Cajsa Lilliehook covers the best in virtual world screenshot art and digital painting
Maloe Vansant has been a favorite artist of mine for years, something I said the last time I wrote about her. It’s as true now as then. Pictures like this are the reason why. The woman’s face is so beautiful, but in the texture of the skin we see the breakdown and deterioration. There are scratches and breaks in the surface and there is a growth of gold daubs of paint, flecks that fleck off, a kind of beautiful decay. The title is “Sweet Dreams Are Made of This” and it immediately reminds me of that video that frequently zoomed in on Annie Lennox and her castmates’ faces, but most often on her face. Even without the Eurythmics connection, though, this picture is extraordinary.
For more of the breathtaking imagery from Maloe Vansant, click here:
“Let Me Touch You” is stunning. I love how the lights catch each wrinkle and pleat in the gloves and highlight just a bit of the face. For some reason, Flickr is malfunctioning so when I zoom the screen turns all white and no picture loads, so I cannot look more closely to see the chin. It looks like makeup, but it adds to the mysterious effect of this chiaroscuro picture.
“Flourish” is another stunning picture and the title is so perfect. The most common meaning of flourish today is to thrive, to live well and prosper. She certainly seems to thrive, but there are so many other meanings of "flourish". When you sign your name and add a little fanciful curve while dotting the I’s and crossing the T’s or jazz up the descenders of your P’s and Q’s, your making a flourish. A flourish is a flowing curve, like the curve of her body. It’s an attention-getting gesture like the windblown updraft shaping her skirt like petals of a flower. Its older meaning was to adorn, to embellish, to ornament. You can flourish a weapon.
Doesn’t this picture capture all the ways you can flourish? The skirt makes me think of the petals of a flower while her upper body forms the stamen and her legs the stem. And of course, flourish harks back to the Latin flor, or flower.
Maloe Vansant’s photostream is a small subset of her work, most of which is displayed in various galleries in Second Life. But it’s not to be missed. In addition to posters for her shows, there are several pictures, all of them distinctive and deliberate. These are not random snaps, but planned and considered artworks. Her entire stream is a gift.
All images copyright Maloe Vansant
See all Cajsa's Choices here. Want to recommend an artist to feature? Tag Cajsa with your favorite pics on Flickr, on Primfeed, and Facebook. (Self-promotion welcome!)
Cajsa’s Choices is devoted to unique, artistic, and innovative virtual world-based images and screenshots that showcase the medium as an art form and Second Life as a creative platform. (Generally not images that fit on this Bingo card.)
Cajsa Lilliehook is a seventeen year resident of Second Life, where she owned a photo studio, spent several years as a DJ at The Velvet, and for her first SL job, cleaned up prim trash. She co-founded and runs the It’s Only Fashion blog with her best friend Gidge Uriza. She also has a book review blog, Tonstant Weader Reviews and a cooking blog, Single Serving Recipes. She spends a lot of time researching and reporting on Republican sexual predators. In her first life, she is a retired grassroots leader who has worked for economic and social justice issues most of her life. She is also the minion of a cat named Nora.
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