Tuesday, March 27, 2007

The Dare to Hope.

Over the weekend, my animator was able to once or twice log in via laptop to Second Life and awaken me. I found an IM waiting for me from one Tayzia Abattoir, wanting to chat with me. I was fortunate enough to find her in world at that moment, and she TP'd me to her platform. She told me that she was the curator for the Crescent Museum of Taber Tudor Village, which she described as the first and oldest art gallery in SL. She wanted to make an exhibit out of my paintings.

Aaack! Smile. Shiver. Silly grin. Aaack!

"Why, certainly," I tell the fine lady. "I will deliver them to you either tonight or tomorrow."

"Take your time," she replied with a smile.

I went to visit the museum at once of course. It is smallish and somewhat eclectic, but the works on the wall are of fine quality. What's more, a Starax sculpture graces the interior. To share museum space with Starax elicits, well, "Aaack!"

My animator drove out immediately afterward to keep his promise to me, and he bought oil paints, a pallet, pallet knives, odorless turpentine, a midsize, pre stretched canvas, and an easel. Total: $78, and this with a 40% coupon off on the paints.

In store, skimming a book on oil painting, my animator decided that cowardice was the better part of wisdom, and to start with a still life instead of a more complex work. It is a new medium for him, and he needs to learn its properties before he goes on with a work that would have deep significance for him.

The next day (yesterday), I dropped off my works with Tayzia. She told me that she was also the curator at the NMC museum, and she asked me if I had visited it yet, to which I responded no. She said that she would also place some of my work there, as well.

I went to visit the NMC museum.

"Aaack. Aaack, Aaack!!!"

This is not a museum that could be described as small in any way. It is large, with many fine works scattered on many floors. After a few moments of ogling, the Princess informs me that Tayzia was the one who set up the Starax exhibition. She is a VERY big name in the arts in SL.

I was out of Aaacks at this point. I am torn at a place between pride and befuddlement, and am daring to wonder if perhaps these works may be of museum quality in the real world.

But, my animator has passed down this road of hope before, and he has always gotten lost upon it. SL seems to be taking me on a guided tour down this road on his behalf, and I will see where this tour takes me before I let him get ahead of himself.

In the mean time, the question looms; can my animator recapture whatever it was that he did 20 years ago in the works he does now? How have the years affected him? Has maturity honed his skills, or has the bright spark of youth faded with the intervening years of toil and trouble? His mind isn't flooded with the overwhelming power of the Colors as it had been before--Colors that would fill his mind with such vibrancy that it made it hard for him to sleep at night for their intensity--Colors on a canvas that shown so brightly in his head that genuine surprise would fall over him when the painting did not glow in the dark when the lights where turned off. Will the entrancing power of the Colors capture him again when squeezes them out from their cloaking tubes?

Does he want them to?

Aaack!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

My own experiences in SL have given my animator new hope for life and the future, and have begun to bring back a sense of youth and joy she thought long lost. To swim as a mermaid, to ride a flying horse, to build castles in the sky, to ride on penguins or magic carpets with friends... These feelings have changed my animator deeply in the last couple of months, mostly because she has given herself up to me - for she realized that I am the true spirit of herself.
Tell your animator to quit questioning, let him give himself up to the spirit that is you, for you have the power to give back that spark to him. You have the power to restore his youthful outlook and infuse him with the joy of creation. While he paints, sit you under the tree in Faeria and watch him, pointing occasionally at the tiny shop where some have actually purchsed copies of his works... or at the BookSmythe next door where hangs a painting I fell in love with when first it caught my eye...

Catherine Moody said...

Wow Alphonsus! Wow wow wow! Best of luck to you! Please remember us when you become a famous artist!