Funny thing happened on my way to decorum. I was asked to speak to my wife’s Creative Thinking class on Thursday night, and everything was all set to go. The students were to meet at Ruttan Gallery in Second Life at 7pm, and I would use the exhibit of my digital paintings as a springboard to discuss the creative process and ways in which one could unleash one’s own creative energy in any endeavor.

Well, things got off to a pretty good start, but within a few minutes it became clear that a number of students were unable to hear me on voice chat. So, since my wife (their teacher) was in the gallery, and also sitting next to me on the couch in RL, we decided to switch computers – and avatars – she on a Mac and me on a pc. It being a somewhat serious venue until then, it was suddenly transformed into a bit of slapstick comedy.

So, I was walking around the gallery as a female, using a computer I was unfamiliar with, and although my avatar was supposed to be the center of attention, he mostly just stood there. To top it all off, every time I spoke, Zil’s lips would move. The class was in stitches.

But the high point of the evening came when I hit a wrong key on the Mac and my female personna started climbing the wall and believe it or not, managed to sit on top of the painting I was beginning to speak about, adding to its luster. In fact, we all agreed that my/her boots fit right in with the bandoliers hidden in the painting.

This is one of the things I love about Second Life; it’s difficult to take anything too seriously for very long, and it is full of endless surprises, often at your own expense. But it’s all good, and never boring. The students, in fact, thought it was the highlight of the school year. I even think they learned something. Smiles all around.

Last night I threw on on a suit, jumped into my magic teleporter, and zap! presto chango! there I was, standing in front of Ruttan Gallery in Cetus, ready for my “Meet the Artist” event at exactly 7pm. I’ll bet Jackson Pollock wasn’t this punctual. To be honest with you, though, I had to brace myself as I walked in because I’ve never really enjoyed this part of my art career; standing around for hours, talking about everything but art with people that you might not otherwise be talking to. But this was not real life.

For one thing, it seemed clear from the start that everyone who attended the event seemed to really want to be there. For another, many obviously appreciated the work and went out of their way to let me know, and some actually wanted to talk with me about it. This is a lot easier to do in a crowd in SL, by the way, thanks to their chat features; the “exterior” or public chat, a free-for-all textfest that flies by just as fast as each person in the room can type. This takes a great deal of discipline and attention for me, because I’m not the best typist in the virtual world, and I’m a monotasker. Hey, I’m a guy.

Then there is the Instant Messaging feature, which enables you to have a private conversation in the background with another individual, while surfing the public, or local chat. I had several of these last night, usually beginning with a compliment or question about the work, and was amazed at how enthusiastic and knowledgable these folks were. But then, most of the longtime residents of Second Life are among the most adventurous, creative, and intelligent people you will ever meet . Some of the most interesting minds in the world are walking around in avatars these days.

Music was provided by the great Winston Ackland who, rumor has it, was once a member of a very famous band in real life. A great singer, a great songwriter and an artist in his own right, he struck the perfect note again and again, providing just the right mood for the festivities.

But it was as the party was winding down that lengthier and more serious conversations began. One of them was the one I had with DB Bailey, well-known rl architect and sl builder, in which we discussed the 3D possibilities embedded in an image such as cameo. The fact that all of my images have been created in Photoshop, using a composite of image sources, means that the many layers contained within each of them lend themselves readily to transformation into a 3-dimensional object, according to DB. Needless to say, I’m pretty excited about this idea, and in fact can’t wait to walk into a room called cameo in the near future. Thanks, DB.

The exhibit will be up until the end of October. Drop by and visit, and feel free to drop me a line if you want to know more about the work.

Second Life photos by Happiness Merryman, from the top: DB Bailey and Chrome Underwood standing in front of cameo; Chrome, Harper Beresford and Xander Ruttan, owner of Ruttan Gallery, discuss the setup as things are about to get underway.

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Cetus/216/34/35/?title=Cetus%20Gallery%20District

Like many others, Chrome spent some time wandering around the Burning Life festival in Second Life last week, shootin’ some pitchas. In the photo above, he is seen at the entrance to IO, Dizzy Banjo‘s cosmic intergalactic journey built – believe it or not – out of nothing more than ones and zeros. (smiles)

See the entire slide show of Chrome’s photos at flckr.

