There have been two more blog posts commenting on Giovanna Cerise's "Flash Back/Flash Forward":
Kate Bergdorf: https://katebergdorf.wordpress.com/2017/06/12/art-in-june/ (a truly excellent analysis)
Maddy Gynoid (in German): https://echtvirtuell.blogspot.co.uk/2017/06/split-screen-flash-back-flash-forward.html
Showing posts with label Giovanna Cerise. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Giovanna Cerise. Show all posts
01 June 2017
Bloggers on Giovanna Cerise's "Flash Back / Flash Forward"
There have been a couple of excellent blog posts about Giovanna Cerise's Flash Back / Flash Forward at Split Screen. My thanks to the authors for their insightful commentaries!
And I'm happy to say, Flash Back / Flash Forward is an SL Destination Guide Editor's Pick!
And I'm happy to say, Flash Back / Flash Forward is an SL Destination Guide Editor's Pick!
29 October 2016
"Monochrome" by Giovanna Cerise
Giovanna Cerise describes Monochrome, her new installation at LEA, as part of an "exploration of color in all its components and inferences." But it is not abstract art in the manner of, say, Frank Stella -- it is more representational and metaphoric, and even has a suggestion of narrative.
The installation consists of three levels, each devoted to one of three colors: black, white, and red. These are what I call the "dramatic primary colors," well-recognized for their impact and contrast. In addition, the installation principally draws on one of the most basic shapes, the cube -- Second Life's default primitive (what we all call "prims"). Strictly speaking, the forms are often rectilinear rather than strictly cubical, and there also other shapes, but cubes are the dominant visual element. In sum, Giovanna has pared both her color palette and her structural elements almost to the minimum.
The first level is for Black. For practical reasons the colors are in fact mostly shades of gray, accented by the use of shine. Thin threads wind through the space, occasionally piercing cubes that seem to mark some type of location or distance. Toward the back of this level we find sculptures of three women, whose heads are cubes. One of them holds a cube from which the thread begins. The strand continues to the second woman, who holds it up until it reaches the third woman, whose scissors is ready to snip it short. These figures are versions of the Greek mythological beings called the Fates: Clotho, who spins the thread of life; Lachesis, who determines how long a portion each of us receives; and Atropos, who cuts it off. The eventuality of death may be associated with black, the color-theme of this level.
Black level, in Giovanna Cerise's Monochrome. (Click photos to enlarge.)
A teleport doorway at the landing point sends you to the next level, White. The entire level glows intensely. Off in the expanse is what looks like a city of translucent cubes. It is so large and so undifferentiated, one easily gets lost. In roughly every other cube hangs a large magnifying glass. Viewed from above, there seem to be some images on the surface; I couldn't make out exactly what they are, however. There is also something hanging in the air, glowing so strongly that you can't discern what it is -- but if you lower your draw distance to about 50m, you discover a flow of light. In it, two magnifying glasses intersect, and on the horizontal one you see a turning figure, perhaps dancing. Do the magnifying glasses represent the idea of examining one's life? I'm not sure.
Through another teleport doorway one reaches the final level, Red. Here the structures of the two previous levels collide. The array of cubes from the White level have become dark red and are flying apart; wisps of the Black level's threads scatter about. Underneath them is a soft, rippling, but almost gooey surface. However, this is not altogether a scene of disaster. Out of the flying boxes, something is rising, leading to a new strand ascending to the sky. At its pinnacle there is a book -- like a wirebound notebook held together by the red thread. The rising cubes are a bit lumpy in spots, as if gathering to form shapes; a closer look reveals that they are coalescing into four human figures. Their arms are raised and flung backwards, as though some force is shooting the four figures upwards. Perhaps the book at the top of Monochrome, despite its prosaic form as a notebook, is the Book of Life. There does seem to be a thread (sic) connecting the Fates to the ideas of the examined life and the book of Life.
Giovanna's Monochrome rewards exploration and associations ("inferences," as Giovanna writes). It will be open until the end of December.
The installation consists of three levels, each devoted to one of three colors: black, white, and red. These are what I call the "dramatic primary colors," well-recognized for their impact and contrast. In addition, the installation principally draws on one of the most basic shapes, the cube -- Second Life's default primitive (what we all call "prims"). Strictly speaking, the forms are often rectilinear rather than strictly cubical, and there also other shapes, but cubes are the dominant visual element. In sum, Giovanna has pared both her color palette and her structural elements almost to the minimum.
The first level is for Black. For practical reasons the colors are in fact mostly shades of gray, accented by the use of shine. Thin threads wind through the space, occasionally piercing cubes that seem to mark some type of location or distance. Toward the back of this level we find sculptures of three women, whose heads are cubes. One of them holds a cube from which the thread begins. The strand continues to the second woman, who holds it up until it reaches the third woman, whose scissors is ready to snip it short. These figures are versions of the Greek mythological beings called the Fates: Clotho, who spins the thread of life; Lachesis, who determines how long a portion each of us receives; and Atropos, who cuts it off. The eventuality of death may be associated with black, the color-theme of this level.
