Art in Second Life - Dying out?

Brooklyn Is Watching seems to be pretty much dead in the water (the former weekly podcasts just aren't happening, the blog updates are becoming less and less frequent).

Now the Not Possible In Real Life blog is being discontinued.

So, what's going on? Is the art community of Second Life just going through a slump - or has the golden age of art in SL coming to an end? Is this pattern indicative of a downturn of Second Life in general?

Art I like lately - lots of Second Life stuff and more.

I've been finding a lot of fantastic art these past few weeks.

Earlier this month, I read about artist Adam Makarenko via the website PDN Photo of the Day:

"...Influenced by science and nature, Makarenko creates a vivid tableau vivant through miniatures, which he photographs into poignant visual narratives concerned with human intervention in nature..."

Not only are his miniatures amazingly well-crafted and minutely detailed, the photographs he takes of his work are evocative and haunting. More of his art can be viewed on his website, adam-makarenko.com.


Right around the same time I found Makarenko's miniatures, I came across miniatures by a different artist, this one working in Second Life.

PatriciaAnne Daviau creates tiny villages and scenes, working with the smallest prims (SL's building blocks) imaginable. I was lucky enough to see her miniatures up close. [Those are my legs & feet in the picture; I stood close to this scene to give a sense of scale.]

These builds are so impossibly small that one has to learn how to maneuver SL's camera controls with a bit of skill in order to see any of the details. Check out the slideshow to see more snapshots:

Unfortunately, I'm pretty sure this installation was only temporary, so I don't think there are any current locations to see it in SL. However, Youtube member chenderson33 has made a video dedicated to PatriciaAnne's work:

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AM Radio's The Red and The Wild was another build I was fortunate enough to see for myself in SL, during a preview of the show for members of NPIRL/ImpIRL.

As all of his works are, The Red and The Wild is rich with imagery, detail, and genius loci (spirit of place); it is intensely evocative. AM talks about the build in an excellent interview on the NPIRL blog:

"...I had the courage to say that this abstraction means something, that here is a symbol of something, that we have these abstract parts of ourselves, these fears, these wild things we try to bury, and without them, we don't become who we are..."

Excerpt from A Burst of Conversation: AM Radio's "The Red and The Wild"

Words and mere snapshots cannot adequately do it justice, so if you are in Second Life, do yourself a favor and spend some time immersed in The Red and The Wild, which is now open to the general public. Explore every detail, make sure to read the notecard given to you upon arrival, click on everything, look at everything.

SLurl: http://slurl.com/secondlife/IDIA%20Laboratories/15/154/20

More snapshots from my visit are in this slideshow:

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I've also spent a bit of time exploring Enluminuria, a collection of artists whose work is bright, colorful, and abstract:

Slideshow here:

SLurl: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Saucier/128/128/20

'Chasm' blogged on NPIRL

Two articles in as many days on the Not Possible IRL blog:


The Chasm between loneliness and solitude -
Nebulosus Severine and her sim prompt self-awareness



Go there alone


Wow!

Today, and various things

Let me get all this down before I forget it. :P


Tomorrow is my youngest brother's high school graduation party. I bought him a DVD ('No Country For Old Men') and a copy of The Catcher in the Rye, which had a big impact on me when I was about his age. I know, I know -- how cliché. Haha. Anyway, I wrote a little something in the front of it for him -- I didn't think about it, just wrote:

Dear ___,
When I was about your age I had to read this for school, my senior year. Back then I really didn't care about my classes, but when we were assigned to read this I really got into it. I never did the reading assignments at home and read this in class when everybody else was talking about the day's lesson. I don't think anyone in the class liked this book but me. I hope you like it too. --- Love, ____.

Somehow I am not feeling nostalgic or sad about this, despite how I usually am. This is a good thing, though! Christ, I am sick of being moody.



One thing I AM sad about, however, is the fact that Arahan, my friend , fellow artist, and cumpatriot (yes, spelled that wrong on purpose) has decided to leave Flickr - he deleted his entire account today. I can barely express how shocked and sad I was to find this out... Our mutual friend, Kham, has posted a wonderful tribute to him:

(image courtesy of Khamudy Mannonen)

I was supposed to DJ a set for the Garden of NPIRL Delights today, and instead hung out with friends in Arahan's locker at Arthole and dedicated my music set to him. I recorded it, but it needs editing, and when that's done I will post a link to the file in this blog. I took a ton of pictures too, & you'll see those here as well.

And speaking of The Garden, I am rather pissed off with their selective promotion of the music events. I have seen notices sent out about other music acts and DJs, but none have been done for me at all. I wouldn't have had any audience at all for my set on Monday if friends of mine hadn't pulled together to hang out with me. Ah well, whatever. The Garden of NPIRL Delights as an exhibition was rather underwhelming for me. Can't win 'em all, I guess. I might just blow off my set tomorrow, although I haven't yet decided.

Oh yeah, by the way, the last day for the Garden is on the 23rd, if anyone cares. Haha. Meh.. there were some decent builds, and a lot of people seemed to have fun with it, but... I was disappointed with the experience overall. I'm grateful to have been a part of it, it just didn't grab me. Oh well.