There are a lot of supremely talented people operating in SL. Obviously there’s the clothes designers and sim builders, who have great talent in their areas of expertise. But there’s also other creative types, those who perform live from home to provide entertainment to an exclusively SL audience.

And a look on Flickr shows there are more for whom digital photography, in an SL context, is their thing. Sometimes, they’re also creating art in the real world and offering SL variations on it.

At Su Casa Naturist sim there’s a gallery on the beach featuring the real life and Second Life work of various users/members there. This work below by ‘Susan’ is called ‘Coming Storm’ and it’s available to buy…for L$0! So I’ve got a copy of it as I think it speaks volumes for the talent involved. RL photographers would give a lot to be able to replicate such an image! And, of course it also demonstrates naturism in nature, always a winning theme.

From there I hopped over to LeMelon Rouge’s Soho gallery. Another exceptionally talented artist whose work features nudes a lot.

I’m standing in front of one called ‘Alone 3’, and again the vivacity of naked life just spills out of the art.

Incidentally, I am standing in front of the photos in order to ‘spoil’ them. I’ve noted that this blog’s policy is one of not intentionally infringing anyone’s copyright, hence me there to break the photos of the original art up a bit. Of course, if any of the artists have an issue with us using their artwork we will take the photos down immediately.

LeMelon has his own (real life) website that you can find here, and another web presence here. He’s also on Facebook.

This brought me to Yoko Ireto’s gallery. I haven’t included any of her stunning SL photography for the reason that the photos are hung at a height that makes it difficult to photograph with me in them and, as explained above, ‘break up’ the copyrighted works.

Which brings me to the genesis of this post – SL avatar Stacia Reneoir, whose Flickr page alerted me to the fact that she produces some fabulous art on her page, but she also had an exhibition on in a gallery, Stacia’s Stories.

I teleported over there immediately and was simply blown away with the exhibition, as I am with her Flickr page.

There are those who like to detract from SL as ‘pointless’ or ‘just a game’, but I feel that when people as talented as these are are working in SL then it can never be dismissed in such a lazy manner. I would urge you  to try to visit one of SL’s many galleries where you will find some remarkable (often naked) art that is testament to their various creators’ skills.

Naturism is peripheral to this blog entry, but the fact remains that the naked body, in marble, in oils, in watercolour, in photography and now digitally, continues to fascinate and engage artists.

Gigi

In the bleak midwinter, frosty wind made moan,
Earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone;
Snow had fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow,
In the bleak midwinter, long ago.

Christmas, we are told, is a time of family and togetherness. But for many it’s possibly the loneliest time of the year.

Susan, our photographer, is much more inclined to capturing many of SL’s lovely photogenic sims than she is necessarily to photographing anything else. We all play SL in her own way and that’s hers.

So she was out in the Ponto Cabana sim, photographing winter when she chanced on an artist’s studio.

She took some photos, and I’ll let her explain in her own words in the IM she sent to me. ‘It occurred to me that creative types are prone to depths of despair, and the poses reflected that sense of despondency. So I got a male friend to pose, simply to illustrate how there can be a sense of loneliness in the act of creation and something that can lead to depression. It seemed apt for the holiday period where we’re sold the idea of togetherness, but it’s forced and actually drives people apart. So I ended up with a small portfolio I’ve called ‘Study in Solitude’ as well as some more general landscapes.’

I love it when someone essentially writes a blog post for me, lol.

I agree that the photos do convey a sense of loneliness that can become stark for many people at this time of year, and I love the photos. It can be bleak in midwinter, not only weather wise, but emotionally too. I suppose what I want to say is that there are many lonely people out there, and if you know of anyone liable to ‘a blue funk’ maybe now’s the time to reach out to them and offer some emotional support.

Gigi