The Art House Dungkickers

[Tangine]

The Dung Kickers Art House will officially open this Sunday May 27th with a party starting at 12.00 MA time (all artists will be present), but you can already go and visit.

A view on the lake
Starting my journey across all Entropian Art, I will take you today to a place few people know but that deserves attention. It is located close to the Treasure Island castle, Lakeview #18, and can be easily recognized with the red sign "The Art House" above the front door. Just run north from the TP along the coast, or swim (faster) to coordinates : 21224, 25103.

Though the House has not yet been officially inaugurated, it is already open to the public, so make sure you visit it before it's too crowded.

Mags and Jacko, both from The Dung Kickers, decided to dedicate one of their houses to art. I met the landlord in his place and started rubbing my nose against the paintings literally to try and decipher the texts on them, while he was staring at something in mid air (away from keyboard somewhere in Australia).

A society project
Once Jacko noticed I was there, I finally got the chance to figure out what this was all about. The great originality of this new gallery is that all three artists exhibiting are members of The Dung Kickers society : one of those situations that makes you say “great minds think alike.” Here is how it all started : Horus, the leader of The Dung Kickers, happens to be a real life friend of Lucky who’s a real life friend of bran, and so on. When Mags got invited to Lucky’s apartment, she discovered his art and was amazed, but at that time she didn’t know about the other artists in society. In fact, they found out about each other after joining the society. However, when Mags saw Lucky’s paintings she claims : “I had this vision that it would look great on the walls in the house.” Everyone will agree that this stony beige color is more appropriate than the ugly apartment walls, or even the shop walls. Hence she decided to offer her house to artists, and Lucky was soon joined by the two others, Antar and Bran. The house has since been divided into a blue room and a red room, as Jack made an effort to match the lightings with the artwork. This is one more step taken towards a very professional approach.

Mags and Jacko, very eager to promote the artists they exhibit, set up an interview for me, and on that same day, I first met with Bran :

The “baraun label”
When I asked Bran how it all came together, he explained he went to a Real Life exhibition of Lucky’s works. He already knew Lucky’s brother at that time. Bran himself comes from a family of artists that all work together : his brother, and his parents are artists as well. They’re doing real life portraits for events such as weddings, baptisms, etc. This religious context is very visible in Bran’s work that is exhibited right now, except he insists they are not just his works : the entanglement of influences is so tight, that it is hard, even for him to tell what part comes from whom, and he would rather speak of a “baraun label” to describe this family process of creation. The realistic paintings of children for instance are portraits of his own nieces.

About meditation
When I questioned him a bit about the other characters he chose to show, I measured how much his work was turned towards meditation. All of them carry an object in their hands : a stick that resembles praying sticks used by chamans, an egg-shaped item, or a glowing sphere. The one in the center has an 8 engraved on it, which I identify as a potential symbol of infinity. Bran explains it is in fact a lingam stone, a stone that rolled down the Gange, and that is thrown on to a beach where waves roll it back and forth till it reaches perfect shape. The glowing thing on the other side is a symbolization of the main chakra. I had noticed already that these characters all had their eyes closed. Bran’s explanations give this feature a strong meaning : his characters are deep in meditation.

The total artist
The woman with the lingam is not as static as the two others : she’s moving, she seems to have an agenda, and a story. When I ask Bran if he ever considered illustrating comic books (my impression is that it is very close to a comic book aesthetic), he replies that the idea has been around, but it was just too much work. However, who knows? The future is open : he tells me about the computers that have a drawing pad on them, and you can tell he is eager to try new technologies. Of course that’s the least you can expect from an artist in Entropia Universe : and since we’re talking about future, the next step for Bran could be sculpture as he’s also a sculptor in real life and hopes for future developments in that area. We also discussed the possibility of podcasting your own music in places you own, as Neverdie does in his resort : Bran claims to be a musician as well. Is there anything he can’t do? I didn’t dare ask, I was afraid he would say no.

Full of ideas
When I suggested he could post his ideas on the EF wishlist, he claimed he mainly used support cases for that, and confessed he might have originated the Feffoid attacks a few months ago after telling Mindark they should be having random attacks of mobs over cities, a good way to get people to hunt and spend ammo, hoping to loot something nice, in the end.

