I know, I know… I’ve featured this spot before (Time’ll Tell)… and it’s not even in Oakland proper.
But I passed it the other day on my way to watch the World Cup Final and was amazed at how this little corner drive-thru (previously a Wolf Camera) has become a full-blown collaborative public art space…
The tie-dyed bison’s been up for awhile… yet another giant wheat paste by Jesse Hazelip. I really love his stuff… the sheer scale of them… the precision of his drawings… and complexity of issues that he’s tackling. Cool stuff.
A slew of other artists have chipped in and added to the public canvas…
Oil drips from this seagull and small words read “Get Up”…
These below seem to be by the same artist… the small boom box reads “Get Up” as well, and though these are true wheatpastes – large paper cut-outs transferred onto the building with temporary glue – the original pieces seem to be spray paint stenciled… some in multiple colors.
A small stencil’s been added below the wheat paste on the right. Was this the same artist, or someone different, just adding his/her flavor to the mix?
These masked “suits” remind me a little bit of the first mural I ever featured (Suits & Soldiers), also a stenciled work in which businessmen in suits are portrayed in sync with miliary soldiers. Here, suited men are disguised as guerillas with masks…
And below are details from a repeating series of black & white images that remind me of the Shepard Fairey installation I saw in Amsterdam last fall (OBEY in Amsterdam). They both feature extremely limited color palettes (Fairey’s actually includes a third color – red), and detailed graphic patterning reminiscent of wallpaper, juxtaposed with larger organic imagery… faces, hands, etc.
Oaktown Art | Oakland Art, Public Art, Murals, Graffiti, Culture, Oakland 
Nice post! The image with the bandanna over the face is ABCNT, last I remember he’s based in LA.
Cool!
The Buddha and hand is Cryptick Movement – http://www.flickr.com/photos/34520614@N07/
Yeah… I guess he also goes by “ABCNT” as Ken wrote in. You can see on his Flickr page that some of the photos are taken by ABCNT. Nice stuff.
Definitely. I really like the dancing gangsters.
Hmmm… maybe there weren’t as many artists involved as I thought. I figured it had to be at least 5, but now I wonder…
It looks like the masked businessmen is Cryptik as well: http://www.flickr.com/photos/34520614@N07/4008780187/
i went by there Friday on my bike to take some pictures and it has all been painted over. thanks for capturing all the great work!!
oh, that makes me sad. i had come to believe that was sort of an unofficially sanctioned spot for artists. i hope my post about it didn’t contribute, in some way, to its demise. 😦
it was sad… i was super bummed about it but finding your pictures and seeing that it was recorded and honored made me feel a little better
hopefully the spirit of it wasn’t lost and all the great artists you celebrate will return with a vengeance
Nice photos! The people dancing with the bandanas and the seagull are by me, get up. Yes they are spray paint on paper
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