Category Archives: murals

Street Tattoo Mural ~ San Pablo

I’ve passed this mural probably hundreds of times…  Despite its dilapidated state, I’ve always loved it.  It’s not a stretch of San Pablo I typically walk –  under the freeway overpass near the Greyhound Bus Station – so I’m either whizzing by in my car or on my bike.  Today I got out and walked its full length so I could snap these shots.

Created in 1982 (nearly 30 years ago!) by Daniel Galvez with many others (see below), it’s titled “STREET TATTOO”.

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daniel galvez, street tattoo mural, oakland mural art

daniel galvez, san pablo mural oakland, street tattoo mural

The mural presents a wonderful portrait of Oakland’s diversity, and what I love about it is how happy everyone looks in all of their active and creative pursuits.  You don’t have to walk far down this stretch of San Pablo to see that most real-life folks aren’t singing, laughing, dancing, or juggling.  I wish they were.

But it certainly paints an idyllic picture.  I hope they’ll both be restored one day… the mural, and the “picture.”

daniel galvez, street tattoo mural, oakland mural by bus station

You can’t see because the type is too small, but the number 2 tag on the man in the wheelchair reads “1981 Oakland Marathon”.

oakland resident portraits, daniel galvez

The female firefighter rocks! Oh, and I zoomed in on this man’s t-shirt because I think it’s simply fabulous. It reads “Oakland – The Center of Western Civilization”. I can’t quite make out the design… it looks like Atlas holding a portion of the Bay Bridge, but I’m not sure what else. Anyone?

mural by daniel galvez, oakland mural art

daniel galvez muralist, mural art oakland, mural on san pablo

oakland mural art, street tattoo mural

My understanding is that all the subjects portrayed here were real people, and I believe he worked from photographs, as in later murals produced (see below).  In fact a friend of mine met a woman recently who claimed to be girl on the tire swing.  She, too, hopes the mural will be restored.

Daniel Galvez, who received his undergrad at California College of Arts & Crafts (now CCA) and Master of Arts and Painting at the San Francisco Art Institute, was a powerhouse muralist in Oakland in the early eighties.  He later achieved national recognition, producing his most famous murals for the Department of the Interior in Washington D.C. (Guardians of the Past, Stewards of the Future), and New York City’s Department of Cultural Affairs (Homage to Malcom X), among many many others throughout the U.S.

He was also one of the primary artists on the amazing “Grand Performance” mural by the Grand Lake Theater.  I’m saving that one for a rainy day…

Other artists include: Jamie Morgan, Dan Fontes, Keith Sklar, Eduardo Pineda, Warren NG, Marilyn Gaines, Linda Wolfe, Brian Thiele, Debbie Simpson, and Reynaldo Carranza

Sponsors include: California Arts Council, City of Oakland, Chinatown/Central Community Development, Cal Trans, and others.

West Oakland Roots…

Wandering around my home stretch of West Oakland, I am always amazed how, after more than 10 years, I can still find things I’ve never seen before.  Just this past weekend I came across a new cafe, new art installation, new community garden plot, and more. All within a couple blocks of the BART station I’ve been to hundreds of times.  This is what I love about Oakland. And West Oakland in particular, with its vast assortment of abandoned manufacturing sites and empty lots, seems ripe for this kind of discovery.

I have to be honest and tell you I was on a bit of a mission when I came across these things, so it wasn’t completely by chance.

I went to the Oakland Indie Awards Nominee Mixer last week.  Do you guys know about the Indie Awards? An annual event hosted by the California One Foundation in partnership with the East Bay Express, to promote and highlight local artists and businesses doing amazing things in Oakland.  You have to be nominated by a community member, but after that, it’s strictly a juried process and finalists in a number of categories are chosen by a panel of judges after a series of interviews.  The awards party is on Friday, May 14th and should prove to be a huge event with local food & drink vendors, live music, DJs, and more. (tickets here)

