5Y Smoking

Now open at MetaLES is 5Y Smoking, the premiere exhibition of photography by Lan (lanjran Choche), who along with Ux Hax and Romy Nayar is one of the sim's owners. Uncharacteristically for MetaLES, the exhibition ventures into the realm of fashion photography — often erotic, often avant garde, and consistently well shot. With rare exception, a slender cigarette is a common element in all the images — sometimes in the mouth, sometimes in the hand, and sometimes visible only by a gentle spiral of smoke — and the exhibition's title is short for "Five Years Smoking," with one diptych near the landing point contrasting images from 2011 and 2016. "It's a mood," said Lan said with a laugh as we talked about the exhibition and the constantly present cigarette. "Femme fatale."

The gallery, designed and constructed by Lan, is minimally lit (thereby letting the artwork stand out), so visitors should use the occasional trail of red dots to help navigate through the exhibition. Those who are curious about the impressively diverse fashion can discover more information through Lan's flickr stream, although there are no direct links between the images on display and those on flickr. 5Y Smoking should remain on display for the next several weeks.