Black level, in Giovanna Cerise's Monochrome. (Click photos to enlarge.)
A teleport doorway at the landing point sends you to the next level, White. The entire level glows intensely. Off in the expanse is what looks like a city of translucent cubes. It is so large and so undifferentiated, one easily gets lost. In roughly every other cube hangs a large magnifying glass. Viewed from above, there seem to be some images on the surface; I couldn't make out exactly what they are, however. There is also something hanging in the air, glowing so strongly that you can't discern what it is -- but if you lower your draw distance to about 50m, you discover a flow of light. In it, two magnifying glasses intersect, and on the horizontal one you see a turning figure, perhaps dancing. Do the magnifying glasses represent the idea of examining one's life? I'm not sure.
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White level, in Giovanna Cerise's Monochrome. (Click photos to enlarge.)
Through another teleport doorway one reaches the final level, Red. Here the structures of the two previous levels collide. The array of cubes from the White level have become dark red and are flying apart; wisps of the Black level's threads scatter about. Underneath them is a soft, rippling, but almost gooey surface. However, this is not altogether a scene of disaster. Out of the flying boxes, something is rising, leading to a new strand ascending to the sky. At its pinnacle there is a book -- like a wirebound notebook held together by the red thread. The rising cubes are a bit lumpy in spots, as if gathering to form shapes; a closer look reveals that they are coalescing into four human figures. Their arms are raised and flung backwards, as though some force is shooting the four figures upwards. Perhaps the book at the top of Monochrome, despite its prosaic form as a notebook, is the Book of Life. There does seem to be a thread (sic) connecting the Fates to the ideas of the examined life and the book of Life.
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Red level, in Giovanna Cerise's Monochrome. (Click photos to enlarge.)
Giovanna's Monochrome rewards exploration and associations ("inferences," as Giovanna writes). It will be open until the end of December.
01 February 2015
Giovanna Cerise -- Then and Now
Not long after I opened Split Screen, perhaps in spring 2011, Giovanna Cerise contacted me asking to build there. She had a show at a gallery, so I took a look. Most of the work was smallish and in the very contained abstract style one sees frequently in SL; it's a genre that generally leaves me cold. As a result I didn't think she was quite ready to get "out of the box" in the way Split Screen installations had to be. Nevertheless I sensed something promising there, and so I invited her to check in with me later -- and about a year later she did. Her work had developed enormously by then, and I was happy to host her at Split Screen. The result was Synesthesia, which showed in August and September 2012.
A retrospective of Giovanna's work is now showing at Gay Island Resort. The earliest piece dates from 2009; the most recent is a miniaturized fragment from her sim-sized installation Chaos, Kosmos, which was at LEA in November and December (evidently it's now gone). The retrospective is well worth visiting. The gallery which houses it is fairly small, and because she obtained more opportunities to build installations as she progressed, the collection is dominated by her earlier art. There didn't seem to be a notecard discussing or listing the works, unfortunately, but the pieces themselves have dates in their description so it's possible to get an overview of her development. Along with the many abstract pieces in the works from 2009 through 2011 (some rather mathematical, others more expressive) are a few figurative items, plus the amusingly murderous Act final!. But a distinct shift occurs 2012-13, when her work rapidly became more sophisticated artistically, intellectually, and expressively. In these more recent pieces, representation becomes foremost and abstraction often serves it, as we see in Man (Apr 2013), a bust composed of simple white cubes, and Broken Time (Jan 2013) -- one of the best of her small works -- which seems to capture a somewhat abstracted hourglass that is simultaneously solid and in the midst of exploding.
This brings us to the present, Chaos, Kosmos. Unfortunately I was unable to blog it when it was showing -- in fact, I haven't had time to blog at all for the past several months. Thematically, the installation concerned the emergence of rationality out of disorder, and creativity out of formlessness. The installation again conjoined the abstract with the representational, though leaning more toward the representational. Some elements, such as the flowcharts and flattened running figures, are abstract representations of real life. Giovanna has also built large installations with a largely abstract, mathematical orientation; although the clarity of mathematics is clearly an important element for her, I often feel these works are rather static (contrast with the dynamism of Broken Time). Chaos, Kosmos conjoined these possibilities in various ways. It had several levels, not all of them pictured below. At ground level, she brought the static to monumental proportions, yet human figures are running and the flowcharts seemed to present a very orderly procession toward confusion and catastrophe. The enormous whirlwind on one of the upper levels (third row down, on the right) gave a breathtaking sense of chaos; it was almost a shock to cam out and find how technically uncomplicated it was. The version in the retrospective is microscopic in comparison -- to get a dim sense of the impact, I recommend floating inside and going into mouselook. And at a third location, amid the slowly rising and falling pages, Giovanna implemented a solitary lighting effect (see the bottom row) that I don't recall her using before, but was strikingly beautiful in its simplicity.
Chaos, Kosmos (click photos to enlarge)
Giovanna has entered the ranks of Second Life's major artists, and now is a good opportunity to view the road she followed.
SLURL to the retrospective: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/GAY%20ISLAND%20Resort/147/152/1503
Note, the sim is rated Adult.
