When Dido Haas of Nitroglobus told us the news that Sina Souza was back in SL and making new works, we were very excited. This is an Elsewhere piece that can't wait for next week's edition.
Sina is an artist who was in everyone's SL collections back in the day. We have several of her pieces at the Limoncello Gallery; Remember Me and Masquerade are on the Upper Deck of the Airship Limoncello and Desire for Humanity features in the Balogh Collection at the LG Tower. Dido's as excited as we are. She says;
When Sina contacted me a few months ago and told me her inspiration was back and she'd started creating again, I was really thrilled. I love Sina and her art and I think I don't only speak for myself when I say I missed Sina's creations over the past years.
She doesn't only speak for herself. We've missed Sina too! Dido has cleared her own part of Nitroglobus Gallery to make room for Sina's new images and a sculpture she has made. The exhibition is called Retrospectiveand opens this Friday, 30th April. Despite the title, Sina says;
Retrospective is not an exhibition where I want to show you my previous work. It is an exhibition about struggles in my past, wrong decisions that I have made or experiences that I have gained. It is a path between depression, strokes of fate and the problem of trusting others. But it's not just a look back at what's behind me, it is also a kind of self reflection, a step forward, a way to learn from mistakes and to grow from experiences. Sometimes we need to look back to look ahead.
We are happy to be able to break this exciting news here at the Limoncello News. The exhibition will run for the whole of May and June. Don't miss it! The opening party is this Friday, 30th April at 12pm SLT (9pm CET).
We were delighted to discover Cranston Yordstom's new blog, where he writes about his experiences collecting visa stamps for his Bellisserian Passport. Especially so as his very first stop was our recent ART UNBOUND popup gallery co-produced with Infinity Productions – Mirages on the Mother Road.
The blog is called Passport to Bellisseria – Cranston Travels the Grid and his write-up of MOMRis here. Please take a look and leave the nice man an encouraging comment! If you'd like to read more about him, there's a BBB Gazette post that includes an interview here.
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Speaking of the Bellisseria Passport, the BBB terminal is now in place at our new office in Carmel Art Community. Don't forget to collect the stamp when you visit.
We would love to hear what you think about the new system for handing out information cards about the exhibits at our Main Gallery in Bellisseria and aboard the Airship Limoncello in Nanga. Before we embark on the big job of installing the system in the LG Tower, it would be great to have some reassurance from our patrons and exhibited artists that it works well for you. It certainly saves us prims we can use to buy more art, but we don't want that to be at the expense of your enjoyment of the collections.
Please leave a comment or IM Fenella Allen in world. Thanks in advance for your feedback.
ELSEWHERE ON THE ARTY GRID
BambooBarnes at DixMix
One of our favourite artists in SL is BambooBarnes. We have several of her works in the Limoncello Gallery collection. You can find her So Long on the top deck of the Airship Limoncello, for example. Her Fairy Glitch features in the Dragonash collection on the 1st Floor of the LG Tower and her Life is on the 5th Floor.
See New Acquisitions below for news of the latest addition from her oeuvre!
Bamboo has an excellent show in progress at the DixMix Gallery called Marginal Mannerisms. Have a look at Violet Boa's interview with the artist at her excellent Virtuality blog, from which I will just quote Bamboo as saying;
The artworks in this exhibit are about my emotions which aren’t clear to see. I hope that you will see something in them for you. Life goes on.
So it does – with Bamboo, enigmatic as ever, letting her art speak for itself.
Exal Grut at Kondor
Fenella was lucky enough to be at the opening party for Exal Grut's new exhibition at the Kondor Art Center and had a wonderful time.
The show is unusual because Exal, inspired by comic book art of the 70's and 80's, has used Second Life® to stage and photograph a story of his new superhero - Hatari. It's a fun idea, well-executed and an inspired use of SL. Our grid is – when you think about it – perfect for staging comic book stories! Indeed many of our avatars bear about as much relation to reality as Thor's muscles or Batman's endurance.
Go take a look. We think you'll enjoy it. It certainly made a refreshing change. Some SL art exhibitions tend to a pomposity ill-excused (if pomposity can every be excused) by the quality of the art on show. Not this one!
NEW ACQUISITIONS
Fenella hangs a new acquisition
We bought Brand New Closet by BambooBarnes from her current show at the DixMix Gallery, reviewed above. It now hangs on the Middle Deck of the Airship Limoncello.
