Sunday 14 September 2008

Primtings

...now, there's something about AM Radio's work that reminds me of the sense of isolation to be found in the paintings of Edward Hopper. Having finally caught up on AM's build The Refuge and Expansion, I was doing some mental filing and, thanks to the power of association, I recalled reading that someone had built a virtual 3D replica of one of Hopper's most famous paintings: Nighthawks. A bit of Googling brought up the sim location: Primtings.

A trip to the Primtings sim proved both enjoyable and frustrating. Basically, the sim (at ground level at least) is dominated by... what?... hmmm... some sort of giant, black ziggurat. Inside, there's a cool modernist minimalist ambiance - lots of black and pale grey, with subtly subdued lighting. The ziggurat houses (what I take to be) a growing 3D Gallery. Almost all of the works here are 3D representations of famous 19th and 20th Century works of art - featuring artists as diverse as Van Gogh, Rene Magritte, Max Ernst, Paul Klee and MC Escher.... oh, and Edward Hopper.

Whether this is art is a debateable point - but it is certainly an interesting exercise in craft, and an interesting place to wander around. I said earlier that it was also frustrating. My frustration came from lag and delays, that saw me ejected to the far edge of the sim whenever I tried to take a seat in the Nighthawks diner and that made initial movement through the building difficult. Hopefully this is a temporary glitch and not something inbuilt.

Finally, for those who decide to explore higher up, you will find a sim-sized version of Broadway Boogie Woogie by Piet Mondrian. Here are my travel snaps:

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