New poster for the big fundraiser at the Newggenheim Museum today at 2pm, with works by Filthy Fluno and Chrome Underwood. Come one, come all, and support this worthwhile cause. http://slurl.com/secondlife/Moondust/121/81/113

Freereed FreeNote, director of the Newggenheim Museum in Second Life, has announced that a big fundraising event for the museum will be held next Sunday, March 29th. To quote from the press release, the event “will feature new pieces by RL and SL artist (and NY Times celebrity), Filthy Fluno, in his continuing series “Adventures in a Virtual World” as well as wonderful new works by RL/SL artist Chrome Underwood from his new series “Soul Jam for the New Millenium”. The special event will run from 2 pm to 6:30 pm SLT with music for your listening, browsing and dancing pleasure DJs Chrighton Johin of the Savoy Jazz: 2:00 to 3:30 PM SLT, Ganymede Ceriaptrix of Savoy Jazz 3:30 to 5:00 PM SLT and Fumuzi Kanjon of Hot Sax Jazz Club 5:00 t0 6:30 PM SLT. Prizes Awarded for Best Costume at 6:30 PM

The Fundraiser will help cover the cost of keeping the Newggenheim – a fully functional, interactive museum with exhibitions by contemporary RL artists – alive in SL. The Newggenheim’s design is based a three dimensional model from the actual architectural plans of the RL Guggenheim Museum in New York City. In operation for 15 months in SL,the museum was created to provide an educational and cultural focus point in SL. In addition to mounting shows by RL/SL artists during that time, the Newggenheim has raised money for the Red Cross and the Henry Hippen Education Fund through art auctions. The Museum was also proud to participate in last year’s Diegoland float parade, where its float, designed and built by Dresden Dagger, captured the “Most Artistic” prize.”

I can’t think of a more worthy cause than contributing to the future of the Newggenheim in Second Life. The long range effects of Ms. Freenote’s selfess efforts on behalf of countless RL and SL artists cannot yet be fully measured, but if the recent six-page article in the New York Times about one of those artists, Filthy Fluno, is any measure, I think it is safe to say that her work will not go unnoticed. I also believe that it should not only be acknowledged, but rewarded – in kind. Please support this most worthy of causes.

All you kind, art-loving avatars out there can find “the newg” at http://slurl.com/secondlife/Moondust/121/81/113

Working on the cube gallery presentation of some of my new paintings on Locus Island, now up for sale to benefit the Relay for Life in Second Life cancer charity. According to Dusan Writer, one of the sponsors of the event, it is “One of the most inspiring stories in Second Life. …As a successful charity event that is now in its third year, this event is a demonstration of the power of community facilitated through virtual worlds and has raised significant money for the American Cancer Society.”

Two paintings, seven eleven and nine and a half, will be available until mid-April. Visit Locus Island at http://slurl.com/secondlife/Locus/114/138/31

OK. Hell, yes. Let’s put this in here. I did this a few weeks ago, but for some reason haven’t posted it until now. An important painting for me for a number of reasons… among them being, my first truly large scale image incorporating Second Life imagery as its central element; a merging of the old style and the new, which I have referred to several times in the past. My last body of work was a bridge to the new work, but this is where it all begins to come together. Also, continuing to focus on the human figure by way of the avatar. Finally, hot and cool come together here; sparks are flying all over the place. This piece is titled nine and a half, partly in honor of Mickey Rourke, but mainly because it was the ninth work in the series, and the second version of it. Still love ya, Mickey.

Contemplating Diebenkorn’s sketch of a seated nude, high above my warehouse loft. This was a few days after crashing through the roof of one of my artcubes in my 34 Ford roadster. Having overcome this unexpected trauma, I decided to stick to my chopper for cruising up there; just too damn dangerous for a car – notwithstanding the fact that there’s no helmet law in Second Life.

Yesterday I decided to build a transparent platform at about 4000 meters in the sky – 1000 meters above my warehouse studio, in fact, which obviously is 3000 meters above the ground. I like the privacy up there, the silence; it’s a bit of heaven, for an artist. At any rate, I needed this invisible platform to enable me to rez objects and then photograph them floating free, unencumbered, in the sky above, where I can turn day into night, or summon a burning desert heat at the snap of a finger. In Second Life, you see, it’s easy being God.

So, I built the platform, and then decided to rez up my glorious silver 1934 Ford custom hot rod, a gift from fellow SL artist AM Radio, just to see how she looked, ridin’ high, racin’ with the moon. But it didn’t look right. Something was missing. I then thought I’d dip into my collection of digitized Richard Diebenkorn drawings, blow one up to about 40 meters square, drop it onto a transparent panel, and, voila, a beautiful charcoal drawing of a nude floating in the afternoon sky, lines roughly scribbled on the clouds.

This was good. This was very good. Until, that is, the moment I decided that the hot rod should be within the drawing, not in front of it. That’s when it happened. You see, when you’re driving a highly sensitive and seductive work of art on an invisible platform high in the sky, there’s always the danger of forgetting exactly where the edge is; sort of like the tourist telling his wife to back up a bit at the edge of the Grand Canyon for a better picture. Suddenly I found myself plummeting earthward at a very high rate of speed, and hitting the damn brakes didn’t seem to do a damn thing. Nothing to do but sit back and enjoy the ride.

It doesn’t take very long to fall a thousand meters in a car, I discovered, and within an instant the entire ensemble slammed into a giant chrome art cube (see neo-cubism, below) resting on the roof of my studio. The car appeared to be lodged about three or four feet into the cube, facing straight down. Since I was relatively unscathed, and this was, after all, a photo shoot, I immediately jumped out and began taking pictures. Serendipity rules in Second Life, remember, and you have to be ready for it at all times if you’re an artist.

So, I didn’t find exactly what I had set out looking for when I began this effort, but then, neither did Christopher Columbus. Like him, I was quite happy with my discovery, the result of which is the digital painting above, hot rod blur, which is now hanging on the wall of my studio, and will soon be part of the upcoming digital exhibit in Santa Barbara (more about that later). As for my future work on the platform, I’ll be  wearing a parachute from now on, and may even rez a few guardrails up there. I’d wear a hard hat, but it might mess up my flexi-hair.