Sunklands

I’ve inserted two skyscrapers into the Pietmond landscape, one familar to fans of Pietmond and the other, higher one a brand new addition to the burg. The former is Big Boy Tower or just Big Boy, seen in Pietmond Phase II, and not that far from the new spot I set it up. My original post on this addition is here. Then I think I’ll call the new tower the Tower of Mann or Tower of A. Mann, sort of after rock singer Aimee Mann, who came up in a conversation between the wife and I recently, but of course is more a play off of the name Big Boy next door. The other tower is a big boy indeed, but this is a real *man* of a tower in contrast. I’ll have to measure the height asap but its looks to top the 100 meter mark quite easily. To put this is perspective, the Statue of Liberty is 93 meters high from the ground to Lady Liberty’s torch. And since that’s a statue of a towering woman and here in Pietmond we have Tower of A. Mann statue, perhaps they are more closely related in some as yet undiscovered way. Hafta think about that.

Also coming to Pietmond is Arcadia Asylum’s super nifty Bodega supermarket, packing a lot of entertainment into a trim 32 prim design. I’m not really sure why I’ve never used this structure before in Pietmond or anywhere else I can remember. Hmmm. Anyway, the market sits directly in front of the Tower of A. Mann, almost blocking the opening into this tower.

Pietmond’s new skyscape from the direction of the old Pietmond Heights location. Nice.

Wings 3 and 4 of the X-Spot Gallery contain abstract art by syncher friend Mike Casey and collages by Kenneth Rougeau and Julie Takac. As my collection from each of these artists hasn’t been significantly altered since I first introduced their Pietmond virtual galleries in late 2010/early 2011, I’ve decided not to review them again here but instead point to former Baker Blinker Blog posts on the subject.

First up came Mike Casey’s art, housed in SoSo West:*

http://bakerblinker.wordpress.com/2010/12/08/pietmond-ch-ch-ch-changes/

Then soon after this sprouted the Norum Gallery, a smaller venue chocked full of Julie’s beautiful collages:

http://bakerblinker.wordpress.com/2010/12/16/norum-gallery-01/
http://bakerblinker.wordpress.com/2010/12/16/norum-gallery-02/

Lastly came Kenneth Rougeau, one of the few Pietmond artists with significant Second Life experience, and who use to own a virtual gallery himself several years ago. I originally put his art in the Pietmond South Gallery, as discussed here:

http://bakerblinker.wordpress.com/2011/02/28/36508/

I’d also like to give a repeat plug to the art and photography of another syncher friend Stegokitty, as originally reviewed in this Gallery in the Rocks post from February 2011:

http://bakerblinker.wordpress.com/2011/03/05/gallery-in-the-rocks/

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* In conjunction with opening SoSo West, I also conducted a lengthy interview of Mike and his art in Jan.-Feb. 2011.

http://bakerblinker.wordpress.com/interviews/mikecasey01/

We continue from X-Spot Gallery, Wing 02a with an inworld snapshot of the second of 3 notecards (and accompanying Jeogeot map) describing the exhibit. Again I’ll let the notecard do most of the talking, and just give supplemental photos and descriptions here.

A wall containing mostly Chilbo related objects, including Grassland II (etched art by Kristine Kristan, present Chilbo mayor still, I believe) and a recently created town map. Along with these we have a poster advertising an art exhibit of another defunct Jeogeot Gallery, The Red Leaf, which use to exist next to the 4 sim Hanja infohub area at the heart of the continent.

More Chilbo related art, or, left to right, “gallery surface1” by Janis Shamen, “Winter Berries” by Corcosman Voom, and a Chilbo photo by Melodie Darwin… yes, she’s definitely taken pictures from all over this largest of Second Life continents. Also notice the very similar effect of foreground red plants in the Voom and Darwin works here.

Then looking directly up at the centerpoint of the exhibit gives you this view of “NO HEAD FLEXI FISH” from the Tubular Gallery southwest of Chilbo, a kinetic sculpture designed by elros Tuominen.

Also mentioned on Notecard 2 of this “Jeogeot through Art and Word” is the DKArt gallery run by Dave Koi. His 2 works in the exhibit are the red scupture “aim high”. along with “Babelstorm”, filled with blue cubes adorned with letters of the alphabet.

Notecard 3 of 3.

A Parktown photo by Darwin. I consider Parktown (on the west side of the Hanja infohub mentioned above) a type of twin or counterpart to Chilbo. It’s a shame they couldn’t team up in some way to generate a greater whole, perhaps initiating some kind of overall Jeogeot, um, unification. Not exactly the word I’m looking for, but teaming up to step everything up a notch, Jeogeot-style. Um.

Two similarly named works but from different Jeogeot locations: to the right, “Phoenix” by Kylie Sabra, and to the left, “Tuscon, Arizona” by Samara Barzane of Park Galleries, yet another Jeogeot art establishment that does not exist any more. To be honest, I can’t remember the story behind “Phoenix” — I promise to check that out asap; it’s not mentioned in the notecard I don’t believe.

More twinning: 2 unusual galleries from the same sim of Cheosan, although no relationship between the two that I know of. To the left we have “The Gallery Shaped Like a Woman” masterminded by Earl Dinkins. To the right is the plainly named Cheosan Building, which is not plain atall within or without.

