Primtings Museum

If one stays around Second Life long enough, things start to look familiar, even if it merely tickles a long-lost memory.

Such was the case when I read about the Primtings Museum in Mrs. Dio Kuhr's Journal. The Museum is a collection of three-dimensional art pieces done by SL artists that imitate or pay homage to (mostly) well-known pieces of two-dimensional paintings done by real life artists. I recalled an installation of Edward Hopper's "Nighthawks" from some time ago and, indeed, that piece had been moved to the Museum.

Above, Paul Klee's "The Twittering Machine." The name struck my fancing, as I am indeed a habitue of Twitter.

The Museum is organized by style of art. Categories thus far include: modernism, pop art, bauhaus, realism, suprematism (I'll admit I had not heard of that one), neoclassicism, surrealism, op art, dada, post-impressionism, and contemporary. Surrealism seems to work well, perhaps because of the not-quite-real nature of SL builds. For the Caledonians who might be reading, Caledon's own Miss Kacy Depres has several pieces inspired by paintings by Max Ernst.

Above, Miss Bryn Oh's "Steam Stag at Sharkey's," inspired by George Bellows' "Stag at Sharkey's."

One of the things that did not work so well was Marcel Duchamp's "Fountain" (not pictured but, as many know, a urinal). The "fountain," though three-dimensional in SL, lay flat and could have been a picture of the painting, for all it did. Others were more successful, however.

One of the things one can do with a three-dimensional piece of art is to step into it. Above, I enter M.C. Escher's "Relativity."

Above, I visit Vincent VanGogh's "Vincent's Room."

The installations can even be participatory. Above, AM Radio's version of Jacque-Louis David's "The Death of Marat," with a custom pose by Ina Centaur (who also owns the Museum). Except for the fact that I remain clothed, and I'm, ah, not dead yet, I play the role of Marat.

Above, Savador Dali's "The Persistence of Memory," again with Miss Rhianon Jameson insinuating herself into the picture. I saw this elsewhere on the grid some months back, and had meant to write about it. Now it is part of the Museum.

Above, Edward Hopper's "Nighthawks." Though hard to see, a very young me sits by herself at the counter. (This is one of my favorite paintings, and one of the highlights of a Hopper exhibit at the National Gallery of Art in Washington a few years ago.)

For the most part, the installations work because they add a dimension (both literally and figuratively) to the painting. Highly recommended.