You are crazy
ART GALLERY ET CETERA | JADEYU FHANG
Last week I visited the new gallery of JadeYu Fhang at her home sim Dark Tears. The new place is called Et Cetera Art Gallery (2D & 3D work realized by JadeYu Fhang). While I was there Jade was around herself as well. We talked a bit about life and politics and after that I wandered around to see the gallery. Being a fan of her work and especially her installations and sculptures, I decided to buy several of her works. I like that better than simply donate in a tip jar. I think I bought 4 pieces at a ridiculous low price. Jade could ask much more as far as I am concerned, but I also like and understand this not wanting to earn money in the first place. To know people value and appreciate your work is far more satisfying.
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ART VERSUS LEGO
No offence for people like Mistero Hifeng and Silas Merlin who also create sculptures, but to me they sort of devaluated their talent by commercialising it too much. The sculptures now are everywhere in SL, becoming a kind of garden gnome you can buy at some supermarket. Their talent has not become less and they create nice sculptures and some even very impressive, but like with everything that is flooding a space, it loses power and becomes common. Really a pity. I do understand the attractiveness to go commercial, but it does not mean I like the effect of it. Mostly such works become a bit predictable and have no artistic value anymore or very little. But ok, to me the work of Jade always was better than these now commercial sculptures, so maybe it is just the glove that fits their hand and not to be compared with each other. It’s a bit like ART versus LEGO or so. Being skilled in creating does not make everyone the same kind of artist or no artist at all. It’s all very personal as well and my views and preferences are just my views and preferences.
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CRAZY
So yes I like Jade’s work much more. It has more power and it has soul. I often avoid to call SL creations ART, because not agreeing with how it is used to define all kinds of crappy stuff to be art as well, which really makes me wonder if I am crazy or if the other is crazy. In Jade’s case I have no hesitation at all to call her work art, even ART with capitals. You can see and feel a world of thoughts and emotions in all of her work, harsh often, provocative, but also tender and sensitive. A work or installation made by Jade never is boring, never is common, always challenges to think and feel and always has layered meanings that call upon your imagination to discover what’s behind and how it speaks to you. When I bought a few creations Jade told me I was crazy. So I guess I am :) But I prefer to be crazy because of spending money on good stuff and support a wonderful mind, than be the other crazy option that will upgrade all selfies, boobs and love couples in SL as art, without any restraints. So I take it as a compliment and feel proud to be crazy ^^
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THE GALLERY
The gallery is worth a visit for everyone liking something different than common. The building is a bit SciFi and has 2 floors. Around the building there are other objects to see and a SOUL TREE in which Jade shows words/thoughts and how she connects with what we call soul. What I like most about the gallery build itself are the outside transparent layers. They have a dynamic texture of fingerprints and numbers. Maybe to mark the place as a personal identity, maybe to show how everything we do and create, leaves a print of us, maybe to show the rigid world of today in which our identities and privacy are being forced into a harness of control and limits.
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ABOUT JADE
The last option is something Jade felt to have after finishing her RL art academy. In a notecard provided at the gallery she describes it as such:
After these studies I completely stopped all artistic work for more than 20 years. My journey is atypical made of multiple experiences. I returned to artistic work when I was able to get rid of all the academic rigidity that had been taught me. My experience on Second Life since 10 years allows me to continue and improve my work and extend it to 3D.
She also mentions to have as greatest influences her experiences, encounters, travels and childhood in a country at war. In the notecard there is much more information about Jade with links to pictures, video’s and contact details. I share the part of her approach:
✠ My approach :
« Between the “virtual” universe or the Metaverse and the “real” world, there is no split, although this distinction is commonly accepted.
Each of them creates internal confusion, exults and feeds itself from the other.
My aim is to offer a possibility to wander over these two worlds in which dream dimension and reality dimension are complementing.
Recognizing it :
That means taking the risk to lose one’s « eye » in the confusion of universes, sometimes using a naive or “blinded” vision, sometimes using the same sharp and accurate view as in real world.
That means also the awareness of being in the middle of two dimensions that are inherent of our lives as we are facing a choice that always remains in our power, the choice between the path of the enlightened blind one or the road of the realistic reckless one.
The picture below is from Jades previous installation at Metales, Opera Anxiety
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INFORMATION
Do visit the other parts of the sim as well. EgoJail still is rezzed at ground level and still impressive. If you like to support Jade’s work you can choose to buy some of her work or donate (or both). Congrats Jade with the new gallery and thank you for making great ART :)
TP to Dark Tears and Et Cetera: DARK TEARS / ET CETERA
Btw Jade is crazy too :)