Art in Second Life

Huhu

Maggie is back in town. After a long and exciting time on the planet on the other side of the sun, I decided to come back to Earth again and do business. I will soon open on several posh Second Life locations Art Galleries.

I am researching at the moment the market for fine Art in Second life and found lots of interesting articles and studies already.

I would like to use this opportunity for a mini survey:

1. What do you think of Art in Second Life?
2. Do you buy Art in Second Life and what do you do with it.
3. Do you prefer limited editions, uniques or posters?
4. What type of Art do you buy?

Appreciate any comment

Mag

I see no point to most of it, because all of SL is art, to me. If all it is is art, and serves no other purpose, then I'm unlikely to think much of it, really.

Not unless I'm going to be using it in some sort of display, which is quite rare.

I don't really see how posters fit with the other two options here. Also, since it's purely digital, and as long as one exists, more could technically be created, I see no point to limiting the number available.

Functional.

I do buy art in SL but not very often. Much of what is being sold is just DL from the net and only cost me 10L not 200L

Somethings original I would be happy to pay more for and i hang them in my home

I think Second Life allows completely new kinds of art.
The most interesting art in SL is too big for me to afford, but I've spent hundreds of dollars (US$) on avatars.
I wish I could afford uniques. I've bought a few avatars that were limited editions.
Clothes, avatars, giant rabbits, buildings, aircraft, giant robots, stuff I can't make myself.

There's a huge range of stuff calling itself art in SL, from "sunday painters" uploading their work to the much more imaginative "indigenous" or "native" SLArt which uses SL as the medium for making work. Most of the time, I think simple 2D uploads are a wasted opportunity as the quality is not great by the time it is imported.

Yes I buy quite a bit of art and will pay a lot of money (several thousand L$) for the right piece. Actually, when I think about it, this is probably where most of my money goes! I usually have one or two pieces rezzed in my skybox on rotation. If I had the spare prims, I'd like it all rezzed at once in a public gallery.

Posters means 2D which I don't tend to buy, but I am guessing you mean unlimited copies of something? If I like a piece it doesn't matter to me at all, although it would affect how much I'd be willing to pay. If I was buying for investment, I'd want a limited edition or unique piece with no copy, no mod, transfer permissions. Without transfer permissions there can be no secondary art market.

I tend to buy interactive, kinetic works with a strong conceptual element. I have bought 2D pieces occasionally but it has to be a very special piece (to me). My favourite artists are people like Gazira Babeli, Juria Yoshikawa, DanCoyote Antonelli and Adam Ramona.

I like to look for objects that depict and capture SL in some way.

Thanks a lot

Interesting answers so far.

Just to clearify: With the terms posters, I was referring to unlimited copies of a picture. When talking about Art I mean real life paintings made available in Second Life.

The idea I have is to get exclusive deals (I have one already) with real life artists to sell their work as limited editions in my own Galleries.

I am thinking of maximum 10 copies with no copy no transfer permissions. The artists I have the first deal with does abstract paintings of Angels. Very pretty actually.

I also thought about other themes such es erotic photography, and Gorean Art. Also any type of spiritual art would be cool.

Theshops I woud rent a locations that have some prestige attached to it. You know Paris, Puerto Banus, Monaco that sort of stuff.

Maggie

With people being able to pull any masterpiece from the Internet and upload it for 10L$, you need to have a really unique angle and branding for it to be interesting - and that in turn will likely limit your target audience. It might be fun to do (I occasionally display and sell my own stuff) but I honestly don't think there is much *business* in it.

There is a locale in world somewhere i forget where- that has several lovely pieces that I liked enough to buy. Do not recall the name of the artist or the pieces but they have a vaguely Primitive quality to them although the subjects were giant anthropomorphic turtles rather than children as typical in Primitives. I have bought one nice from Ghosty Kipps, our resident Llama artist. Next door to my main store I host an RL artist with displays within SL- whether his art sells in SL or not, I do not know but he is on display in RL in some museums world-wide.

ETA- as for well known works of art- can't see paying anyone for them since they DL'ed them same as I can. Although I did buy Stary Night, once.

Hmmm ... there's a RL artist who's in SL as Filthy Fluno. He uses SL as a vehicle for selling RL artworks - the works he exhibits and sells in SL are adverts for his RL canvases. That model could work better for you. There's a NY Times article about him here:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/08/magazine/08fluno-t.html

Really, though, without transfer permissions I doubt I'd spend much on any piece inworld. It would be like buying a RL artwork and being told you weren't allowed to sell it ever. That's not a way to make an artist collectable.

Good Point. So I better make them no copy but transferable?

Maggie

I would think that the number of artworks you would be able to sell with "no copy no transfer" would be in the single digits. Originally it wasn't even *possible* to make no copy no transfer objects, and the fact that they're possible at all is controversial, and people are not likely to be interested in them at any price.