We bought Meeting the Team by Exal Grut from his comic book art show reviewed above. It's an enormous piece, with no mod rights and no resize script. We've opened the 11th Floor of the LG Tower, which has the ceiling height to accommodate it, and where, it hangs – for now – in splendid isolation.
As a Bellisserian institution ourselves, we at the Limoncello Art Gallery have been delighted to support the activities of the Bellisserian Bureau of Bureaucracy by hosting its official publication, the BBB Gazette, during its launch phase. The BBB is now ready to strike out alone and the new BBB Gazette can be found here. If you came here looking for BBB content, please follow the link and update your bookmarks for future reference.
In recognition of our support the BBB has awarded us Publication Licence #2 (#1 is the BBB Gazette's own licence) and we proudly display it in the sidebar.
To get closer to the artists who make SL special for us, we've opened another office among them. This time it's in the Carmel Art Community – a pretty little region based on the RL original in California. We have rented a unit there, which is a shop in name only – as always, nothing is for sale and there are no tip jars.
Please stop by and say hello. If you are an SL time lord, you will find LG Carmel Art in your Tardis database – along with all our other locations. If you hold a Bellisserian Passport and collect visa stamps from destinations around Second Life, watch out for a new stamp soon for our Carmel location.
While you're there check out the various artists' galleries (including the cute little beach cabanas) and the proprietors' very own Robert McFarren Gallery and Carmel Art Gallery (currently featuring an excellent show called The Art of Science by Kisma Reidling).
Our directory board is in place connecting you to our collections and special exhibitions. There's also a board to subscribe to our mailing list, which every week will send you a link to the latest edition of Limoncello News and occasional other information about special events. Including, of course, the ART UNBOUND series of pop up exhibitions co-produced with our friends at Infinite Productions. Carmel's owners are still quite new to Second Life but theirs is a wonderful addition to the SL art scene that we are happy to support.
NEW ACQUISITIONS
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One of the first fruits of our new venture at Carmel was that we found a new artist for our collections. Pisces, by Jaelle Faerye now hangs on the Lower Deck of the Airship Limoncello in Nanga. It is one of a zodiac series and, as it happens to be Dave's, Fen's and our founder's star sign was the obvious choice.
The daughter of an RL oil painter, Jaëlle grew up in an artistic environment in France. She is currently an Artist In Residence at Carmel Arts Community and has a showroom there for the year of her residency. It's right opposite our new office and was the first place we found when we set out to explore after finishing our fit out.
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Our next new acquisition is also very special. "Lagos" by Maria Montgolfier is the only example of this artist's work in SL. Dave met her mother through a mutual friend while out sailing and she spoke of her daughter's talent and showed him the painting. He loved it, she donated it (thanks, Anna May, for the kind gift) and moments later it was hanging here – also on the Lower Deck of the Airship Limoncello. It's a wonderful portrait; we hope you will enjoy it as much as we do.
ELSEWHERE ON THE ARTY GRID / ARTIST IN FOCUS
FionaFei is one of our favourite SL artists and someone whose work we are delighted to have in our collection. It features on the mezzanine floor at the Main Gallery in Sirinial, and also here and here aboard the Airship Limoncello in Nanga.
Fiona currently has a huge installation at the DixMix Gallery called ShuiMo – Spring. It hasn't been determined yet how long it will remain there, but it should be in place for at least a couple of months.
As explained in the notecard to her ShuiMo piece at our gallery,
Shui Mo, meaning "ink" in Chinese, is an art gallery and a series of installations called the "Shui Mo series" that I have created in the style of Chinese ink brush painting, depicting a common theme or landscape seen in many traditional Chinese paintings.
We love our own ShuiMo example, but the installation at the DixMix Gallery is on a monumental scale. It looks amazing and is well worth a visit.
Don't forget that the first ART UNBOUND exhibition - Mirages on the Mother Road ends this week. Don't miss your last chance to visit. Until next week, Limoncello Friends, stay arty!
Focus Magazine has an interview in this month's issue with our proprietor Lord Junibalya (Dave to his friends – including all readers of Limoncello News). If you are a subscriber to our mailing list you will have received a copy in-world. If not, you will be able to read the interview here, when the April edition is published online. IM Dave or Fenella if you haven't received an in-world copy and would like one. There are some splendid photographs of the gallery, even if you're not much interested in Dave's pontifications!
