Relaxing in an artful flowerbed

Stretching out my tired writing arms

Yesterday I was walking the stylish floors of the Palais Orleans, and just as I was about to leave I got an IM from anibrm.jung, the owner of Art By Nature! (SLurl).  I had visited the place before, and now she had a couple of new photos.

I TP'ed over, and got a nice chat with her.  

ANI is doing RL nature photographs, and as you can see she has created an SL gallery that confirms with the theme:-)  You are literally walking on green pastures while admiring the beautiful shots.  She has a nice video on Youtube presenting her art too (Video).

What I like a lot is her attention to details in the scene; like in one shot the focus is on a nail in a fence, while the horses on the field behind is blurred.  It so reminds me of one of my favorite movies: American Beauty.  If anyone of you have seen it, you will remember one of the main characters walking around, videotaping odd stuff like an old bag of plastic dancing in the wind, just because he found it so beautiful:

  "Sometimes there's so much beauty in the world, 
I feel like I can't take it, 

and my heart is just going to cave in."

ANI gives me the same feeling with her best shots.  Eveyone (including me, lol) can make a nice sunset picture, but it takes more of an artist to show us the hidden treasures in the nature surrounding us.

I have given some thoughts about the difference between a gallery mimicing RL (like the Palais Orleans) and more NPIRL-like places like Art by Nature!   Being quite a NPIRL fan I must confess to generally liking those places best.  Even so, when art itselves is clearly SL bound, it creates a nice contrast do display it in surroundings our brain holds for real.

But when it comes to displaying RL photographs, NPIRL is definitely the way to go.  So pictures set up outside in the rain, and grass growing throutgh the floors of the few buildings works so well.  Art by Nature! is definitely worth visiting, and if you bring someone special, you can relax together on a coach by the fire, sharing the beauty around you and in your selves.

Fleet Week video

The Third Annual Fleet Week in Winterfell is just over, and the place now looks sadly empty without all the magnificent vessels.  Loki Eliot has made this nice movie and placed it here:

http://youtu.be/LySyVaQo7_M?t=2m45s.  

One fun thing (for me that is LOL) is that my humble castle is clearly visible in the background!  Seems I need to turn down the lights a little bit...

Dark Night Of the Soul Indeed

I love sitting while I write...

Morgana Nagorski has an exhibit at the Palais Orleans (SLurl) you don't want to miss.

If you don't know Palais Orleans, it's a classy and classic contemporary art gallery, often housing high-quality exhibitions.  And this one is one of the better I have seen here.

I have real problem summing up these pictures.  As I walk around, I find myselves touched by each work, as if they spoke to me.  When I look at "Battered and Exhausted" I really recognize not only a battered avatar, but an exhausted human.  And combined with a wonderful lightening effect this is a true piece of art.

And then there is the screaming face of a woman clearly being abused by another avatar, titled "Don't Hurt Me" - it's just too strong for words really.

Walking further down, I find "Let's Go Get 'Em", a curious piece with a beautiful girl standing between torsos on sticks...  And futher down is "Empty", depicting an empty railway station.... I think you get the impression: This is an exhibit with lots of very different pieces that has one thing in common: A lot of work and care has been put into them, and they deserve to be studied as the great art they are.

It seems like every time I tire of the lag and the crashes and conflicts with RL and funny and useless new viewers from the Lab, I stumble upon something like this: An exhibit that showes the real power of virtual worlds: Great art that just would not be possible without virtual worlds.

Thanks Morgana, for giving us your art and talent.