Treeline V - Marcus Inkpen

J. Matthew Root is the real life name of Marcus Inkpen. In the real world he is a fantasy/surreal artist, illustrator and web/graphics designer and when he's got some free time he writes cerebral science fiction stories, composes and records his own music and occasionally acts (and dies) in horror movies.He graduated from the Maryland Institute College of Art in 1999 having studied under mentors Susan Waters-Eller and Julian Allen with a concentration on illustrative painting.
After working in the newspaper/magazine industry for nearly a decade he decided to go freelance and hasn't looked back.
He's a seriously talented Second Life creator and a really nice guy, and we are delighted to feature his work 'The Great Tree' at ground level for our last exhibition.

Marcus says:
I've always been in love with trees and I've not been alone. Historically so much of our architecture is actually faint echos of humanity's love and admiration for the ultimate symbol of life, the tree.
When Sharni and I were building items inspired by the movie Avatar the vision of the great tree in which the Na-Vi live was the top of my list. You couldn't hope to more powerfully embody the idea of embracing life than to be living in a tree. Add to that the obvious life reference in the double helix staircases (which work as perfect metaphors on practically every level) and you have all that the "Tree" truely is. As balanced in its ever renewing lifecycle as we humans could ever hope to be.

Inside Marcus's Great Tree one climbs the double helix stairway to platforms hidden here and there amongst the foliage of the tree. It's an inspiring and rewarding experience, and is as close to be part of a living thing as one can get in a virtual world.
Marcus and Sharni Azalee have also 'decorated' our ground level around the giant tree with some of their plants and objects, all of them closely aligned with nature. Thanks to you both for making the ground level such a brilliant space.