Grit! Ask anyone to describe Oakland and this word is going to pop up numerous times. Even people who have never been to Oakland would use this word based just on Oakland's reputation. It's hard to argue that Oakland has a gritty side. But from the hard scrabble can grow the most beautiful roses. Oakland has a tendency to embrace the grit and turn it into an artistic expression. Lately I've been dipping my toe into West Oakland and Downtown for the blossoming art scene of this crazy East Bay town.
Be prepared for cutting edged awesome-ness, gentle readers!
Murals are being painted all over Oakland right now. This mural is in Jingletown, a part of Oakland situated by the water on the way to Alameda. Most people are not familiar with this little part of Oakland, with artist spaces, warehouses and condos. This mural is being painted by Vogue TDK, Earnest Doty, and Griffin.
We also attended the Alan Grizzel opening at The Naming Gallery. Alan is a Faultline artist and his paintings are all of Oakland landscapes (e.g. this stack of pallets). The installation used old pallets to be the backdrop. This is a picture of the painting Rusty purchased...
The gallery blocked off half the street with a U-Haul to give space for this local band. Yosiell waiting patiently for Moira Scar to begin the music. The music? It is self-described intergalactic, psyche, goth, queer, punk, death rock...Very cutting edge and way too cool for the likes of me.
'Nuff said? Rusty and Yosiell enjoyed this band much more passionately than I could muster but it was clear our West Oakland artists, musicians and fringe elements made the trek downtown for the show.
After the music, we trotted over to Le Qui Vie Gallery for Gritty In Pink! The artist Nina Wright (aka Mobb Pink) turned it out for the show. Definitely a graffiti artist street element to the show.
This is one of Nina Wright's pieces, the photo does not do justice to the scale of the piece. It is larger than life.
Another Nina Wright piece.
Last weekend, we enjoyed a completely Oakland evening. We rode our bikes downtown for the Oakland Drops Beats Music Crawl, a free downtown mini music festival. Many of the galleries and coffee shops hosted bands and DJs for the hip/hop, rap, and death metal prevalent in this area. Again, a stop at Le Qui Vie for some electronic beats.
Of particular note, Jel, recently returned from Coachella. Some seriously sick beats happening.
A new mural going in directly across the street from Le Qui Vie. This is a local graffiti artist known as i•Rot.
As the evening wore on the concept took shape, this will be a massive Native American face with a traditional head dress.
Again, directly across from Le Qui Vie. It appears this is an Austrian artist living in SF, Ny Chos. While standing there watching the artist at work, a local artist came by and started to scream and yell about how a rabbit has nothing to do with Oakland. He was definitely glassy eyed apparently celebrating 4/20 a bit early. He continued his diatribe for quite some time with many expletives. He also shouted lots about TDK Crew...(Those Damn Kids, an underground artist collective from several major cities focusing on graffiti and street art). He shouted lots of veiled threats regarding a fire extinguisher (later I found out that in order to really screw up a mural or graffiti, competing artists use a fire extinguisher filled with paint to get maximum coverage). I hope this member of the TDK Crew doesn't make good on the threats as the new murals downtown are excellent ways to provide public art in this thriving metropolis.
I'm glad I'm catching the Oakland art scene now, in its infancy before the eventual gentrification that revitalization has historically brought forth (witness: the Gap at the corner of Haight and Ashbury in SF). This is not a condemnation nor a celebration of gentrification, just an observation of what happens over time throughout these revitalization efforts. I hope the grit continues on for a little while longer...there are wonderfully creative ventures emerging from our town and it is exciting to be an observer of this brave new scene.
