Art in Second Life

What is art? One definition is that a 'piece of art' is a human creation that evokes an emotional response or shows beauty.

There are many artists in Second Life, and their creativity is expressed in many forms: painting, photography, sculpture, dance, machinima, fashion, music, architecture, created experiences, writing, etc.... I also consider fashioning the environment, (land and weather), to be an art. Certainly avatar appearance and fashion can be an art, as is interior decorating. I have even read that one of your first acts when entering Second Life, choosing a name, can be an art in itself.

Some second life artists create mirror images of the real world as art - they take a picture of a real life work and digitally recreate it, but other Second Life artists are not hindered by the realities of gravity, entropy, a shortage of raw materials, or even logic.

I remember the impact of the first 'out of the box' art I encountered in Second Life. It was an installation called "Kolor Fall" by Patrick Faith. I can still remember how amazing it was to fly through an immense landscape of floating shapes as they swirled and changed color.  The region is no longer active, and Patrick Faith has moved on, but you can still see some examples of his work on https://www.youtube.com/user/patrickfaithart/featured. You can also watch a short machinima "Clouds and Remembrance"which includes music and dance.

For what is here, in Second Life, now, I found myself floundering to sort out 'the best' from a list too long to put on one page. I have already blogged about Patrick Moya and Earl Dinkins in previous posts.

 Bryn Oh is an important Second Life artist, and Cica Ghost is another. See photos of her work on flicker. Be sure to visit their installations when they are open.

Bryn Oh's "Skybox" is in the lobby of her current installation. You can walk on all the surfaces.

You can get notices about different art events by joining the Cercle Fafner group. You can also get an "Art Galleries of Second Life" hud from a kiosk found in many galleries. The hud is made by Sasun Steinbeck, herself an artist, and wearing it takes you from one gallery to another. Second Life also publishes a list of art locations in its destination guide.

Part of a large temporary art exhibit - some galleries are on land, and some in the air. 

A Cica Ghost sculpture from her "Yarn World" exhibit being displayed at Wanderlust Art Park. 

Some art galleries will have posters directing you to other art galleries. You could go on forever.

The Wheedle Gallery is one of my favorite 'traditional' galleries in Second Life. Located in historic Calleta, it has three stories of displays aboveground, and an entrance to a maze of tunnels under the region that are frustrating fun to explore.

Wheedle Gallery in Historic Calleta

Some Second Life artists import copies of work they have created in real life to Second Life. When these artists leave Second Life their work still exists in one world. Unfortunately, when an artist creates work that can only exist in virtual reality much of it is lost when they leave.

I already wrote about how Kolor is gone, but another area that seems to be in the process of disappearing is "Scarpyland". The area is listed as "where Scarp Godenot and Artcrash Exoner live and work". It wasn't until I started doing research on this article that I found out that Scarp and Artcrash were avatars of the same person. Scarp was quoted as saying "I have a very clever female alt.". Sadly, Scarp/Artcrash is/are now gone.

'Peristolic Twist Revealed'- a huge kinetic sculpture.

When I first visited it years ago Scarpyland consisted of many areas connected by a group of small sculptures acting as teleports. One area was 'Evil Alien Jungle', another a landscape of massive sculptures,  and there were several others.  Now there are only two sections mostly intact, and the rest are gone or are just floating landscape with large gaps. On the 'Evil Alien Jungle' level I was saddened to find the figure of a small patient cat perched on a table at the edge of nothing.. The most complete area is the sculpture level, where there are huge kinetic sculptures. While copies of some of these sculptures are available on the Marketplace, there is nothing like seeing them all together.

"Evil Alien Jungle" landscape by Scarp Godenot

Update: The Linden Endowment for the Arts encouraged artists by offering them a place to display their work. The Lea Art Sandbox was always full of works in progress. I am sad to report that they closed in August 2019.

The sandbox at Lea

Two regions to visit are Sparquerry and ACC Alpha. There is so much to see there that it is overwhelming. You might start by taking a free ride from the Port of Sparquerry to ACC Alpha.

But there is so much more.... Check out some of the bloggers on the right margin of this blog to read more detailed narratives of different artists and art venues. See it while it is still here.

Added: At the recent Home & Gardens Expo I visited an exhibit by Aruba DeCuir and later visited her gallery in Barnstable. There is a small gallery at groundlevel with a teleport to the three-story skybox. http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Bay%20City%20-%20Barnstable/202/115/25