"Emotions behind the Art" video series.
But as you started reading this blog, you might be asking yourself: What the heck does Toy mean by MetaART?
Toy's recent video "Shattered - Emotions behind the Art" is the latest example of his MetaART. But this blog post will explain what MetaART is to Toy and how he has followed the path of creating it.
HOW DOES TOY DESCRIBE ART ?
We can go back to the earliest times of human evolution where we find an abundance of evidence of what we would refer to as art (i.e. Cave Art as a perfect example). Why did these simple minded human species make any effort at all to come up with methods to create these graphics on the walls to draw rudimentary animals and celestial bodies and other known items? Because they felt it was important for an individual to convey an experience he/she had that others were not able to share. How important would it have been to convey to others back in a tribe that there was a large herd of animals... big animals that looked like mammoths? How many... where they were... and even how they could be killed for food?
They discovered they could do this by reflecting their personal experience in the form of drawing it out on walls to match was was captured in their minds. Although there is no evidence from back then to prove this, these ancient people likely also conveyed their experience by drawing in the sand and by moving their bodies in "dance" or making similar reflective sounds like "music" to get their message across.
But basically, each of these ancient individuals was REFLECTING REALITY AS WAS CAPTURED IN HIS/HER MIND by means of generating a human created interpretative artifact. The individual was an ARTIST and the creation was and still is referred to as ART. Its not a coincidence that the word ARTIFACT begins with the word ART.
As humans evolved, it was no surprise that human ingenuity evolved and extended this rudimentary utilitarian purpose and respective skill-sets of creating "ART" to explore less tangible experiences in the minds of these "ARTISTS". As we observe the countless forms of art throughout the ages all the way to modern times, we can see that ART was no longer just the reflection of actual experienced reality (i.e. like landcapes or war scenes or a moment in time). ART was also reflecting an Artist's interpretation of a feeling, a belief, and emotion, a philosophy that was not as tangible a reality and could only be conveyed to others in much more symbolic creative forms.
This ART is often the least accurate to convey to others - especially if others have not shared the same ideas as the Artist or do not grasp the more symbolic reflections created by the Artist. In Toy's mind as well as countless others that love art, this form of expressionist / symbolic art is the most enjoyable and stimulating for both the Artist - challenged to find ways to effectively convey this intangible message - and the Art Lover that tries to interpret the Artist's message he / she placed in the Art.
Toy's art has evolved to create these more symbolic emotionally expressive artworks. As such, he is always striving to find ways to both articulate as well as more powerfully and effectively express the emotions & thoughts he wishes to convey in his art. The primary and most obvious method is to create that initial artwork that tries to convey his message. Toy has created several artworks that do this and released for all to try to interpret.
BUT... What if an Artist wanted to push the message / emotion / concept behind an initial artwork further?
WHAT IS MetaART?
Enter Toy's definition of MetaART! If an Artist wishes to convey one of his/her initial artworks from a different artistic angle, or use another art medium that can express the initial artworks message more effectively or with more power then this is what Toy would define as MetaART. A critical component that separates MetaArt from another new form of art is that MetaArt would be ART that uses the initial art as a base. MetaART is Art Describing Art.
Often Artists will create a single artwork to convey what is a powerful emotional message but feel that a lot was left on the "Creation Floor" - the ability to provide different views of the same message. Like a photographer that takes several photos of a subject and a few of the photos are equally as powerful in their own way. Which to use if you only want one powerful message to go forward? Or a Painter using differing colors or strokes. Or a sculpture position a hand or body in differing ways. Once the decision was made, the other options are often left on the cutting room floor that no one sees.
With MetaART, the Artist bring new interpretive life to the emotions behind the initial artwork.
Examples of Toy's MetaART
In the past couple years, Toy has often created many forms of MetaART on his own as well as worked with others to create MetaART projects. And in fact Toy finds the creation of MetaART to be very exciting and fulfilling as it allows him to explore different art mediums to convey what was an important message in the original artwork.
The latest MetaART creation was with Toy's SHATTERED 3D Mesh Art Sculpture. Shattered has had the most number of MetaART creations of all his artworks. For Toy it is the artwork he is using to establish a pattern of the various MetaART avenues he could use for his other artworks in the future. With Shattered, Toy initially created his 3D Virtual World Mesh sculpture. But as is common practice for Toy, he immediately created a 2D wall artwork of the Shattered sculpture which were both released together in 2012. He then created a Real Life 2D canvas medium of Shattered. Then in 2015 he created a Real Life solid Bronze statue of Shattered. Finally, in November 2015 he released his first "Emotions Behind The Art" video using Shattered as his first subject.
MetaART for SHATTERED....
As was already mentioned, the most common MetaART practice from Toy is to Co-Release a 2D PhotoArt composite of any 3D Mesh artwork that Toy has created. This has proven to be very popular among Toy's art followers as many have purchased his Wall art MetaART more so than the 3D Mesh sculpture. Here are a couple examples of Toy's sculpture with 2D MetaART...
That spring Toy was asked by Rose - the Founder & Fashion Designer of the famous Paris Metro Couture in SecondLife® - to exhibit in her popular Paris Metro Art Gallery (PMAG). Toy gladly accepted. A highlight for every PMAG exhibit is the Exhibit Opening event whereby Rose actually creates a special "Artist's Series" dress fashion using one of the Artist's actual wallart artworks. Then typically a live musician is hired for the event and the fashion is given away during the event.
Toy wanted something special for his Exhibit Opening Event. While talking to BabyPea prior to the exhibit, they both came up with the idea of trying to create an Elysium Artistic Dance show whereby each of the troop dancers selects any one of Toy's artworks from his gallery and creates an interpretive dance for the artwork. Basically, it was was the blending of fine-art, dance, music, and stage to create a powerful live MetaART for several of Toy's artworks. The dance show would then be actually performed on the PMAG open area for all to experience Dance Art, Music Art, Stage Setting Art, and Fashion Art all interpreting the Fine-Art that Toy was exhibiting at the gallery!
It was an overwhelming success! Toy even created a video of the event first performed at the Elysium Theater.
Here a link to the BLOG POST of the first video perform on ART BEGATS ART Video ...
Here are some photos from the event at Paris Metro's opening...
Toy's recent "EMOTIONS BEHIND THE ART" Video series is just the latest MetaART porject - one that he hopes to expand upon by producing new videos in the series. He will also be looking for new MetaART avenues to explore in his quest to more powerfully express the emotions behind his art.