Saturday, December 5, 2015

Erotic Art in Second Life (Part II) – It Might Get Nude


 

 

Nakedness reveals itself. Nudity is placed on display.... The nude is condemned to never being naked. Nudity is a form of dress.

John Berger

 

 

          Recently, I received a notice from Fanny Vermont, a friend in Second Life (SL), about  an exhibition she was having inworld of her work.  

          Fanny and I go back to my days when I was wandering around !Naked! working on my stories about nudist resorts in SL.  (Don’t roll your eyes with me, these are the stories
that bring you back!  Admit it!)

          Needless to say, Fanny is comfortable wandering around SL nude. 

          Fanny is also a photographer and the exhibit she invited me to combines both her interests.

          Her exhibit, entitled It Might Get Nude is a collection of nude self-portraits.

          Always being interested in the arts inworld (I ignore Significant Other’s comment about especially when everyone is nude while rejoining with who suggested I go about nude inworld in the first place!)

          I schedule an interview with Fanny to discuss her work and the exhibit.

          Our plan is to meet at her apartment and then proceed to the gallery hosting her exhibit.

          (For the record, we’re both dressed!  And if you plan on visiting the exhibit, please dress.  It’s required!)

          A little about Fanny before we proceed onto her work.

          Fanny’s first foray began with role play on a Gorean sim inworld. 

          While there she met a friend who introduced her to getting by in SL.

However, after a couple of months she felt “locked” there.  It was a very closed society and they did not like people to be elsewhere than on the Gorean sim when they were online.

And so, sooner than later, Fanny left to explore the Grid. 

Fanny laughs as she tells me how she stumbled into a porn movie circle in her incarnation inworld. 

She explains that there were some nice and interesting people among the crew but she did not play in one of their movies except for one time as a dancer in the background. 

In addition, there was a relationship which ended badly and Fanny finally ran away from SL to have a break. 

(Trust me, SL can be as hard on relationships as RL can ever be!) 

But after a couple of months Fanny felt the urge to come back again. 

She was curious to see more of SL.

And Fanny decided to restart with a new avatar.

With a flourish she points to herself and says, "And voila, it's me."

(For the record, Fanny has done a great job with her new avatar whether dressed or undressed!)

Fanny doesn’t know why, but it turned out that she once again started in the "sex corners" of SL. 

(No snide comments about that’s all there are inworld!  Read some of my other stories and you’ll see!)

 Fanny continues saying It didn’t last too long before she met a guy who then showed her the !Naked! sims.

Fanny moves on from her life inworld to begin to talk about her exhibit. 

Fanny is interested in photography in Real Life (RL) as well and also likes nude photography.

For her, it's always a bit like "back to the roots." Roots in the meaning of that we are not born with clothes.

Her RL experience with nude photography is pretty much finished as Fanny explains it's not easy to find models or, well, models who would do it for fun as opposed to cash.

The name of the exhibit, she explains, is based on the name of the RL documentary movie It Might Get Loud.

A nice understatement right in the beginning of a conversation among three guitar players of well known bands gives the title, and yes, it gets loud, Fanny laughingly tells me.

And, as the exhibit might get nude, well, you know the rest! 

Fanny takes a step back and begins to tell me about her creative process for her exhibit.

Fanny had an opportunity to do her work at the Medici Virtual University where she first thought she would use the small space for a gallery of her “stuff.”

But it didn’t take long before she thought to herself, "And what exactly do you have worth to be shown in a gallery?"

This is when her creative motor seems having gotten the kick it needed to get started.

I ask what motivated this “kick?”

Fanny replies that it was motivated by building, or as she corrects herself, her way of building.

Fanny explains that she is picky with things, working on details, etc.

I mention that all her models are women and she laughs while replying that she hopes so because they’re all her!

Next, I ask why there are no men or other women in her photographs?

Fanny’s main reason (if not the only one) is that she creates her own poses to get her hands and feet where she wants them to be and she means exactly where she wants them to be.  (She did say that she was picky!)

Continuing, she says that when she plays the same pose/animation on different avatars wearing different shapes you will notice that a pose/animation only looks perfect on the shape it was made for. 

I note that Fanny’s work is sensual and erotic while being artistic instead of hardcore, and ask if this is another deliberate choice on her part.

Her reply is that she does have some hard core images too, but have not shown them in public and she says that they don't lack art either but there are lots of hard core images available already and the circle to show them in public gets smaller.

She wouldn’t be able to show them in public other than at adult rated places. 

I ask which photograph in the exhibit is her favorite.

Fanny replies that “THE” piece is hard to say but she still likes About Snails and Circumstances, First Breath of Resurrection, and Checkmate! very much.

I add that I like the cello piece myself and she excitedly adds that one to her list of favorites.

Fanny explains that she is very proud of the cello photo and that if it was in RL it really would be a G on the A-string where her finger is on the string. 

(I’ll take her word for that.) 

I ask if we'll see any more work from Fanny in the future?

Her reply is that’s a good question, she considers the actual exhibit as the closing of the circle which is this series.

Fanny guesses she could go on with making good snapshots but the challenge is to get a common theme like the hollowed box of It Might Get Nude.

As for any other projects other than photos, Fanny says no.  It's photography for her. She is not a universal artist.

By now, we’ve arrived at the Lollygagger Art Center where the exhibit is being
shown. 

The gallery is a repurposed industrial building one would expect to see in NYC in RL.

The exhibit itself is small consisting of only thirteen photographs.

Fanny’s work is an artist's collection of studies in light, poses, and composition using herself as the nude model.

Each shows a different view of herself and make one stop and think about their meaning.  (At least I did!)

While the photographs are not hardcore erotica they may be considered NSFW in many places so I recommend caution in viewing them.

Since they involve nudity and I’m still not that kind of blog, I won’t be showing any close-ups here! 

However, the exhibit can be seen here in SL and this flickr page has many of Fanny’s
photographs available for viewing.

The exhibit is open from November 21st to January 9th.

I strongly recommend anyone interested in photography especially nude photographs and who wants to see the work of an up and coming SL photographer to check this exhibit out before it closes. 

Please remember to dress! 

I’d like to thank Fanny for taking the time to meet with me, show me her work, and answer my questions! 

(Significant Other feels I can be a Philistine when it comes to the arts!)

          More pictures from my visit with Fanny can be found on this flickr page.

As always, I’m grateful to all inworld for their kindness and time in stopping to talk with a stranger who was passing through their lives

My Twitter handle is @webspelunker.  Please feel free to follow me and I’d be happy to follow you.

I can be found on Google+ as webspelunker Ghostraven.

My flickr Photostream is located here.

On Skype I’m webspelunker Ghostraven.

I welcome feedback from readers, please either comment on my blog or e-mail me at webspelunker@gmail.com . 

          If you would like to read about my other adventures in Second Life
please click here.

          Open roads and kind fires!

 

 

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