I’ve been dreaming a lot lately, especially while spending a weekend on my boat; I don’t know if it’s the sound of the waves lapping on the hull, or the gentle rocking motion; but once I drift away, anything can happen. It was around sunset that I saw her for the first time… she appeared in a blaze of sunshine and a spray of foaming water….  ahh, but the rest of the story unfolds in living color over at mojozone, in the form of a.. of a dream, like I was sayin… well, you get the idea.

A tribute to Birthday, a painting by Marc Chagall, by Art Box, at the PiRats Art Network’s Omega Gallery. Art Box is a group of Second Life artists who create “detailed three dimensional sets, each recreating scenes in homage to famous works of art, in a virtual world setting.” Posing for the ‘painting’ above are Camille and her friend, Manhattan Atlas. To really appreciate this, google the original painting.

New show opening tomorrow at the Paris-based PiRats Art Network in SL, along with a number of other artists from around the globe slash metaverse. This particular gallery, a cluster of platforms reaching up into the sky, is one of my faves; I just happen to be one of those artists who feel that art without walls is a visual delight, and in a virtual world, what the hell are walls for, anyway? They do provide a modicum of security for some activities (wink, wink), but to be able to hang a painting on a cloud, well… that just tickles my fancy. I feel like that little boy sitting up there on the moon, fishing for, umm…. starfish?

And, yes, that is the lamp from the film A Christmas Story sitting in my studio. It warms my heart whenever I come back from a hard day in the pixel mines.

The exhibit will be held at the Omega Art Gallery from October 13 to November 7, and will include work by Chrome Underwood, Saiwun Yoshikawa, Maylis Lutrova, tshirtkikill Straaf, Got Pizzaro, Chris Hill AKA Curt Kongo, Van Caerndow, Andromeda Klees, Pixels Sideways, mitou Waco, Igor Ballyhoo, Solkide Auer, shellina Winkler and Art Box ( Frankie Rockett & Violet Sweetwater). Opening from 1pm SLT, Tuesday, October 13.

(avatar name) on 2009-04-12
2 of 2 members found this review helpful.
Wow these berets are great time to ditch all the rest this box is all you need after all 18 colours the shape is great only need to stretch it a little I have all the headgear and they are all very good I have the first beret and it was ok this is well smart some of the colours are not really for military so what I have enough to pick from

(actual review of a product on XStreet SL; couldn’t resist)

Finally found an art form that allows me to fuse the visual side of my brain with the verbal side: the good old, time-tested comic book. Words and thoughts had begun to appear together in my digital paintings lately, spurred on by the vague notion that I would actually attempt to create a graphic novel at some point in the future, but I hadn’t yet come to grips with the fact that I’d have to master an entirely new and different medium in order to do it… where to begin? Paintings, after all, are still paintings – that is, flat, static, single objects (albeit full of life, if they are good); but reading comics or graphic novels is like watching movies without a projector. You have to make that leap into the fourth dimension: Time.

Then I came upon a community of independent internet comic book artists online at a portal called The Webcomic List, where latest installments are updated daily, and where “internet geeks (can) keep up with their favorite webcomics quickly and easily, without having to check individual sites just to find updates..”, according to the site admin. Among the thousands of comics on display there I discovered some truly unique and creative voices; among them, the webcomic, Encore Seraphine…

While browsing through Seraphine’s archives, I began to realize that there was something different here, something that is very difficult to achieve in the two dimensional world that I work in…. communication on a truly human and personal level; channeled, layer by layer, through the thoughts, feelings and ideas of an avatar in Second Life. This is exactly what I had been attempting to do in my paintings, but here it was far more immediate and direct… and, within a few short hours, I was hooked.

So, last week I began to put together my own webcomic: mojozone, and have already completed two installments – in spite of the fact that I have no idea what the hell I’m doing, or where this thing is headed. But since both my lives have been pretty much built on serendipity, and since that is also the way I paint, I figured I might as well play my strong suit. If it’s still round, it rolls (might even rock); no need to reinvent it. More fun that way anyway.

So, enjoy the new comic; and above all, don’t hesitate to jump in and make comments, suggestions, etc. That, after all, is one of the best things about this new technology; we get to hang out with our new digital friends and share all our crazy ideas. What, after all, could be more fun?

mojozone: reflections of chrome underwood

Photo, above: Camille vamping it up at a display of new comic book art in Second Life