New World Notes: Today’s SL Flickr Pick: Mac Massimo, Metaverse Magritte

Cajsa Lilliehook covers the best in virtual world screenshot art and digital painting

When I saw Mac Massimo’s “A Grounded Man” (right) posted on Facebook, I was stopped in my tracks, so to speak.

Such an original idea, but then Mac is full of original ideas from food blogging in Second Life to this deep dive into the surreal.

He works in black and white photography but still reminds me of Rene Magritte whose work was so colorful. Like Magritte he explores the body in relation to its environment, replacing blood and muscle with sap and cellulose in this picture.

He has a blog about his work and talks a bit about his process which adds even more to the pictures. 

For more surreal pictures, click here:

This feels like an homage to Magritte. Of course, this was a month into the invasion of Ukraine and the story of the woman giving sunflower seeds to Russian invaders, saying, “Take these seeds and put them in your pockets so at least sunflowers will grow when you all lie down here”. The sunflower represents Ukraine, so it feels like the picture does double duty.

“Step into the Wild” is Massimo’s hope for the new year. He wants to be more innovative, more creative. As he describes it, “When a New Year approaches I’ve always avoided forming resolutions. Yet, this time I will embrace evolving within my work without the necessary need for forming resolutions.” I can’t wait. 

Mac Massimo’s photostream is fascinating while very disciplined. The consistency in form (black and white, portrait, similar distance from subject) frees him to be more innovative in substance. 

See all of Cajsa’s Choices here. Follow Cajsa on Flickr, on Twitter, on her blog, and on her Ko-Fi.

All images copyright Mac Massimo