Photos by Prandi Capalini

You know that I am a live music aficionado. My last several posts have really highlighted that part of my SL life. But I like the visual arts too. I have always loved Callipygian Christensen’s photography. I’ve learned so much by discussing Calli’s art with her, talking about technique and vision and structure. So if Calli tells me that she has found a great new photographer that I will like, I know I am in for a treat. I have been remarkably inept lately at telling you about things BEFORE they happen (remind me to tell you about the fashion show NEXT weekend). Today, however, I am actually on schedule and can post the notice about the OPENING!!!

Let me rely on Calli to tell you about Prandi Capalini’s photography:

From his first postcard posted to Snapzilla 6 months ago, Prandi has provided a unique view of Second Life through the eyes of an old wandering sailor. Saturated monotones and exceptional use of light give his images the feel of a different time and place. Each one gives just a glimpse of a moment that leaves us wanting to know more of that story. With over 900 images now shown on Snapzilla, Prandi has selected his favorites to be shown inworld for the first time.

I tried to wangle a sneak preview but it has not yet happened. So come join me at the preview this Sunday, Nov 1st at 11am SLT and we will enjoy it together!

The Photography of Prandi Capalini
at The Small Gallery, Shengri La
Sunday, November 1, 2009 through Sunday, December 13, 200

The Fashion Research Institute invites you to the opening reception of this exhibit on Sunday, Nov. 1st, 2009 from 11:00am SLT to 12:30pm SLT. Drop by, meet the artist and enjoy his work in the tranquil tropical setting of Shengri La. If you cannot attend the opening, please drop by the gallery anytime and enjoy the exhibit.

THE RABBICORN by BRYN OH

Let me confess right up front – I am lifting the details about the exhibit from my friend Andrew Sempere (Tezcatlipoca Bisiani). Andrew is an artist in his own right, with many RL exhibits around the country. But as usual with the friends I mention here – Andrew is much more than that. He is intelligent, funny, kind and generous. He has a passion for the arts and for making art available to the rest of us, who may not be as connected or as informed. He serves as curator for many institutions, including the IBM EXHIBITION SPACE (IBM 3, Secondlife). The IBM space (for which Andrew deserves a great deal of credit for both the concept and the actuality) opened last month with a stunning exhibit by Glyph Graves – truly phenomenal. I mentioned it here and I do hope you saw it.

Friday, July 10, 2009, the second exhibit opens at IBM 3 (slurl IBM 3 (55, 50, 23)), Bryn Oh’s The Rabbicorn. “The Rabbicorn tells the melancholy origin story of the title character, an original robotic being in the Bryn Oh universe. The Rabbicorn exists in a world of poetic narrative, subtle ambient sound and beautiful visual artistry, part Gorey, part Poe, part Velveteen Rabbit, but with an original take that is uniquely contemporary, and uniquely Bryn.” Andrew’s post has more details about Bryn’s style and technique. I urge you to click through and read it.

I am including the publicity photos, courtesy of Bryn Oh and Andrew. Thank you both very much for providing/sharing the photos.

I was totally blown away by the first exhibit. Jaymin and I had a wonderful time exploring that together. I cannot wait for tomorrow night to see Bryn Oh’s work and lose myself in the art and the story. Ping me and let’s explore this exhibit together. It’s more fun with friends. *grin* Always.

Calli’s Second Look

Calli has opened a new art exhibit. I was fortunate enough to “sneak in” for a preview. Quite honestly – these may be some of the best photos I’ve seen from Calli. They are simply great. Each time I thought I’d found my “favorite”, I moved on to the next and thought “Oh wow, I HAVE to have this one, this is my favorite.” It’s a great, great show.

*Grin* Calli is wonderful and talented and beautiful and generous and intelligent and funny. BUT!!! As stupendous as Calli is, and despite all the wonderful things I could/should say about her….. hey! This is MY blog. *grin* It’s about ME. LOL. You know – it’s ALL about me. (Although I have at least 3 friends who hold the erroneous belief that it is all about THEM.) So… since this is about ME – can you guess which photo is my favorite??? And now back to the featured star of this post and her invitation to you:

Callipygian Christensen invites you to enjoy ‘A Second Look’, 12 brand new images of Second Life now on display as a guest exhibit at the Untold Ark.