Now 2 actual works by Dinkins: “205” (left) and “1105 quatrains pillar” (right).

2 Melodie Darwin photographs come next as we head up to the end of the exhibit (“Lordshore Bridge” and “Island Light”).

An early Second Life map found buried beneath a mysterious farmhouse in Eunhuang as described in this Baker Blinker Blog post.

To end: “Life” by Melodie Darwin…

… and a book called “Expedition 1: A Trip to the Southern Island” by famed Second Life explorer and conservationist Salazar Jack.

Start of “Jeogeot through Art and Word,” taking up a full wing (of 4 total) of the newly re-established X-Spot Gallery.

First of 3 maps and accompanying notecards describing the exhibit:

I’ll just move through each picture in succession as you encounter them. Here’s “Untitled” by Melodie Darwin.

LVPVS IN FABVLA p26: “There I found you, my love” (water and ink on blotter paper).

“What Counts” by Dale Innis (left) and “Around Every Corner” (right), digital art by Czar Nicholas.

“Orion” by Kyra.

“Commemorating Sculpties” by Melodie Darwin. Here’s the SLurl to the real deal.

Another Melodie Darwin photograph from the now extinct WES community at the end of West End Road.

“Deserted Crossroad” also by Darwin. I believe this use to be the center of what I called X-ville in the Baker Blinker Blog, officially known as Pine Tree Village and where I had a small gallery at one time.

“Steep Hill” by Darwin. This was near Sternberg, yet another extinct Jeogeot urban region, pheh.

Several Sunklands related pictures, or, from left to right, a photo of my Biggie Gallery formerly in Aotearoa; a rendering of a Dogon alien being by Lark Blackheart from a small, defunct Otaki Gorge gallery; and then a surrealist painting by Sambroxton String found in Big Sink.

Then 2 more photos from Sunklands to end this post, the first by Melodie Darwin once again and originating in the Felix Meritus Monestary that use to take up the entire Lil Burn Valley sinkhole; yet another fabulous Jeogeot location now gone with the wind.

And here’s another Jeogeot goner: the Roseheart community formerly of Second Sink.

X-Spot Gallery, Wing 02b

Although the number of kiosked Second Life galleries is down from several years back, there are still about 9 in the Sunklands area alone. My X-Spot Gallery is marked by the lowest of the orange squares in the above screen save from this art galleries of Second Life map, with each of these squares representing a gallery kiosk obtained through Sasun Steinbeck’s wonderful system.

Baker Bloch on the top floor of the Tower of TILE, a supplemental gallery to the X-Spot looming below him here.

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bb:

Hucka D., want to comment on the above photos?

Hucka D.:

Nah.

Continuing from X-Spot Gallery, Wing 01a, next we view “Trouble in Store”…

… and then on the wall across from it, the enigmatic “What’s Behind the Red Door?” I believe this is also the largest work of X-Spot’s Kollage Kid kollection, er, collection.

“Road Trip” (left) and “Elephantasmagoria” (right).

Straight ahead: “Cactus House”, a nice, compact black and white effort.

Then across from it we have another b&w collage exhibited beside the resting Baker Bloch here, named “What Lies Beneath”. Reminds me a bit of “Who Left That Tap Running?” from the upwards part of this wing.

The witty “I Remember the Incident at the Canal”. Do *you*?

“Found Heads” — there are a number of these type of collages in Michael’s work depicting a row of women and/or men whose appearance have been uniformly altered.

“nowhere town2.” Strangely enough I think I want to actually visit!

“Madonna and Egg”, made from Tunnock’s Tea Cake wrapper foil, old scrap and cut outs, according to Michael’s flickr page on the work. A bit different from the rest of those here.

And we leave this wing with “Victorian Seaside Holiday drawbacks No. 237” to the left and “Mr. Archimboldo” to the right, with another NYC background for the latter.

Super job Michael!

Wing 01 of 04 of the newly established X-Spot Gallery features 25 collages from Kollage Kid, or Brit artist Michael Leigh in real life. I describe his collage technique as quintessential toward the end of this Pietmond review from January. I’ll let the pictures do most of the talking, along with providing titles of each here. Please check out the Laughing Shed blog for more information about Michael’s exciting work.

As we head up into this wing of the X-Spot, we have the similarly punning “Wall Flower” to the right and “Flower Mill” to the left. Nice start.

“Freudsters”. Luv this one.

“Ant Invasion”.

And in a similar mode, once more, we have “Who Left That Tap Running?” just further up.

Then “Hula Hoop Party” across the wall from it…

… and “Time Travel” on an adjacent wall to both of the last 2 collages pictured above.

“Noah’s Submarine”, hehe, and, to the right of it here, “Cafe of Earthly Delights,” a cute and clever spoof of Hieronymus Bosch’s famed “Garden of Earthly Delights” triptych.

The marvelous “Bill Haley Fans”. You guys remember “Rock around the Clock” don’t you?

Another New York City disaster collage similar to “Ant Invasion”, this one called “The Great Flood”. Since taking this picture of Kollage Kid’s work, the Statue of Liberty and NYC as a whole have come up in another guise within this blog.

“Space Laundry” (left) and “The Gem Polishers” (right).

The most excellent “Drowning in Germs”. We’ve reached the top level of this wing.

X-Spot Gallery, Wing 01b