Art Districting Among the Strip
Petra Bibeau
Traveling toward downtown Oakland on the stretch of Telegraph Avenue, a batch of artist-run spaces, non-profit alternative art and performance spaces, and co-op galleries have created an art force of their own. Levying Oakland to rival most West coast art centers by utilizing alternative routes in the tradition of Oakland’s from-the-ground-up spirit, is Oakland’s Telegraph Avenue distinct art base.
Any given concurrent opening night on Telegraph Avenue–including auto3321, Buzz Gallery, Ego Park, RPS Collective, Boontling Gallery, and 21 Grand–offer large, mixed crowds of art lovers and Oakland Police spilling onto the economically-neglected neighborhood. The diverse nature of each space exemplifies the patchwork collaboration of Oakland to resist status quo mainstays for a more approachable and full spectrum appeal in the arts, both visual and performance based.
Sound and Vision curated by artists Tracy Timmons and Billy Kroft at auto3321 hosted some of Oakland’s most hidden yet incredibly talented photographers. Shannon Corr, Hoyt Fay, and Suzy Poling headed "Sound and Vision" with a mix of intriguing, and at times familiar, photography. Oakland’s Shannon Corr, a photographer who covers local bands in Bay Area venues with achromatic action prints by the most intimate method possible: Corr’s drummer roots. As Corr’s website proudly pronounces, he is "covering the sweat of the Bay Area." Corr’s photographs cover such bands as Battleship, So So Many White Tigers, the Twots and the Lovemakers. Corr’s style, though documentary in utility, resonates with a deeper history of the Bay Area’s (at times) just-above-ground music scene.
Hoyt Fay’s C-print series titled "Jesse’s Wedding" offered the chance of art direction to act as a photographer’s subject in lieu of its product. Fay’s incredible understanding of the fine line between momentary accent and staged production gave "Jesse’s Wedding" the scope of a viewer’s immediate gratification from the sheer beauty of the prints.
Suzy Poling’s collaborative series photographs stood out as a reason to advocate this Chicago native be captured and kept in Oakland. Poling’s creations are not quite eerie, not quite charming, and really beyond otherworldly. Extreme, storybook-like–if storybooks had editorials on maniac depression–Poling seems to know the worth of what others reject.
Ego Park hosted "Craft," an exhibition showcasing artists Nami Dunham, Meagan Geer and Kevin Slagle working in their respective crafts: woodworking, translucent prints and waxed paint. Slagle works with discarded wood to create clean and geometric slates of otherwise unusable materials. Also on site were Geer’s light boxes housing small illuminated translucent prints and Dunham’s paintings.
21 Grand’s New Works on Site gave home to Oakland’s Justin Artifice and Steve Lambert for an ambitious project addressing local conflicts and observations. Artifice’s Salvage made use of the flatbed salvage-packed trucks seen around Oakland in Artifice’s tactical style of public murals. Salvage was instead constructed on fabric and draped across the gallery wall. Lambert’s project makes use of posing the question: "What would you do with 11 square miles of Bay Area land, a state of the art research facility, a staff numbering over 8,000, and a budget of 1.6 billion dollars a year to work with?" They speak of the Lawrence Livermore National Labs, their specifically contested history and nature in the Bay Area, the premium of property, as well as the rising costs of living in the Bay Area. Viewers constructed their own wants and ideas for the suspected soon to be (ideally) useless facility and space, and the many contributions were displayed in the gallery.
Telegraph’s RockPaperScissors Collective, a fairly new co-op gallery space run by a group of Oakland artists, offered Collective Collectives consisting of four art collectives: Budget Gallery, Collective Jyrk, Lasso Art Collective, and RPS Collective. Having four art collectives showcasing work in a single space guaranteed visitors a massive spectrum, and for sure RPS Collective housed everything possible and plausible successfully. From body art (nail painting and body painting), to edible doughnut wall installations, RPS Collective’s diverse concept of exhibition design and space is superior for its size and location.