But back to the mixer… last week was an opportunity to rub elbows with other nominees and even meet the judges and pitch your business or art a bit. I talked with a bunch of talented & creative peeps, one of whom was Keba Konte – artist, business owner, and self-proclaimed “waffle curator.” The owner of Guerilla Cafe in Berkeley as well as one of the founders of Kijiji Grows (featured in Oakland Youth Center post), he recently worked in conjunction with Mo’ Better Food and numerous other organizations in the establishment of Mo Better Food’s East Bay Farm/Garden one block from the West Oakland Bart Station. The garden workday took place on January 18th in honor of Martin Luther King Jr’s birthday, and Keba organized a community installed art piece entitled “The Beautification Art Project,” directing volunteers to tie thousands of colorful ribbons onto a chain-link fence to create a portrait of the great civil rights leader. Fantastic.

keba konte, Martin Luther King art installation, community art west oakland BART

martin luther king art installation, beautification art project by keba konte

Apparently Kijiji Grows set up an aquaculture garden on site, but I didn’t see that during my visit…

keba konte, west oakland bart community garden, mo' better food garden

East Bay Urban Gardeners (EBUG) assisted volunteers in constructing numerous raised planter beds. Here are a couple…

mo' better food, west oakland garden, kijiji grows

lady bug, west oakland community garden, garden west oakland BART

Folks from Urban Releaf (formerly Oakland Releaf) planted numerous trees on the site, and it looks like this formerly abandoned lot is well on its way to becoming a beautiful green zone for food production and recreation. Way to go Mo’ Better Food!

“the stylistic confides of lowbrow art…”

What exactly does this mean?

If you went to the Stand Tall exhibit at Old Crow Tattoo & Gallery on Grand Ave. last Friday night, you might have an idea, as that was the essence of their 20-plus artists show.

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Featuring approximately 20 artists – some local, some not – I expected the show to be primarily graffiti aerosol art, but was surprised to find a much wider range of mediums and styles.

Stand Tall references the tall, but narrow, space that each artist had to work with. The two main gallery walls were each divided into 10 equal segments, 3 feet wide by 9 feet tall, providing 20 slim slates to be adorned however each artist saw fit. Some hung traditional canvases (easier for the out of town artists), some painted directly onto the wall, and some created elaborate mixed media installations incorporating, paint, wood, paper, found objects, smaller framed works, and more.

It was almost too much to take in. And while there wasn’t much cohesion between the individual artists’ pieces (everything from classic expressionism to modern graffiti lettering to flat abstract blocks of color to collaged interactive sculpture), the confines of their equally sized individual spaces marching repetitively along the walls did provide a layer of unity.

old crow tattoo & gallery, graffiti art show at old crow

old crow tattoo and gallery, art show at old crow oakland

old crow tattoo & gallery, stand tall art show, graffiti art show at old crow

stand tall art show, old crow gallery oakland

Several of the pieces were collaborative efforts. I was able to speak briefly with one of the artists, Dead Eyes, who had worked on one with his co-creator Safety First. He explained that collaboration is frequent in this genre, as local street artists are a close-knit group who all know each other and interact with each others’ work.

I asked how much of the collage was put together from already existing works. He said only a small percentage, and that about 80 percent was created originally for this show, focused on themes similar to those exhibited in their street art… visible throughout Oakland.

I also spoke briefly with Desi W.O.M.E. whose piece was one of my friend’s favorites. Though created within the span of a single day, and simple in layout – spray painted directly on the wall with no mixed media or multiple pieces – it was complex in its content. Layers of imagery overlap each other… a man’s face, seemingly in agony, an aztec-styled skull, a graffiti-writing mask over the two – all obscuring, revealing, and interacting with parts of each other. I don’t know what it means, but it seems… deep.

I could probably do a whole post on each of these panels, but you should just go check it out for yourself…
Show remains up until May 5th. I believe gallery hours are by appointment only.

PS – you can get tattoos there too. duh.

Sea Turtle Swims on 880

oakland mural art, emergent sea, sea turtle on 880, giant sea turtle mural

One of three murals commissioned through the Coliseum redevelopment area’s Tough on Blight program… “Emergent Sea” by Dan Fontes, painted with Caroline Stern and James Swinson.