Frantastica and DB Bailey

Yesterday I mentioned Fran Seranade and the beneficial impact Second Life seems to be having on her management of Parkinson's Disease. Others stricken with PD are also active in SL, including the artist and architect DB Bailey, whose long-gone areas of Cetus and Locus were among my favorite builds, brilliant with color and radically distinctive. After a hiatus, he began to build in Second Life again, about six months ago in the sim Frantastica (named for the aforementioned Fran, of course), where a sandbox was established to support the creative work of people living with Parkinson's.

His builds here are ongoing and change frequently as he continually reshapes them. DB described to me how "many people with PD experience a surge in creativity," adding, "I've become obsessed with color—it helps ease the symptoms." DB's spaces are exceptionally immersive and wildly complex, with great overlapping textures and patterns that give a tremendous sense of depth, often highly saturated with color. There are additional artists whose work at Frantastica is interwoven with DB's, including builds by Solas (a.k.a. SolasNageaLai Resident) and writings by Albert Murrian and Brenda Brodie. DB hopes others will join soon. (DB, by the way, is a great proponent of the Oculus Rift. "It's unbelievable," he says. "It's really like being here. It's going to change everything.")