Virtual art building up real life following, and cash

From Market Watch today, there’s a great piece on the impact virtual world art is having in the real world art market. One of the things that kept me in Second Life was the great artistry and creativity on show, not just in some of the amazing builds but also the work on show in the variety of virtual galleries.

To hear that a number of these works are now being transferred to canvas within the real world is exciting. ArtNews gives its front cover over to an avatar portrait, with content looking at high tech and new media art forms. All of this in the context of a new show at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, where “Design and the Elastic Mind” opens this month, covering all sorts of representations of modernity and the future.

You only have to look at the wide variety of photos in the various Flickr Second Life groups to very quickly get an idea of the breadth of possibilities, and range of interests, that Second Life offers the creative community.  Looking just now, there are over 1200 different Second Life groups on Flickr, covering every kind of image. My favourites are the sepia images, which look incredible, and I particularly like the work of Albane Ewing.

The artistic side of Second Life is not necessarily something we hear lots about in the media, and yet it’s one of the areas that deserves wider recognition. I hope this is the start of wider coverage for the many talented artists pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in the virtual world as well as the real world

Tags: Albane Ewing, ArtNews, Design and the Elastic Mind, Flickr, Market Watch, Museum of Modern Art New York City, Second Life, Virtual Art