Name your pet
However, Feffoids are not Bran's first choice among mobs in Entropia Universe : when asked about his favorites, he mentioned Turp, because it is a creature you would like to meet in your garden when you're relaxing (always the meditation), and then Itumatrox, because of its movement, its simple aspect, that makes it kind of a sculpture.

On a sidenote, bran regrets the lack of characteristics in Entropia avatars : "all movie stars" he says. Now, MA did you hear that? Or is it just us who lack imagination and want to look perfect? A question that goes beyond the artist's playground...

The Art House also features two other wonderful artists :
Antar Diop Clearwind and Lucky Toploader Luciano

After two weeks of unwillingly playing hide and seek, Lucky and I finally managed to meet up at the Art House for the second round :

After receiving education in ceramics, Lucky started painting by himself, and has been following his own path for 20 years now (he's 38 years old). He's a successful artist in real life (he had an exhibition for two weeks in Belgium, which made it difficult for us to meet), and it felt just right to continue in EU, where he claims of having no specific activity other than "hanging around." Lucky is very social and he hopes that the Art House will become a place where people can meet and enjoy common interests. That's why there will be no auction held there, but people will be able to buy directly : a more friendly way of doing business, though it brings less publicity. Lucky cares about relationship and as you'll see when you visit the Art House, his art is all about relationship too. Lucky mainly paints oil on canvas, and as far as we can see in the Art House, the unity in materials corresponds to unity in subject.

E.T. phone home?
We encounter those strange light brownish characters, their stony shapes, and they all seem to come from the same distant planet, possibly with a message : Lucky likes to write small messages in his work, like that one saying "a devils wing, we curl up against it." These sentences come from everyday life, songs, things Lucky heard here and there and struck his mind.

Deep into your mind
I was very intrigued by the quality of the work : the aspect reminded me of acrylic but in fact this effect of streaks is achieved by a preparation on the canvas for structure before the actual painting : there are 3 or 4 layers, giving an undeniable depth to the color. Characters are drawn with graphite, giving them an uncertain outline. They hold each other, "comfort each other" says Lucky, but at the same time, they look straight at the viewer, and their blurred eyes convey nothing. How strange, but the series is called "we don't belong."

Longing to belong?
And those characters sure don't belong : they don't belong in the frame. Some arms come out of nowhere, an effect that is sometimes also the result of Lucky's painting not really fitting in the boundaries of Mindark's signs : Lucky hopes for bigger screens in the future, as he had to divide some paintings in two or three different pieces. However, this goes further ; these characters don't belong in our world in a more radical way. Their hands search for something or expect something from us that we can't give them. Possibly redemption, did I suggest, as the religious dimension seemed very strong to me. To this, neither Lucky or I can really answer, as the truth lies in the eye of the beholder...

If you want to read a review on one of Antar's painting, you can find it here :

And last but not least
Dung Kickers society entered the recent movie competition with "The search for the holy dung," an interesting parody of the hilarious Monty Python movie "Monty Python and the Holy Grail."

See it here.

[Jimmy B]

Very nice first article Tangine. Interesting subject matter, & loved the writing

[Frigid]

Well done!

The writing is almost as beautiful as the artwork...almost...

[Shadowsong]

Very nice read Tangine, great art review.

[TotalTwist]

I have to admit i do like the colors in your puppet drawings. Good eye for color there.

[Mags]

nice one Garb :-)

[MindStar9]

Congratulations on your first Front Page article Tangine ... you did a very fine job on it, and as expected, it was an absolute pleasure working with you in the Newsroom.

Prior to the article being posted, I took the time to visit The Art House, and I have to say I was absolutely amazed. The environment envelopes you, and draws you in, and begs you to stay to become one with this magnificent display of art. The lighting, the positioning, the decor, the everything holds you captive, not unlike holding your breath ... I didn't want to exhale, because I found myself in such a peaceful space, and wanted to drink it in over and over again.

I highly recommend a visit ... it's well worth the time, and then come back and share your experience with the rest of us ... it's just that good!



***

[Lykke]

This is really really nice art - and the kind I would love to have on my walls in RL! I LOVE the warm red/yellow colors and the little roughness they have - especially the last ones.

Good work - and very nice article, Tangine!

[P3T3R]

Nice work and the paintings are beatiful!

[bran]

*****""OFFICIAL UPDATE""***** DATE CHANGE => to sunday 27 mai from 12.00 MA time its party time. ALL artist will be there.