Invention/Reinvention

Today I attended a private viewing at the new Avalon Arts Initiative gallery in Tabula Rasa. This opening exhibit named Invention/Reinvention features work by talented SL artists Jessica Belmer, Isla Gealach, and Rikku Yalin.

First of all the building is really beautiful and works well for the purpose. Winter Nightfire won a competition to design the gallery and has done a great job. I can see many different types of exhibits working here.

Scattered around the gallery, Rikku Yalin's robots greet you with an unarming look and the feel of quality design. She is a sim designer, and it shows in the automata. She clearly has a good grasp of  what works in the virtual. The robots work for many kinds of spaces, not just galleries. To me they have a melancholy look to them, which gives them an added level of meaning. Rikku is known for showcasing her work at the LEA sandbox.

Jessica Belmer's dark and beautiful imagery evokes not only the work of the German Surrealist Hans Bellmer, as suggested in the blog post by Rowan Derryth, but the world of stories, mysteries, a life in the imaginary. Originally showcasing only in Flickr, Belmer definitely fits the bill of a promising artistic talent, the kind Avalon Arts Initiative was created to support.

Isla Gealach of Cheeky Pea is a well known designer of home decor and furniture. Her works of art echo the high quality of her commercial work but have a more ethereal feel to them.

Curated by Rowan Derryth, who also owns her own gallery RoHaus and writes for Prim perfect, this exhibit, to me, holds a lot of gravitas. I would love to keep these works of art around. They are the sort of quality that lasts.