The Splendor of Desire

THE EXHIBITION:  The Splendor of Desire

THE ARTISTS: Corinne Helendale and Jessica Belmer

My concept for Palais Orleans Gallery was, for each show, to have two artists collaborating on a theme, but Corinne and Jessica have taken the idea of collaboration to a whole new level.  Each piece had been worked on at every stage by both artists  and it has been really interesting being allowed a peek into their unique process and so exciting, over the last few months, watching images develop and evolve and then finally be chosen to form what is a very beautiful collection.


OPENING EVENTS:
Saturday, July 28th
            6:00 to 8:00 PM SLT
         
                        and
                             
Sunday, July 29th
            10:00 AM to 12:00 PM SLT


ARTISTS' STATEMENTS:
To desire is to be in a particular state of mind. It is a state of mind that is commonly associated with a number of different effects: a person with a desire tends to act in certain ways; feel in certain ways; and think in certain ways. If one desires water, one will get a glass of water; if one does not get a glass of water right away one will nonetheless feel the urge to do so; one will find the thought of water pleasant and one's current lack of water unpleasant; one will find one's thoughts repeatedly turning to the idea of water; one will judge that water seems like a good idea; and so forth and so on.

We thought these mechanisms of the mind to be rich ground to build visual narratives upon… and The Splendor of Desire is an exploration of various scenarios where Desire meets conflict, uncertainty or joy.

When Morgana asked us to do this show, we of course welcomed the chance. The idea of collaborating on a whole series of images based on desire seemed challenging and compelling.  What happened, though, was way more than what either of us ever expected—we essentially created a third "artist" who was greater than the sum of the two of us.

We incorporated play into our work, and while some of it can be seen in the images, mostly it just rippled through the whole process. We developed each piece together, from concept, to shoot, to final processing. Our images would come from anywhere—anything from a whim to a structured series with a story to tell. We would build sets to match our vision, create scenes, make poses, create textures—everything and anything needed to flesh out the narrative of the images we were exploring.

Collaboration took hold of us and brought us to places we never could have reached on our own.

Many thanks to Morgana Nagorski for believing in us and allowing us the opportunity to exhibit in Palais Orleans. All image-making was completed in our studios with the exception of one shot imaged at Roche and another at Neva River.

We hope you enjoy the work, and have as much fun exploring and engaging the images as we had making them.
Jessica Belmer and Corinne Helendale
July 2012

STATEMENT FROM THE SPONSOR
A warm welcome from LUMIPro—the sponsor of "The Splendor of Desire"

I'm happy to announce LUMIPro's ongoing sponsorship of arts in Second Life. Morgana Nagorski and Palais Orleans Gallery is hosting an art showing, "The Splendor of Desire," featuring Jessica Belmer and Corinne Helendale.

Corinne is someone I call a close friend, and our working  together in the development of the LUMIPro lighting system has been amazing. I personally consider this show a triumph of that collaboration!

I have a personal fondness for Palais Orleans, as the previous owner of the gallery and I were early collaborators on LUMIPro. I'm proud to help continue her legacy.

Morgana Nagorski is an avid LUMIPro user and advocate to the art world, and I'm excited that LUMIPro gets a chance to be involved with her.

Jessica and Corinne used LUMIpro extensively throughout "The Splendor of Desire," from the wearable lights to countless projectors.

LUMIPro is a professional lighting and pose system for artists, photographers, and machinimists. The system has been used for several magazine covers so far in 2012 as well as some of the leading art and music videos. Come check out a demo of our system and the blog and check out our Flickr Group.

Thanks for coming!

Stefan Buscaylet
Colleen Criss