A second look can mean many things; as I go through the images I take I often set a number aside as not usable, but as I look through the ones I am about to delete some part of the image jumps out and demands a second look; sometimes as I look at various locations I don’t ’see’ an image but later, whether minutes or days, I might be there again with a different time of day or different windlight setting and on second look, an image is there; I guess every image taken here is actually a ‘Second look’ as well , and the 12 images in this exhibit, two of them totally unretouched snapshots, are images I feel deserve a second look through your eyes as well as mine.

The exhibit is at Untold Ark from June 4-30. http://slurl.com/secondlife/New%20Vice%20City1/15/74/22

GO!!!! You MUST see Glyph Graves exhibit

I have no words. I HAVE 90 pictures. This exhibit is phenomenal. Fantastic. Fun. A love story. A sad story. Maybe a hopeful story. Unbelievable. I do NOT want to hear that you have no time, blah blah. GO!
http://slurl.com/secondlife/IBM 2/165/17/22

AS usual, Bettina Tizzy writing for “Not Possible in RL” has the best description/explanation of the exhibit. And excellent pictures as well. Read her post.

I feel like a total newbie again. I am overcome with awe, wonder and joy. I am transported by the creativity and imagination. I have difficulty navigating 3D space. I cannot comprehend how Glyph can not only imagine this but create it. Incredible. Wonderful. Glyph, Tez – thank you so very very much.

I was lucky enough to explore with my good friend Jaymin. It’s much more fun with someone else. He saw so much that I didn’t see. And when I got stuck or fell through things – he was there to tp me back to where I should be. *grin* Thanks Jay!!! I have uploaded my photos to Flickr. I’m sorry – there are way too many pics of me in there – but I was trying to get some sense of proportion/perspective. I also thought that I would edit myself out of most. I had no idea I was going to end up with 90 pictures. So just ignore me…..

Art in SL

This is one of those weeks where I am a bit busy and don’t have much time to be creative on my own. So today I am lifting a post from my friend Andrew, who has introduced to me to soooooo much art in SL. He is an art curator as well as an artist in his own right. Andrew’s blog also has one of the best blog names that I’ve encountered: A repository of ten thousand indignities and the harbinger of God knew what. LOL. It is certainly evocative, no??

Andrew’s avatar, Tezcatlipoca Bisiani, my favorite purple avatar, is curator for the new two-sim IBM Exhibition Space, located on IBM2 and IBM3 in Second Life. The inaugural exhibition for the IBM Exhibition Space is Strangers Also Dance by Glyph Graves. Glyph is a Australian based artist whose interactive works incorporate sound, elaborate visuals and narrative.

I could lift all of Andrew’s blog, but you can click here and read it all for yourself. Even better – meet me there Saturday, May 23, 2009, 6pm SLT and we can all be part of a new, exciting SL experience.
http://slurl.com/secondlife/IBM 2/165/17/22

And as long as I am stealing from all my friends – *grin* – don’t forget that you should be checking out Chestnut’s weekly recommendations as well – she ALWAYS knows what’s happening and where to go.

AM Radio’s The Red and The Wild

I don’t know about your circles of friends, but it seems that everyone *I* know has made it to AM Radio’s latest build, The Red and the Wild. The absolute best write-up that I saw (of the many, many that are out there) was Bettina Tizzy’s on Not Possible IRL. Go there and read it.

Last night I took time out from scripting and building. (oh, B, I KNOW I am behind on the scripting…. I will get the touch event done today, I promise.) My brain was simply mush. As I sat there wondering what I was going to do with myself, my fellow bunny-hopper zazek pinged me. We last went egg hunting over 2 weeks ago. So after teasing about WHICH of us had been negligent in pinging, we decided to go check out The Red and the Wild. We had the great pleasure of meeting AM himself, as he rezzed into the farmhouse kitchen as zazek and I were sitting at the table chatting.

