By Prokofy Neva, Virtualtor
This is my new art blog!
But I’ll tell you more about that in another post, because I HASTEN to tell you that today is the LAST DAY OF RAGLAN SHIRE ARTWALK!!!
So hurry on down to the Shire and go for a nice L-O-O-N-G-G walk while you still can (until midnight SLT) because there is LOTS to see!
The ArtWalk is the largest, most inclusive, most eclectic and least judged show in all of SL (that’s why I’m in it).
To be sure, like other events (notable Fantasy Faire), they had a ban on AI art or art generated by artificial intelligence platforms like MidJourney, as distinct from digitally manipulated art or screenshots from SL. I spent several evenings painstakingly picking out all the AI-generated texture from my set of 6 Dragon Year Eggs, and replacing them with licensed textures from the MP — which makes them decidedly less pretty, in my view. A certain percentage of especially the cheapest textures likely were copied wholesale off the Internet without license, so we’re back where we started but…ok.
So, first, there are my 2D photographs and my sculptures, but don’t waste time on these because you can see them another time in one of my galleries.
If nothing else, I would urge you to see TODAY BEFORE IT CLOSES what I have definitely found to be the work BEST IN SHOW:
“Journey to Myself” by Kage Stratten (kaydge).
61 prims.
It’s in the sculpture section here.
First, no artist could ask for a more appropriate site than Raglan Shire for a work that appears to be about a man getting in touch with his Inner Bunny. Artists sometimes struggle for exhibit spaces that can accommodate their visions — that’s not a problem here.
The Shire is a bucolic romp of Tolkien-type landscapes and buildings mainly for Tinies but with some biggie accommodations as well.
“Journey to Myself” is mixed media, that is mesh, prims, and possibly sculpties. It consists of four panels where a drama is enacted which one could interpret in different ways — that’s the beauty of it.
There’s the cuteness of the bunny, of course, but an Atlasean struggle seems to go on here as the man as “human” or “normie” or “biggie” is submerged under the walking level of the build. The bunny morphs from cuteness into aggression as he wields a big whomp hammer — and we see the look of terror on the biggie below.
In fact, we wonder if the work is about a bunny coming to terms with his inner human?
Finally, there is the resolution, thank God, where the man accommodates the bunny — or the other way around? — and the two walk off happily together stage left.
The male figure appears to have been made by the author from mesh — it isn’t one of those model NPCs you buy on the MP (as I do to make sculptures).
Look at the expression on the face — very skillfully done!
Yet the bunny has a more primitive “old school” look (and maybe was done with sculpties?) and that also lends to the drama and charm of the piece.
Take awhile to drink it in and walk around there and the other sculpture gardens.
Like other works I wanted to write about, I lost this place for awhile and walked in circles unable to find it (that is a distinct liability of Art Walk so bring bread crumbs and be willing to pin yourself on the map first before you take a SLURL).
Looking at kaydge’s profile, which seemed to be mainly about human activity, including a human partner, I was even more intrigued that he was doing a bunny-related work for Raglan Shire.
So I caught up with ArtWalk organizer Karma Da Squabbit (karmagirl.avro) to locate the piece again — and that’s when she told me the sad news that Kage (Kaydge) Stratten had died in RL in 2017, and that the work was provided to the ArtWalk by his widower, Seth Stratten.
She noted that he was also a bunny at times.
“i think he did split his time between human male and tiny bunny. not sure if it was 50/50 or 70/30.”
She commented that he once had another avatar which he had to abandon, named Emile Sands.
There is also a statue he made in a memorial garden for him.
More to come soon on other works.