The gallery also features on this month's Focus Art on Tour HUD, which we have again distributed to our mailing list.
PROGRESS ON THE AIRSHIP LIMONCELLO REFIT
Our gallery was founded in 2007 on the beautiful but primmy old Airship Limoncello high above the mainland region of Nanga on the Satori Continent. She's still aloft in the same region, but now serves (along with our 15-storey tower on the ground) as part of the mainland annexe to our new home gallery in Sirinial on Bellisseria.
Work continues on our project to restore and upgrade our historic home. Leon Nobilis, our builder, placed a prototype in-world. Fenella took this photograph of it while it was briefly moored beneath the Limoncello. As you can see, it is beginning to take shape! Given the size (124 metres long) Leon is struggling to keep the Land Impact (LI) down. We are confident he will work it out.
We'll keep you informed as to progress as the project moves forward. For now, we can tell you the new lightweight stair-cases are a big improvement. The old curly ramps were always very hostile to noobs! To be honest, even after 5000 days in SL (most of them involving visits to the airship) Dave and Fenella often fell off them!
ACQUISITIONS
Another mermaid you say? Yes! On the 8th Floor of the LG Tower in Nanga you will find Sirene by Nina Helix, sold commercially under her Foxwood brand. Fenella (or Finella when in mermaid-mode) insists it's much more than decor. Do you agree? On the Middle Deck of the Airship Limoncello, you'll find "white noise 01", by Rose Hanry from her current exhibition at Nitroglobus Roof Gallery and two new works by Michiel Bechir from his exhibition currently in progress at UASL Michiel's works are called Goethe Bridge and Still Life II. You will also find there three unique paintings by Katherine Heartsong called “Art 007, 033 and 005”.
ARTIST IN FOCUS / ELSEWHERE ON THE ARTY GRID
The most impressive work we saw this week – and some of the most impressive we've seen for quite some time – was at the Cape Able Art Gallery. The exhibition is of the work of Tucker Stilley – a distinguished artist who contracted Motor Neurone Disease and is now paralysed. Using software driven by his eyes, he has continued his work as an artist;
Aided by a revolving krewe of artstars, technicians and family members Tucker lives ‘in’ the Net – drawing inspiration, raw source materials for his work and reaching out to a broad and deep community of friends and research and development partners following his work – work that brings together a wide cross-section of maximalist post-post modernism, ranging from whimsical media collage to hard generative abstract with stops along the way for conceptual process-art – and the simply beautiful mistakes.
Fenella visited and talked with his sister, who explained his situation and his methodology. We've rarely encountered anything more inspiring. Tucker has visited Second Life but finds the interface difficult to control with his eye-driven system so has only really explored it by auto-following his sister's avatar.
The art is wonderful and the show is well worth a visit. Please take a look. All the details and the SLURL are here on the Art Korner site.
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Don't forget that tomorrow is the second anniversary of our gallery's home continent, Bellisseria. Don't miss out on the party at the Bellisseria Fairgrounds and don't forget to collect the special stamp for your Bellisseria passport. While you have your passport HUD on, why not pick up the other limited edition stamp currently available from Mirages on the Mother Road. Until next week, Limoncello Friends, stay arty!
Yes we are superstitious. Our favourite poet, Dylan Thomas, dedicated his Collected Works "To God. Just in case" and we take the same approach.
If you weren't at the opening party for Mirages on the Mother Road (the first ART UNBOUND pop up gallery, we hope, of many) you missed a great night. Fenella & Dave were there, despite it being from 2am to 6am at their time in RL, and it was well worth the lost sleep. Lady Zenaida's singing was whimsical and delightful and as you'll see from her website, she is one of the few people in SL who are prettier than their avatar! DJ Yoyo Burckhardt gave us an entertainingly eclectic set that kept everyone dancing. Manx Wharton span a hilarious tale of lost love and abandonment to music while strewing the desert with dead deer (don't ask). Maximillion Kleene was brilliant, which those who have seen him perform before say is normal.