Particularly not artworks, where the resale value is a significant factor.

By making them "no transfer", you're refusing to give me the right to buy a gift for someone.

By all means, make it no copy...In fact, I'd prefer it. But allow me to gift it to someone if I choose to.

I think it's awesome. SL is not only a great medium for getting exposure for one's RL art, but the medium itself provides for new forms of art as well.



I do, although I'm fairly selective, and I'll sometimes switch out older pieces for newer ones I've found. I'll hang it in my domicile, where I can enjoy it ... although of late my private space has gotten very small. I've been thinking of enlarging just so I can display more artwork.



Limiteds and uniques are for collectors, and I don't consider myself one. That said, thre are conditions where a poster is actually preferred over an original or even a good print. It all depends on where the piece is to be shown in this case.



I enjoy photorealistic art, even if the subject matter is surreal. Art that takes actual circumstances and attempts to express or show something more than what was evident or obvious at the time. I respect painters and photographers who can capture a moment for posterity, but I like when something of the artist is added to the scene. There are several SL artists who do this very well, and they tend to be my favorites.

I would, and if it was my art, that's the way I'd want it sold. That's the way artworks increase in value. What you'll probably find, if you are successful, is that the work will be resold for a profit down the line, which can be frustrating in the short-term, but if you keep your artists happy then as they become more successful you can continue selling their new works for more as well.

A friend of mine, MenuBar Memorial, was challenged to do one of Filthy's art pieces as 3D, using prims.

The results will be on display soon, but I was absolutely floored. Just completely incredible how MenuBar was able to manipulate prims to recreate the painting.

Making them no-copy no-transfer is actually quite difficult to do, and isn't really supposed to even be possible, so yes... transfer no-copy is best for things that are supposed to be like physical objects, like artworks.

My work is mod/trans, so people can resize the works to fit or give them as gifts. I think that's the best combination for a painter or photographic artist.

Yep! Totally agree.

Btw, I need the name of that piece I won...I can't find it in my inventory after my move :/

Since when??

Depends - for some artists, scale is an important aspect of the work. Others, like you, are happy for things to be resized.

Also, don't forget how good people can be at cocking up mod/no copy items. Accidentally changing the aspect ratio on a photograph or painting can ruin it.

1. What do you think of Art in Second Life?

Art in SL is everywhere. The content that people create in general could be considered "art" in various ways, not only pictures which hang on walls or sculptures for a garden. It is an expression of a persons creativity and has a place here just like in RL. I enjoy visiting the galleries quite a lot. Two which I find very impressive are S&S and the private one owned by Jig Chippawa and her partner. S&S is comprehensive for all types of art while Jigs is primarily modern with a smattering of other generes.

2. Do you buy Art in Second Life and what do you do with it.

Absolutely. I usually display the art inside my home but also will put pieces outdoors if I'm able to utilize it that way. Right now, I have a kinetic sculpture done by my BF on my deck.

3. Do you prefer limited editions, uniques or posters?

Not sure what you mean by this. I suppose what you mean by limited editions is a piece which the artist will take down from their gallery eventually; rotate for other new pieces? In that case, yes mostly limited editions or unique pieces. I do not usually buy posters, if you mean artwork of well known artists from the real world i.e.; Warhol for instance.

I'm looking for SL artists specifically. My BF is a digital artist (thanks Amara for giving Ghosty a nod) who works from his RL photos and then reworks them digitally until many times, they don't resemble what the original photo looked like. Obviously, I'm biased with his work lol.

There are others from the Forum who are more straight-forward; Marianne McCann is a child ava who does amazing realistic photos of her life inworld - I have a few of her pieces in my home. Roisen Hotaling does gorgeous landscapes and such from her RL that she imports into SL. Lexxi Gynoid also does beautiful photos of outdoor RL that I love. There are several more I'm sure but can't remember them all off hand, but all worth exploring as most have their own galleries; some with work in the real world as well.

4. What type of Art do you buy?

I gravitate to surreal/unusual looking art for the most part but do enjoy landscapes as well. It really depends on what captures my eye. I try not to pin myself down to a style.

Oooh that sounds interesting, I'll look out for that!

A lot of my art that I've uploaded was 3D; sculptures, that 3D type of painting (when you add stuff to the painting), and the like (plus straight "sunday paint[ing]" stuff). Becomes 2D when I upload it though.

I've made some purely SL related work, in world, 3D. I never attempt to sell that type of work. I've seen the type of thing that gets sold in SL as SL art. If I had started at the beginning, maybe, but I missed that boat.

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Limited edition art: I'd never buy if it was "no transfer". Part of the point, of course, is limited edition, so I'd expect it to be "no copy".

All that is true ... but art is in the eye of the beholder. If someone wants to take a piece and reshape it all screwy ... well, they paid for it, I can't very well tell them what to do with it afterwards.