"Virtual Artists’ Immersive Discoveries in a Virtual 3D Frontier" is a long post on the blog of Art21, a New York arts group that produces the Emmy-nominated PBS Series Art:21 -- Art in the Twenty-First Century. (A recent episode was devoted to the SL art of Cao Fei.) Stalwarts like DanCoyote Antonelli, Bryn Oh, Maya Paris, and Vu Sosa (avatar names for individuals who are also artists in real life) explain their metaverse-based work, and their approach to it. A much more academic appraisal compared to the recent New York Times magazine feature on SL art (which was also excellent), it's one of the best appreciations I've read so far, because it situates Second Life in relationship to other medium. As author Nettrice Gaskins puts it, SL art is "what comes after postmodernism... discovering and reconceptualizing art in a virtual 3D frontier." I'm still looking for a richer vocabulary to describe SL art, and what makes the best examples of it profound, but this is a good start. Especially with the William Saroyan quote that starts the article: "The role of art is to make a world which can be inhabited."
Bryn Oh, who alerted me to the post, has a suggestion for patrons of SL art: "Please go to the site and leave a comment if you can. It will show them that the article was a success and that covering Second Life art is something they should consider in the future as well."
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