Bryn Oh is a virtual artist/avatar inside the online world of Second Life (photo credit: )

Lately, I’ve been really intrigued by the work of Bryn Oh, one of a number of ground-breaking artists who are creating virtual art inside Second Life (SL). Bryn Oh creates steampunk-inspired statues and three-dimensional environments that are really well-thought out and designed to make you deeply engage with them. If you spend some time exploring her work you’re often rewarded with a story, a poem, or other special, secret hidden surprises.

One of the most interesting things about Bryn Oh is that she isn’t real. She’s a sort of “ghost artist”; the online avatar of a Canadian oil painter. Yet despite not being “real”, Bryn Oh is increasingly gaining notice online that is totally separate from her creator, who prefers to remain anonymous. A book featuring Bryn Oh’s work has already been published (Bryn Oh and the Tinies by Aiko Aichi and Ritva Nybacka) and there is even a Bryn Oh photo pool on Flickr where fans of her work post photos.

I never completely bought in to the hype about Second Life, but seeing work like Bryn Oh’s makes me think that just as Friendster paved the way for Facebook, SL is blazing a trail for some sort of future online interactive virtual world where all sorts of things – including puppetry – will be transformed and reinvented in ways we can’t possibly imagine.

If you’re already a Second Life user, you can see Bryn Oh’s work for yourself by visiting Immersiva. Non-SL users can watch Bryn Oh’s Machinima videos of her work on Blip.tv (don’t miss Ferrisquito, which is my personal favourite).