Burning Life, part 1.

What terrific travels at Burning Life last night...do see the Burning Life flickr pool for useful links and peeks at activities on the playa. It’s hard to know where to begin, so I started at Burning Life Zero Mile, hopped in a temp rez flaming vehicle and spun around randomly. It’s great to see the sims full of a variety of action - people looking and exploring, performers, like the Lamplighters, dancing off into the dusk, artists fiddling with their work, sculptures powerfully beating out heat, all against mad soundtracks from gentle breeze to speed metal. I was happy to run across wicked-blogger-on-a-break Wyatt Wellman, fitting right against the fiery backdrop wearing his charcoal persona. Blued Food was an ace companion – he’s a speedy scout. I followed him around as he shouted “Click EVERYTHING”. It’s true, the builds are full of surprises. I recommend doing one build per visit to really appreciate the work that’s gone into these sites. We found four Yip’s Fusion and I lost myself there for a good while. Yip has a way of providing comfort and romance wherever she lays her hand, and Fusion is no exception. Simple stenciled eyes blink and tear before you as you’re enveloped in a wash of pink and deep brown scrims, bending like waves. A track by I Monster (Heaven) makes you want to bow with them. The muted, dimly lit space is more mysterious than Yip’s typical palette, and suits the harmonic track. As always, she’s offering some charming freebies – soft bear noses and iridescent butterflies which follow along as you trek.

Other builds of note: Gettr II from Idialab for the Museo del Metaverso at Opal and The Roof is Gone by Miso Susanowa and Misprint Thursday at Black Rock which I’ll write about next.

The Cult of Personality

Artist Kasabian Beck asks us to consider celebrity within Second Life in his latest exhibition at Hotel Dare, “Slebrity™”. Presented against the spare white walls of the gallery are several panels depicting the names (in an also spare, sans serif font) of well-known personalities – creators of all types - within SL, seen in the image above. Struck by the cult of personality in the metaverse, Beck muses on “the very idea of virtual notoriety, how it is sought, attained and why it is or is not important...” I wasn’t familiar with all the names presented in the gallery which is an important point. It’s possible I might not have known any of the names – what meaning would the exhibition have had for me then? The names chosen have been curated – by the artist – revealing his own particular world experience. This exhibition will mean something different to each viewer and ought to inspire discussions about what I call the “flux” of personality. What most of the names have in common is that they are brilliant self-promoters. In art, reputation can be considered more valuable than in many other fields where celebrity is cultivated. Look at the Young British Art movement of the mid ‘90s; young artists, with small bodies of work behind them, created retrospectives and museums dedicated to themselves, to protest the English art institutions that had belittled them. Is the tone of this exhibition condescending? Do these names have any value at all as ideas or things to disagree with?

Virtual fame is the same as any other kind of fame, earned and unearned. As psychologist James Houran writes, “we need celebrities as much as we need food, water and shelter. We need them to feel connected.” These names on the wall are humans, not martians, not simply avatars. We condescend to these human fundamentals, our desire for celebrity, at our peril because we are human – not always wonderful but very predictable and found in all environments. A thought-provoking exhibition...go to Slebrity and have a think.

One Prim Wonder Challenge

Oh innocent prim,

Waiting in sandbox eager

Torn end from end

Horrible haiku – but I’m feverish, give me a break. I was inspired by the One Prim Wonder Challenge, curated by Sabrinaa Nightfire. What can be done with one prim? Let me show you…or better yet, let Sabrinaa.

When I arrived at the site I found myself surrounded by brightly colored shapes, some partly transparent, some gently spewing particles, others squat and still. I felt as though I had happened upon a glass shop in Murano, Italy.

The majority of sculptures seemed familiar to me, early experiments in building. That was until I remembered that each was made of only one prim. I circled round and round trying to figure out how they were accomplished. Some artists worked with surface texture only – allowing the planes to speak for themselves, while others wrenched torus and sculpties into controlled chaos. You have one more week to see the work of fine builders, such as four Yip, who've taken up the challenge. Here are some of the highlights:

palette knives and surgical instruments tango

luca laval's prim keeps a steely eye on visitors

fine craftsmanship by Paula Dix

an sl moodscape by Jojorunoo Runo

four Yip's...

art inspires me so very much. A commercial/graphic artist from Amsterdam, she has been gracing SL with her extraordinary freebies. When I say freebies I mean her art which she shares for free, allowing the viewer to interact, participate, collaborate and become her work (more about that here). I attended her opening at Wyatt Benoir's ARTist's Park. Here she features portraits - avatars rendered in broad brush strokes. The works are whimsical and curious, each holding a detail that made me quiver, laugh and sigh with happiness. Look for the lush attention to fleshy creases - a bit like John Currin coupled with a Jenny Saville attention to creases, but never bleak. On the contrary - the portraits, and their monumental presentation in the gallery - are bright and fun. The portraits capture a flushed tangibility through a Vogue stylist's eye - a stylist drinking a proper herb filled Pimm's .

(person standing in the top photo: Sawyer Campese)