My photos, as you know, are not very good, but I hope they convey some of the warmth and fascination of this build. Go see it yourself. Look at Dale’s photos – he takes better pics than I do. He has several up on both his blog and Flickr. zazek and I had a good time, you will too.

Masks

There is an absolutely terrific art exhibit happening in SL this month – the Masks! Show at Erato of Caerleon. It opened Sunday, March 29 and runs for a month. Sabrinaa Nightfire put together the show and also contributed a mask. I heard about the exhibit from Dale’s blog earlier in the week.

I had a ton of work to do this weekend, including some scripting that requires a lot of thought. So I was a bit concerned about making the opening. Openings are always fun – freebies, music, dancing, fun! But I managed to make substantial progress on everything so when 1pm SLT rolled around, I DESERVED a break!

Lucky for me, just as I decided I was entitled to play, Krissy logged on. Krissy and I have been ships passing in the night the last few weeks. Every now and then we wave and say hi, how are you, we MUST get together….. but…. well, we have not been on the same schedule. Today was our day! I IM’d Krissy and asked if she’d like to join me, showing her Dale’s post. Krissy loves art and knew several of the artists exhibiting. So we tp’d over to see the masks.

As I walked in, Sabrinaa greeted me and handed out some gifts. There was a copy of her mask as well as two wonderful tops. Clothes!
Of course I immediately slipped one on – a gorgeous red and purple snowflake top. Well. That meant I had to change my boots too, to match. *grin* Sabrinaa has a wonderful eye for color and pattern.

Krissy and I began wandering about, starting with the three masks by Alexith Destiny. A great place to start. Each of the masks had a unique mood: earthy & upbeat, futuristic, and dread creeping up your spine. I IM’d to a friend that the one mask was downright “creepy” (and I meant that as a compliment – definitely it made the hair on the back of my neck rise). It was very powerful. I checked the name and realized that I’d gotten the message loud and clear: The Masque of the Red Death. No – I’m NOT posting a picture of the mask. Go See It.

I continued wandering about the room, admiring the masks, chatting with other people enjoying the exhibit. It really is an impressive show. It’s one of my favorite approaches to an exhibit – give the artists a theme, and see how they interpret it. The masks range from fairly straight-forward (yet elegant and detailed) to the abstract. Many of them have moving parts. Many have masks that change expression. Be sure to touch the various masks. Many of them will give you a wearable, free copy. Others are scripted for actions.

Krissy and I circled the exhibit several times, discussing the concepts and techniques. Many of the artists were there, wearing their masks. One of my favorites was FreeWee Ling’s Mask with Hud. There were different buttons on the wall you could press, and watch the mask change. FreeWee was there as well, wearing her mask. We all had a brief conversation about avatars wearing masks. *grin* An interesting concept, no? Aren’t our avatars our masks already? And yet… I’ve been invited to many “masked balls”. Masks wearing masks…

The show runs for a month. Go. It is worth the visit.

Great Masters Redux

Finally! We can all go see the new interpretations of the Great Masterpieces. I got to have the great fun of posing for one of them. So sure, I’ll be happy to give you my autograph. The grand opening is today – 3pm SLT at the India Ink Gallery. Make sure you get over there and check it all out. There was a contest associated with this – you can see the winning entries (also listed below). There will be a party with dancing and fun. The art will be on display for this month (see below). See you there!

The $1000L First Prize for RL is: Ivy Lane for “Rembrandt” a very fine acrylic/canvas piece depicting… duh, Rembrandt “Self Portrait as Zuexis”
The $1000L First Prize for SL is: Sofia London for “Death The Bride” recreating Thomas Cooper Gotch’s work using all handmade poser props.
Honorable Mention goes to Parrish Kline for complexity of subject and actuation. Awesome work Everyone.

These three artists will be displayed for the month of March along with ideas based on great master’s themes by the likes of Callipygian Christensen, Chaos Richard, Holly Ruth Anderson, Sysperia Poppy and Trindolyn Beck.

