visitor gets a projector to wear and this light and the shadows are changing the installation. His studies are really interesting and it was fun to play with it. But I also saw the limits of my graphic card. The shadows pixelated partly.

But...
This lights only can be seen with the viewer on Ultra and shadows has to be enabled. When I arrived with my usual travel setting on Medium, I saw nothing than a white room.

Graphics on Medium

Graphics on Ultra with Shadows Sun/Moon + Projector...

... plus wearing the provided head projector

Please follow the instructions for full experience.
Taxi: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/GAY%20ISLAND%20Resort/30/247/3001

Bring Colour Into My Life

Virtual worlds are an escape, distraction  or broadening of their real life for many. As we all know that life is hard, a fight, ugly and so on; one could assume that we want bright and colofurful places in SL as a contrast to the grey daily life. So, why are so many sims dull, dark, decay and/or grungy? Not that I don't like it when it is well done. But do I really need to be reminded constantly of that what I perfectly know? Isn't art as well about visions of a better world? Luckily some create different places:

I did not realize so far that Mexi Lane, who curates the Imagin@rium, is artist herself. In this case, the virtual reality is the 3D version of one of a RL 2D work which showed already a virtual world.

And alone what she did with the ancient marble ruins is really worth seeing:

Taxi:  http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/MIC/194/198/38


The place inspired me to present two more sims:

Off The Wall is a nicely sculpted comic world with toys, crooked structures and many funny ideas. It has a touch of comics.

Taxi: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Off%20The%20Wall/90/144/9

And a real classic is still Photon's Castle. It is so nice to have a stroll in the Fantasy Adventure Park, a world as taken from a children's book.

Taxi:   http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Photon%20Pinks/76/129/39

Contest Reminder: ART OF PROTEST

We are still accepting entrances for the contest, 3D and 2D until the end of this month. Therefore I would like to remind all artists in Second Life. The judge panel will consist of Rowan Derryth, Ux Hax and me. We are very happy that we won with Ux and Rowan judges, who proved in many ways their sense for and knowledge about art.

Here again a summary of the details:

My predecessor, Audrey Cresci started an art contest, which she could not finish due to time limitations. I think the theme is worth following it and therefore, the plans for Art India Gallery in October / November are running the Art Contest:

ART OF PROTEST


The prices are:

3D Art (non-scripted)
1st place: 4000L
2nd Place: 2000L
3rd Place: 1000L

3D Art ( scripted)
1st Place: 4000L
2nd Place: 2000L
3rd Place: 1000L

2D Art
1st Place: 4000L
2nd Place: 2000L
3rd Place: 1000L

Several incidents this year should inspire some of you and additionally to this our plans are to have some actions and events around this theme as well. Because protest needs action! If you have any ideas besides participating, please contact me and lets discuss, how we could make it happen. I really hope that this event will be more that just another contest and will cause some interesting events.

Please get your invitation and application form by click on the contest announcement board at the landing point in the gallery or send me an IM.

Taxi: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Shekhawati/215/28/35

Gallery Hopping From Shameless to SaveMe Oh

Dixmix Source made it 2 times this week to impress me, once as curator and once as artist. In his own gallery opened an exhibition of very erotic photos which are far beyond the average quality of erotic pics in SL: 'Shameless' by Anna Anton.

Taxi:  http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Alope/161/79/525

Dixmix himself opened at Monroe Snook's gallery 'Asia through the lens':

Although I am usually not happy with rl photos in SL I must admit, that Dixmix' Photoshop skills has been created beautiful pictures which are reflecting well the Asian moods. Good work!

Rowan Derryth curates for a while now a series of exhibtions of art collectors, 'The Avalon Collectors Cycle". At present Ziki Questi shows pieces of her art collection and there are some nice works which are not often to be seen.

Sextan Shepherd

Ziki finally proved her good taste when I saw 3 works by William Weaver :)

Taxi:  http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Ars%20Lunga/77/169/27


William Weaver's 'build 010 ' is open until end of September in the Art India Gallery.

William Weaver

 In case you have missed it you have not seen the updated version, you definitely  should not miss it; as well as 'Best of Eyecandi' by Fiona Leitner, which closes at the end of this month too and will be replaced by the 'Art of Protest' contest.

Fiona Leitner

Taxi: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Shekhawati/215/28/35

HOP ON OH

The invitation to the opening was already fun:
"YOU ARE INVITED!
 Sunday 16th at 1PM SLT you are welcome to join  a daring artwalk into exclusive goals!
 WARNING! ALERT! SAVEME OH WILL BE PRESENT ALL NIGHT!!
 This is an artwork by the notorious artist SaveMe Oh. As she made and hosts  the art in question she cannot   be banned."

As I arrived there, SaveMe was sweet as always and did not waist time with useless civilities. Instead of a welcome I got: "Quan, go up, or your think your blog writes itself?"  Ok, at least she was saying what all artists are thinking when I visit an exhibition.

Of course I did not went up the red arrows without grabbing a free Hoover at the landing point first, with I love since SaveMe's great Machinima about Rebecca Bashly's 'Inferno'. Climbing up there are countless of rooms. In each one you can hop into the scenery.

I think I remember some of them. SaveMe has wearing them at events, for what she is widely hated in the art scene - as usually spiced with some insider jokes. And some of the scenes I recognize from 'The Oh Collection'. These pictures are smart, witty and greatly done interpretations on famous artworks or artists. They are only to see on Facebook. Please correct me, if there is another possibility to see them. Because only some of the pictures are displayed in the exhibition, which is sad.  Look for the pictures in the builds, they are the best! SaveMe is not a great builder and without knowing the purpose and as well the stories or dramas behind many witty hints in the builds, it leaves the visitor helpless as you see in the chat below:

The build...

...and the related picture

When I logged in today, I met Kay Mermaid (Kay Uggla). She told me that she has a studio on Solace Island, the sim of the exhibtion, where she teaches clothes making. The dialogue about the installations revealed all questions that other visitors would have too:

Kay: i had some difficulties to understand this all
Kay: did you understand this art thing? What is the meaning?
Kay: For me it is parts in a big building, most of the building is gone.
Kay: that is how i understood it all
Quan: With some I don't know either, some has been part of pictures and with others I find hints to dramas SaveMe has caused or was involved in
Kay: may be
Quan: these rooms, SaveMe usually wears in crowded places, openings or such
Kay: aha
Kay: have you seen her things before?
Quan: yes, as I said usually on openings or events of art places or on photos, she posted in her blog later.
Kay Mermaid: and then all that fuzz about her person here and some persons sort of "steeling" the interest form her art?
Quan: yes, in a way...

Sadly, not much artists used the chance to have some revenge fun at the opening. But one always can rely on Eupalinos Ugajin. He was wearing a beautiful cube attachment. "A gift of Lolito Larkham." as he said . It covered several of SaveMe's builds and he added later more: " The cows are a 1024 sphere, so 4 sims large!" This hardly can be topped.

Eupalinos Ugajin at HOP ON OH

Taxi:  http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Solace%20Island/164/77/21