Cajsa's Choices: The Impressionistic Virtual Photography of Tutsy Navarantha

“Chacun ses propres rêves” by Tutsy Navarantha

Cajsa Lilliehook covers the best in virtual world screenshot art and digital painting

I am always drawn to photos with immediacy, that have the intimate spontaneity of the now. Photos that feel like no one paused to fidget with settings and poses and backgrounds, that feel as though they were snapped on the fly. That is the kind of art you will find on Tutsy Navarantha’s photostream.

New World Notes readers may already be familiar with Tutsy's machinima, frequently featured here. There is a similar sensibility in his photography, intimate, spontaneous, but rich in light, shadow, and story. Every photo elicits an emotional response, a reaction to the story you can’t help imagining to complete the scene. My conversation with Tutsy Navarantha below, discussing his artistic influences, favorite images, technical process, advice, and much more:

How would you describe your photos? 

My images are those of dreams, beyond time and from an invisible world ...

Who has inspired or influenced your work? 

According to my mood my inspiration is linked with a wide interest, from the old mural paintings until Jean Michel Basquiat or Keith Haring, rooted simultaneously and equally in Renaissance, Impressionism, Surrealism, Pop art, Caravaggio or Francis Bacon. I feel the same with regards to the photography of Henri Cartier-Bresson or Doisneau to Helmut Newton or Annie Leibovitz.

What is your favorite photo of your photos? How did you come up with it? What was your process? 

I don't have favorite photos. Flickr is like a notebook that allows me to reflect on doing tests before I visualise a real subject, like with an exhibition. I think it's good to let go of the aesthetic relationship with a work of art. Aesthetics research never is the place where creation emerges, but this step is slow, difficult, it is necessary to get rid of a lot of things to reach what is called the inspiration, a volatile fragile spark. It's actually a real encounter with oneself without any pretension. Whether the result is good or not, all that matters is the magic of this encounter.

“Ciao Dreamers!” by Tutsy Navarantha

How do you go about shooting your pics?

I am not at all a studio photographer with beautiful lights and fancy poses. Every artist has his style, thankfully, but this is not mine! Personally I prefer instant photos. I film and photograph a lot in SL. It often takes a while, sometimes quite long, before I look at my captures and feel inspired to work on a certain photo.

“Dazzled!” by Tutsy Navarantha

What percentage of your work is done in SL and what is done in post-processing? 

All my photos are made in SL. I think the work done in post-processing, Photoshop or other software, replaces the work done in the lab and the darkroom before the computer did not exist. Computer technologies opens a fantastic new field of creation. It would be stupid to deprive ourselves of it.

I am really drawn to Dazzled (above)! What were you thinking of when you did it? 

This photo is typically the kind of photo I worked on instinctively. I mean to say that little by little the light of the sunset has imposed itself in the different layers. In a previous life I was a painter, and I often work in the same way in successive layers until the moment you decide, it's over!

 

“Hiver” by Tutsy Navarantha

Who are some of your favorite SL artists? 

There are many artists in SL I admire, with different styles. But let's say that all creations, even those that are not really completed, are an excellent thing. Through creation there is always a reflection on oneself and on life. I think that any artistic research contributes a little to push back the barbarity of the world.

The problem today is to avoid too much dispersion. Many images invade us every day and many are of high quality. We can spend a lot of time there and allow ourselves to be invaded. Personally I am interested in what happens in virtuality and I avoid for now to get lost in real photos. For me, all the creations emerging from this new media, be it photos, films, fashion, buildings etc ... are the symptoms of a profound change in our thinking of our way of seeing the world.

That's the true nature of art, changing our perception of the world,  independent from the aesthetic relation with the object of art. So yes with the irruption of virtual reality in our lives we are experiencing the beginnings of a real revolution. It seems important to me to know the mechanisms, if only to see the inevitable dangers and to dominate them...

“BRB” by Tutsy Navarantha

What tips do you have for other folks interested in doing SL photography or machinima. 

I do not like giving advice... what i could say? Try to get a little out of the ego with avatar, look for other ways. Virtuality makes it possible to get out of reality. I think we must try to find the specificity of the medium we use. Do not try to make a movie in 70mm with a cell phone, or a complicated scenario with dialogue in a machinima. Second Life has its own limits but also a lot of dreams and poetry. That's what we should try to find and put forward without worrying about reality. And then find our own style. Many people are able to make a beautiful picture but unable to tell a story, to give an emotion through a style.

What do you want people to know about you? 

Nothing special. I give myself enough with my films, my photos or my exhibitions.

My virtual life is in continuity with my real life, I just change medium and try to adapt myself to it.

 

Where can people see your work?

Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/user3382860

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/TutsyNavarathna

FLICKR: https://www.flickr.com/photos/tutsy-navarathna/

Some images from Tutsy’s latest exhibition at Itakos Lea "the venal muse "

https://www.flickr.com/photos/tutsy-navarathna/albums/72157685697301881

Video made by Glasz DeCuir about this exhibition

https://vimeo.com/231255256

And the blog profile by Yoon

http://99faces.com/the-venal-muses-by-tutsy-navarathna-itakos-art-gallery-lea-16/

Cajsa Lilliehook joined Second Life in 2007 and has been enjoying the art of SL ever since. Disliking the common practice of critiquing poor photos, she decided to highlight good ones and explain why they work in hopes of inspiring with praise instead of criticism. Follow Cajsa on Flickr, on Twitter or on her blog.

Comments

[tutsy navarathna]

thank you very much for this post Cajsa Lilliehook . great work :)

[Dalia]

Incredibly inspiring. Ridiculously talented.

[Cybele Moon]

wow, great work indeed!

[HauteFlair]

Thanks for sharing. Great work. https://hauteflair.com/