ELSEWHERE ON THE ARTY GRID
The gallery at Elven Falls seems to specialise in exhibitions involving four artists. The latest, called (for no particular reason we can discern) Banksy Goes Wild at Elven Falls, opened on Sunday 18th September. Fenella attended the opening party and checked out the exhibition while she was there. The show features work by Zia Sophia, AmandaT Tamatzui, Tom Prospero and Jamee Thomson.
We have works by Zia and Amanda in our collection at the Limoncello Gallery. We know and love their work. Tom and Jamee are new to us however. Tom's works are gentle, traditional RL landscapes that would adorn any home. Jamee's are mostly in the same genre, but the landscapes are in SL. There are, however, a couple of abstracts in the show that are very different to his other works on display.
Standing in Bif's space in Amanda's exhibition
By way of a bonus, Bif Mopp – a well known aviation artist in RL – makes his SL debut as a guest in Amanda's space.
A member of the American society of Aviation Artists, Bif's paintings have hung in several aviation museums. His work entitled "Glider Over Pike's Peak" once held prominent position at the Pentagon as a personal favorite in the Office of the Air Force Chief of Staff.
Each of the artists has far more space than is usual at such exhibitions. So when they're all added up, this is a huge show. The artists' styles differ widely, so if you can't find something you like here, we'd be surprised.
TIYA AURA
We usually mention just one exhibition, gallery or event in Elsewhere on the Arty Grid each week, but we couldn't let Tiya Aura's show at Art Korner pass without a mention. Why? Because it's very much our thing. We love portraits.
Anyone who makes them as a photographer in both RL and SL knows it involves different challenges. In RL you can direct a professional model easily enough but other sitters may need to be cajoled, teased or even tricked into giving the desired expression. Take Yousuf Karsh's portrait of Winston Churchill for example – now on the £5 note in the UK. Karsh got the expression he wanted by snatching the cigar from Churchill's mouth at the moment of releasing the shutter!
In SL, you can direct your model too, asking them to use their head HUD to alter their expression. You can even, by using such tools as the Animare+ posing HUD, take control of their poses yourself. You can control your subject in ways that – if an RL photographer tried it – no model would want to work with him again! Yet it is notoriously difficult to express real emotion with an SL portrait. An SL photographer must replace with skill, guile and technique all the things we have to do in SL with emotes and emojis to convey our feelings.
So we appreciated and enjoyed Tiya's portraits very much. Yes, the expressions on display are limited in range. In RL, professional models also tend to have their versions of Zoolander's Blue Steel and photographers also have "go to" looks they ask for. Yet she's still managed to give us a sense that there's something between her subjects' ears other than the SL head maker's cartoon brain!
We know it's a good exhibition when we can't decide on one work to buy for our collection. Tiya is selling her portraits on a pay as you feel basis so, if we had less ruth than we do, we could have bought them all. Conscience would not permit that, so we settled on two and paid a reasonable price for each.
NEW ACQUISITIONS
After last week's purchasing pause we've added a few items to the collection this week. From their new gallery adjoining the offices of the Limoncello News in Emyniad, Campbell Coast, we bought two oil paintings by mother and daughter art team Samaniego Art. The gallerist/curator (and the artists' daughter/granddaughter) our friend Bijoux Barr tells us that both Waves and Reflection are by Samaniego the Younger, her mother.
By way of generous gifts from the artist we acquired Red Oriental and Four Corners by AmandaT Tamatzui. We also acquired A Dream by ilyra chardin – the third work by this artist in our collection. We bought The Sky is Falling by Jamee Thomson and Swampduck and Cryssy_Asian from Tiya Aura's show at Art Korner.
All this week's new acquisitions hang on the 14th Floor of the LG Tower at our mainland annexe in Nanga.
Until next week, Limoncello Friends, stay arty!