There are many great artists in Second Life, just as there are in real life. Many real life artists cascade their talents into their virtual lives as a natural element of their personalities. Chalker Zenovka is one of them, albeit that he had a hiatus in his creativity until he met his beautiful Second Life partner Skye Fargis. You can just tell, by being in their company, how happy they are together, and since meeting him, Skye has encouraged and inspired Chalker into using his great artistic talent in Second Life. I was drawn to his work because of the uniqueness of it, his art covers nature, trees, fruit, animals, still life, gargoyles and what he calls his alien art (eerie humanlike figures).
He told me that he paints subjects that he feels comfortable with. He creates his pictures by drawing them in pencil, using one continuous line from start to finish in the initial sketch. He then transfers the image to his computer and uses a graphics program to add the colour and finishing touches. This takes on the effect of a maze twisting and turning until the shape of the subject emerges. He told me that he started his work round about 1994 in real life, but he has only been displaying his art in Second Life for the last month. Chalker says that the planning of some of his work can take longer than the actual drawing, he may take several days thinking it through. However, some of his work is spontaneous, just drawn, he says, by letting the spirit of the earth guide him. I asked him if he was inspired by any real life painters and he told me that he liked DaVinci and Monet, the technical aspect of DaVinci and the softness of Monet. The very first picture Chalker displayed in Second Life is called ‘First Contact’ (on the right of the above photograph) and it is a gentle pencil drawing that gives you a feeling of great tenderness in respect of the dominant figure reaching out to the smaller one. At present, Chalker is working on the Signs of the Zodiac, he gave me a preview and I can’t wait to see the whole set of pictures as the completed ones are awesome.
Chalker’s work is displayed in two wonderful galleries, the Griffin Gallery of Fine Art at Kitaro and the S&S Gallery of Fine SL Art at TheDove, Rhodes, Paradis. I hope that Chalker will be holding his own exhibition soon, both in real life and in Second Life as he has a whole new concept with his unique style. I’ll be seeing Chalker again to purchase one of his paintings for my small Second Life gallery so that I can enjoy his great work.
Submitted by Janey Bracken