Saoirse reviews The Pearl Gallery in the New Orleans sim:

I was taking in the sites of the fabulously designed virtual New Orleans riding the St. Charles streetcar, smartly named “Desire”, when I came upon The Pearl gallery.

This gallery is New Orleans style tall ceilings and welcoming atmosphere, croissants and coffee at the door.  The pieces inside captured my attention with their miscellany of expressions.  At first glance, the personal aspect of these pieces may be missed amid the colors and distinct variations of images.  I mention this first so you will take the moment to look deeply into these images after you see them the first time.  “Gossamer Soul” has a texture of rough sandstone which made me recall the aspects of brutalist architecture.  This was a movement in architecture from the 1950s and 1970s, the term “brutal” derived from the French béton brut, or “raw concrete” a word coined by Le Corbusier when asked about his material.  In Gossamer Soul the roughness of the concrete is in hues of sands, yellows and browns.  In SL art it is fascinating to see how artists mix the tactile feeling of an image with the 2D aspects.  You can almost hear the sounds of scraping as the concrete element is added and smoothed into the image.  This style is present also in a piece titled “Coastal Monument in Red”, scratches from the tools of a cement layer.  In “Coastal” I also had the feeling of a heated aspect to the cracks.

The artist moves from the tactile of the New Brutalism to vibrant colors in “Little Dreams”.  There are a couple of main images, the artist, a famous castle, and there are underlying images as well.  I will not reveal them here, only to write they give us an insight to the personal part of the artist.  The images on this piece have an almost holographic aspect to them, hinting at transparency but not giving way to it.  Swirling colors entertain the eye with this piece.

The artist has also given us a couple of pieces that have a look of watercolor paints in the color strokes.  “God Rest” is one of those pieces with a watercolor aspect.  I have a feeling that the artist, Shakita Adored, will be adding more pieces as she completes them.  There is a lot of diversity and many varying expressions.  To me this means that she is only getting started on what she can develop from her expressions.  The Pearl is definitely a little something extra [Lagniappe] for those who visit.  Artfully yours, Saoirse Heart