Ess Ell

...went to bed single, and woke up double...

Saskia Boddeke, The Story of Susa Bubble

Sex sells, in all worlds; you only have to go to Zindra or to the many BDSM sims of OSGrid to see that, and hey, you clicked on this link, didn't you? Perhaps in no other field of human endeavour does Sod's Law of Inverse Proportion more poignantly apply; the more a person talks about it, the more you know they're not getting good quality action at home. Where does that leave virtual nookie, then?

The new show at ZaZu'Z gallery, raises as many questions as it answers on that score. It's a small show, in a gallery with an earthbound, West Coast commercial lanai look; discreet, almost anonymous, with a little cloud of trash circling the entrance.

But ZaZu is no trailer trash masseuse.  The perfectly-put-together avatar with a French twist and photounrealistic skin sends the mind racing to transgenderrational conclusions, of course, but she takes her work seriously, in every way. People were making some pretty raunchy remarks, as they strolled among the larger than lifesize canvesses, but she let none of that get to her. No nipple police here, no strident voices, none of the hypocrisy of the art community.
ZaZu Susa: Is there a SL art community? *smiles. The most stupid thing people say is "you use photoshop as well " because I don't, they are all snapshots, not staged images. As for the gallery, I have made several. This one I built for a very short time. The detail is important. The photographs are just a selection, I took thousands of pictures, while having sex in SL, so as to have this. I love all of them, I can't choose a favourite,  it depends of the day. I chose these ones first because they are good pictures, but they represent 6 months of work.

In an environment where the word 'fantasy' takes on vivid, vivacious forms, these photographs are orthodox,  even old fashioned; like Marilyn, ZaZu's lovely avie has the same anatomy as other women. Serving and being served, she is firmly portrayed as subject, never object, in compositions more tasteful than explicit, if a little repetitive. There are few surprises, except perhaps the one with the Doberman. A wet nose in the frame  raises the question of censorship and sensibility.
ZaZu Susa: I don't have limits, when it comes to my art. It just has to be a good picture. If someone wants to think this is tacky - well, art is made of tacky things. RP sex is a huge part of SL! You don't make art with cute things or maybe, not me. Most people don't say anything when they look at my art. I think the biggest compliment they pay me is to purchase one piece.
It's hard to say, looking in from the outside, what it means to share these fragrant fragments of a virtual sexlife. Like all art, the meaning intended and the message conveyed remain, as the protagonists on the virtual bed, inseparably locked in a shared isolation, and in that, we each grasp what beauty we can find.