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| Synesthesia by Giovanna Cerise, at Split Screen 2012 |
A retrospective of Giovanna's work is now showing at Gay Island Resort. The earliest piece dates from 2009; the most recent is a miniaturized fragment from her sim-sized installation Chaos, Kosmos, which was at LEA in November and December (evidently it's now gone). The retrospective is well worth visiting. The gallery which houses it is fairly small, and because she obtained more opportunities to build installations as she progressed, the collection is dominated by her earlier art. There didn't seem to be a notecard discussing or listing the works, unfortunately, but the pieces themselves have dates in their description so it's possible to get an overview of her development. Along with the many abstract pieces in the works from 2009 through 2011 (some rather mathematical, others more expressive) are a few figurative items, plus the amusingly murderous Act final!. But a distinct shift occurs 2012-13, when her work rapidly became more sophisticated artistically, intellectually, and expressively. In these more recent pieces, representation becomes foremost and abstraction often serves it, as we see in Man (Apr 2013), a bust composed of simple white cubes, and Broken Time (Jan 2013) -- one of the best of her small works -- which seems to capture a somewhat abstracted hourglass that is simultaneously solid and in the midst of exploding.
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(Click photos to enlarge)
This brings us to the present, Chaos, Kosmos. Unfortunately I was unable to blog it when it was showing -- in fact, I haven't had time to blog at all for the past several months. Thematically, the installation concerned the emergence of rationality out of disorder, and creativity out of formlessness. The installation again conjoined the abstract with the representational, though leaning more toward the representational. Some elements, such as the flowcharts and flattened running figures, are abstract representations of real life. Giovanna has also built large installations with a largely abstract, mathematical orientation; although the clarity of mathematics is clearly an important element for her, I often feel these works are rather static (contrast with the dynamism of Broken Time). Chaos, Kosmos conjoined these possibilities in various ways. It had several levels, not all of them pictured below. At ground level, she brought the static to monumental proportions, yet human figures are running and the flowcharts seemed to present a very orderly procession toward confusion and catastrophe. The enormous whirlwind on one of the upper levels (third row down, on the right) gave a breathtaking sense of chaos; it was almost a shock to cam out and find how technically uncomplicated it was. The version in the retrospective is microscopic in comparison -- to get a dim sense of the impact, I recommend floating inside and going into mouselook. And at a third location, amid the slowly rising and falling pages, Giovanna implemented a solitary lighting effect (see the bottom row) that I don't recall her using before, but was strikingly beautiful in its simplicity.
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Chaos, Kosmos (click photos to enlarge)
Giovanna has entered the ranks of Second Life's major artists, and now is a good opportunity to view the road she followed.
SLURL to the retrospective: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/GAY%20ISLAND%20Resort/147/152/1503
Note, the sim is rated Adult.
14 August 2012
Nice article on Giovanna Cerise's "Synesthesia"
There's a good article on Giovanna Cerise's "Synesthesia" by arklo here. Thanks, arklo, whoever you are!
02 August 2012
Giovanna Cerise, and Jo Ellsmere & Pyewacket Kazyanenko at Split Screen in August
During August, Split Screen presents Giovanna Cerise's Synesthesia (opening 1 Aug) and a performance piece by Jo Ellsmere & Pyewacket Kazyanenko titled Pardon Our Zeitgeist (opening 5 Aug).
Synesthesia is when one sort of sensation is perceived as another. Most often a sound is also experienced as a color (or vice versa). Composer Alexander Scriabin and painter Wassily Kandinsky both explored synesthesia, and Giovanna's work builds (literally) on their ideas. Quan Lavender has written an excellent blog post about Giovanna installation, which I can't improve upon, so go read it. Synesthesia uses a special windlight setting, which should turn on automatically if you use Firestorm or Phoenix. Otherwise, switch to "Sheer Surreality." Be sure to have sounds all the way up.
Pardon Our Zeitgeist, by Jo Ellsmere and Pyewacket Kazyanenko, is a performance piece. They call it a "Second Life painting in 4 dimensions," about online communication and relationships. It's a bit hard to describe right now because it isn't ready yet -- it'll open on the 5th. Turn on media as well as local sounds.
Synesthesia is when one sort of sensation is perceived as another. Most often a sound is also experienced as a color (or vice versa). Composer Alexander Scriabin and painter Wassily Kandinsky both explored synesthesia, and Giovanna's work builds (literally) on their ideas. Quan Lavender has written an excellent blog post about Giovanna installation, which I can't improve upon, so go read it. Synesthesia uses a special windlight setting, which should turn on automatically if you use Firestorm or Phoenix. Otherwise, switch to "Sheer Surreality." Be sure to have sounds all the way up.
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Synesthesia (click photos to enlarge)
Pardon Our Zeitgeist, by Jo Ellsmere and Pyewacket Kazyanenko, is a performance piece. They call it a "Second Life painting in 4 dimensions," about online communication and relationships. It's a bit hard to describe right now because it isn't ready yet -- it'll open on the 5th. Turn on media as well as local sounds.
Pardon Our Zeitgeist (click photo to enlarge)
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