Click image to see full size.

Can’t keep his mind on nothin’ else...

Couldn’t help singing that old Percy Sledge classic, either, as I slowly put together my latest alt, Juliette. As a Second Life blogger, photographer and artist, it’s nice to have a stealth avatar to move smoothly and quietly – and anonymously – through the metaverse, in search of action. It’s become even more crucial now that Chrome has become so damn popular. I don’t know what it is about that guy, but he can’t log in without running ino a shit storm of IMs these days. Me, I prefer things a bit quieter. I like to be able to observe, think and create on the fly, without all the distractions of fame – or notoriety, as the case may be.

So, I decided a while ago that I would develop a pretty strong bench of backup avs that I could call on for a variety of roles, depending upon the state of play on any given day. Thus, la mia Capo di tutti capi, Chrome Underwood- handsome, young, mysterious and worldly – gets to do most of the heavy lifting. He’s the go-to guy for the paparazzi, the art openings, social events, business meetings and the like. Poor fellow.

Fortunately for him, though, he has an identical twin, Manhattan, who has proven to be more of an adventurer and is thus free to wander the seven seas of the Metaverse like a virtual gypsy. He’s the one who’s more than likely to be found slipping through cracks in the sidewalk in search of the original Nexus Prime, gliding down a darkened alley in Kowloon, or meditating in silence at Gion. He is l’artista in azione, the artist in action.

Next, I added Rooster, a leathery old former Special Forces guy who’s probably the toughest member of the team, and to be quite honest, doesn’t take too kindly to being bossed around by these younger guys. So, in order to soften some of the rough edges, and smooth some ruffled feathers, I introduced them all to Juliette. They immediately quieted down, and even got a little starry-eyed. It was, to be honest, a bit embarassing.

Though I’ve only been on a few shopping trips with her to set up her basic appearance thus far, I’ve already begun to learn that wherever Juliette goes, if there are any male avs in the vicinity, the temperature goes up at least a couple of degrees Linden. Since she is basically a lab rat, though (sorry, honey), I only allow her to flirt a bit and then provide her with a clever excuse to slip out of the conversation. Oops! Gotta run. Time for the kids to take their Ritalin.

I have a lot more sympathy for women already, though. Man, this is a lot of work. I wonder if there are any stores in Second Life that sell pepper spray.

Worked well into the night and up early this morning, setting up the first inworld exhibit of my digital paintings, to be held at the Ruttan Gallery in Cetus all this month. Until just over a year ago I had been quietly working in my studio; scanning, photographing, drawing, painting, sampling, etc. – doing my digital thing – when I got the call.

Asked to join a team that would create a virtual campus for the Santa Barbara City College, I immediately said hell yes, and a few days later walked through the magic mirror into Second Life, thus beginning my virtual existence as Chrome Underwood and, simultaneously, changing my first life forever. And, as of today, thus beginning my virtual art career.

While primarily abstract in nature, these works nevertheless contain elements of… well, look, something for everybody…. snippets of cars rusting in the Mojave Desert, a sample from a Kandinsky painting here, graffiti from the streets of Manhattan there, a scrap of an old drawing – all thrown into the blender and whipped into a pretty heady digital meringue. A veritable digital patchwork quilt show.

But, you know,  when you think about it, the flexibility of digital imaging is actually pretty amazing. Many of these images, for instance, already exist as large scale canvases and have been exhibited around So-Cal; some are now in personal collections; some hang on the walls of my Santa Barbara home.  Several of them were even displayed on large hi-def flat-screen TVs in a national exhibit at the Butler Institute of American Art. For a more casual viewing, you can also see them at my flckr gallery.

I’d also like to express my sincere thanks to Xander Ruttan and his staff, Alexxa Laval & Jonah Zenovka, for their professional expertise and immense patience during the setup. The show looks fabulous.

Visit Ruttan Gallery during the month of October and see the digital paintings of Chrome Underwood

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Cetus/216/34/35/?title=Cetus%20Gallery%20District

Photo, above: Chrome at Ruttan Gallery. Click to see full-size image.