Great Masterpieces Updated

I had the great fortune to participate in another of Callipygian Christensen’s photo shoots. She and Trindolyn Beck and Sysperia Poppy are revisiting RL masterpieces. They are looking at the originals and recreating or reinterpreting them within SL. They are each doing a number of pieces and the official show opening is coming up in a few weeks.

I am torn between telling you exactly what we were doing and keeping it secret til the opening. I suspect that most everyone will be able to guess the masterpiece from the few pictures I’ve included here. So that is not really the secret. It’s the explanation of WHY we are dressed as we are that is so interesting. That is the part that is intriguing and exciting. Taking a scene and an event that we all know, but skewing it 180 degrees. Envisioning that moment as if it happened at Moulin Rouge. I have always been fascinated by Moulin Rouge. I am also fascinated by history and religion. I love sexy clothes. So for me, this was an exquisite combination of pleasures.

Calli posed us for the first round of pictures. We waited as she reviewed the results, then made changes to the poseballs. You need to understand that the poseballs were specially created for this masterpiece by her friend Butch Adzebills For many of the other images Calli is creating the poses herself- these poses are not pre-fab poses available in SL. So this is not just creative Art, it is creative technical construction . After Calli went through the first takes, she moved every poseball for a better recreation of the image and put us back to position for more.

While the posing and chatter were a LOT of fun, I find that her concept was just as enjoyable. Yes, I’m sure there are some who will find it offensive. Ah well, such is life, is it not? I am sorry that something so clever will be seen by some as “wrong”. I loved shopping for the appropriate attire. LOL. I confess – i bought THREE possible outfits for her approval. The chat during the shoot was a riot. Nothing like a bunch of women held captive in lingerie to have wonderfully friendly and risque conversation.

I promise that as I have more information, I will let you know. I know 2 of the other masterpieces being recreated, and they should prove as stimulating as this one.

We Raised a Cow

Bruce Springsteen sings that Adam raised a Cain, but Saturday night dozens (almost 70 at the busiest time) of SLers raised a cow for Heifer International. Instead of existential despair, we raised hope. One Heifer International cow in less than 90 minutes.

Saturday night I was at the Crown and Pearl having tea with Dark and Mow, getting ready to logout and sleep when Calli sent an IM. She told me there was a great blues concert starting in about 10 minutes. Oh. I love the blues. And I’d heard of this person before: Komuso Tokugawa. One incredible night I heard him and Noma Falta rocking out. That was a phenomenal night. Chestnut had blogged about this as well, but I’d forgotten that it was happening (Ches always knows what’s going on!) I knew I had to catch at least a little of the concert. In addition, the concert was a fund raiser for Heifer International, a charity to which I have a special connection in RL. For my RL friends – think Red Heifer, Golden Calf, March 13, 2004.

So Dark and I headed to Wales Spring region. That is where AM Radio has his creation “The Refuge and The Expansion”. I know that you can google AM Radio and get scores of hits and learn about his work. I’ll point out that AM never sells any of his work for profit – he uses his talents here to raise money for Heifer.

I’d like to take a moment and also acknowledge Alexandar Vargas, himself a talented creator. Alexandar owns the sims that host “The Refuge”. It is generosity such as this that enables the arts and creativity to flourish in SL. Without people like Alexandar, many artists would be hard-pressed to create the wonders that we all enjoy. Kudos also to Komuso Tokugawa, who donated his time and tips to Heifer International, and to Callipygian Christensen, who put the event together. SL is filled with wonderful, generous, creative people.

Komuso was scheduled to play for an hour. At the end of the hour, we had raised over half a cow. So he said he would keep playing until we could raise the rest. So he did and we did. Friends tp’d in to help the cause and hear the great music. Many of us ante’d up again to keep the good times going. Within 90 minutes we had managed to raise over 500 $US – the cost of one cow. All in all, it was a great time. EXCELLENT blues, wonderful cause. I ran into many friends there as well, which made it clear to me why they are my friends. Also linked up with some people I’d only known casually in the past. These are the stories that the RL news services should be publicizing. Music and good deeds. SL is full of that.