Thanks to all the musicians and congratulations to Cate Infinity of Infinite Productions – our ART UNBOUND partner – who organised the event. She put together an amazing roster of talent in a wonderful setting. I doubted an opening party could stay lively for four hours but was wrong! If you want to see far artier pictures than ours below, check out I am Free... (libbberamente)'s blog here. Thanks to her for those. If you took photos of your own at the party (or at the gallery) please share them on the ART UNBOUND Flickr Group, the Limoncello Friends Flickr Group and/or post them on the Editor's Facebook page.
INFORMATION ABOUT OUR ARTISTS
Our thanks once again to I am Free... (libbberamente); this time for showing Dave a script she uses to save prims. If our artworks have MOD rights, we place information notecards in them with a script to hand them out. Many are not moddable – so we place "click for info" signs nearby. These take up prims that could be used for our only SL goal; MORE ART!! I am Free's script creates a menu of notecards for such signs to hand out. We hated its floating text, but found another that works just as well. If our visitors like them, we will gradually replace clusters of old signs with new ones that give info on several nearby artworks.
The best use of this idea so far is in our home gallery in Bellisseria. We are so limited for prims there that we have never had "click for info" signs. Visitors could only get information about the artworks from the catalogue distributed by our welcome board. Now, for the first time, every artwork there is either clickable OR has a notecard available from "click for info" kiosks. If your click on an artwork yields no information, just check out its object details and get information, by artist name, from the kiosk instead.
On the subject of our notecards, though artists open their souls through their work, they are sometimes surprisingly reticent about themselves. We give out what information we have but, particularly in the case of older artworks, whose creators are no longer around in SL, that's sometimes very little. If your art is in our collection and the accompanying notecard is low on information, please tell us more. If you don't want to talk about you, tell us instead about the artwork itself or your artistic process in general.
Artist or not, if you know something about a piece in our collection, please send us a note – with links to sources if you have them.
You will have noticed our rebranding this week as The Limoncello News and BBB Gazette. This reflects that we'll be publishing more Bellisserian Bureau of Bureaucracy content here. If you're not interested in that, don't worry. The links we deliver to the gallery's mailing list and other art groups will take you to the latest gallery news. Links to BBB items will go out separately to its user group, BBBUG, and other Bellisseria info channels. Feel free to browse through both though, if you are interested.
ACQUISITIONS
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Having seen her RL photography at the RL Photo Festival 2021 at the Helvellyn Gallery, Dave visited Duna Grant's Poetic Lines Art Gallery and bought three of her artworks. He is pictured here with two of them on the Middle Deck of the Airship Limoncello.
The three works are Red Dusk (not pictured), Stop and Flowers V. You can learn more about her in our notecards or at her Facebook or Flickr pages.
On the same Middle Deck of the Airship Limoncello, you can also find N. 123, by Ernst Maven – another new artist to our collections.
ARTIST IN FOCUS
Fenella with two of comet's works
Comet Morigi is "a Japanese Artist in residence inworld." She is an old friend of our founder Tom (LastDitch Writer). They met when she (artistically designed and beautiful by pre-mesh standards) complimented him on the creativity of his "ugly old man avi". Tom had rather missed the point of SL and tried to make his avatar look as much like his RL self as possible! Despite this inauspicious start, they became friends. comet had one of the free-of-charge starter galleries aboard the Airship Limoncello in our early days. Tom also loaned her a newly-bought – as yet undeveloped – rentals region to build a temporary art project. The two works in the above picture with Fenella – sumikin to LastDitch Writer and Painting Cube "Dali & Klee" 2007 for LastDitch – were gifts to thank him for that. Hence their names.
comet's approach was to make nothing here that could be made in RL. Her little gallery at one point featured a photograph of a region she had landscaped. That photograph (still in her picks as SIM-Surround Mountains シムを囲む山) could exist in RL. Yes, but if you touched it, you were teleported into the scene it depicted!
The two works in the picture float in the air at the Main Gallery and are phantom. You might rig cloths on a frame to achieve a similar look in RL, but you could neither defy gravity in hanging it, nor pass through it like a ghost. These artworks are not just in, but very much of, SL! Inspired by comet's ethos, at one point Tom considered restricting his collection to SL-only artwork. In the end his catholic taste (critics would call it "lack of discrimination") led instead to the eclectic assortment you see today. Nonetheless, comet's ideas are always in the minds of the current curators, though we have not seen her online for a while and her most recent Flickr images are from 2014. If we see (as we rarely do) a work that meets her criteria, we are more inclined to acquire it.