I really need someone on the podcast and on the blog who tends toward skepticality, criticalness, dare i say grumpiness? I’m too likely to just agree with everyone I think. In the interest of balance i’m going to get in touch with my inner-critic and pan something.
I think Light Shrine is a gaudy, cloying, unimaginative piece of kitchy nonsense that seems like it should be inhabited by these people:
Or possibly the same kind of people but not christian but like… new age ridiculousness….
or something this guy would
would have commissioned along with the international meditation resort:
I’m not sure why but spirituality plus money always seems to equal horrible graphic and interior design. Of course maybe i’m too influenced by design– I suspect 30% of why i like obama so much is his logo, which i love, but apparently i shouldn’t because it proves he’s a cyrpto-Muslim , and i’m sure that bad graphic design is half of why i’m so i’m so skeptical of a movement called avatar (bad luck naming themselves that — it’d be like if someone named themselves “Browser” in 1987 or something) that some people i know are into. Maybe i’m just shallow.
But anyway does anyone want to defend Gorath’s work from my cruel comparisons? Gorath are you just trying to make a nice place to sit down and i’m taking it all way to seriously? Your relationship to the styles you are employing is not clear, they are tired styles designed to be appealing and impressive — if you are using them ironically they need to be more exagerated i would say… if a little bit of glow is good, why not 10 times as much- if marble looks pretty why not gold too or if its really about light why not ditch the marble- and just work with light itself…
for example:
this thing (Chiacchierata con amica by Gleman Jun) captivated me and it was much more powerful for being so spare i actually went on and on about how beautiful it was on the podcast, and so did some of the other guests. That piece was not tring too hard and it allowed the viewer to just enjoy its beauty without making one feel like one was a guest on Louis the 16th’s late night TV talk show.
interesting how meeting someone can color your opinion of their work-
I just happened to be on the sim when this object was placed and got to talk to Mr. Hyun a bit- a really lovely person with a limited hands-on arts background, who is using SL to explore his creative side.
The wide-open nature of BiW allows artists of all skill levels and backgrounds to have their work shown side-by-side, and it’s been mentioned in the past how difficult it is to approach critique when you know *nothing* about the artist’s ideology.
So, on one hand, you’ve got what’s basically a social networking site where BiW is one more “thing to do”- and on the other you’ve got a developing community of artists who are producing and judging work with an educated eye.
It poses an interesting challenge- I think it’s a good thing to evaluate and critique samples of all skill levels of work left at BiW- but I feel much more comfortable reading a detailed pan of an established artist’s work than I do of someone who is just learning.
It’s a fine line to walk and honestly, I don’t envy you… heh…
When the SL development company I work for had an open call for submissions and it was my responsibility to judge what was usable for production, I’d say less than 5% made the cut, and I then had to contact each of the entrants and explain to them *why*.
It was awful, and I never want to do it again.
Do you use a different yardstick to measure the “casual” user vs. career artists?
I don’t know.
But boy, I can identify with the need to call a spade a spade, too.
No real answer for you, just my thoughts.
-hollow/lt
Left by Hollow Prim on November 3rd, 2008