Category Archives: paint

Speaking of Temescal…

I love this little district in Oakland.  Yes, it’s gentrified… and yes, there are too many hipsters. But I love it just the same as when I called it my home many years ago, even more so now since you can actually get a decent cup of coffee!

It’s just got so much going for it… one of the oldest neighborhoods in Oakland, horse drawn carriages used to run up and down what’s now Telegraph Ave.

The food, of course, is a huge draw… everything from the 80 year old Genova Delicatessen – a nod to the neighborhood’s early Italian-immigrant residents; to those established by more recent immigrant groups – Asmara & Red Sea; to gourmet delights like Pizzaiolo and Doñas Tomás; to the home of the original Betty’s (her ginger molasses cookies are so good I want to cry!)

There’s my beloved Tool Library (see yesterday’s post).

And there’s the art… home to Studio One, the Creative Reuse Depot, ever expanding public projects (see below), and numerous galleries… for those who love doing the Art Murmur thing (tonight!) but are a bit put off by the crowds in Uptown, Temescal is a wonderful alternative.  In fact, tonight they’re hosting a special “Summer Art Hop.” With this weather, perhaps they should call it Winter II Art Hop. Either way, I did the first Winter one and it was a blast.

And speaking of the weather, it looks like the Temescal Street Fair has been postponed.  Originally slated for this Sunday (and partly why I decided to do this post today), it’s been put off until July 10th.

I was wondering how they were going to finish this art project (Temescal Flows by Oakland muralist Alan Leon) in time for the festival… now they have another month.

I’ve been watching its progression for several weeks now and while I wasn’t sure I was going to like it initially, I’m growing rather fond of it.  The flowing/waving lines throughout reference the neighborhood’s Temescal Creek, and specific imagery honors the region’s earliest settlers, the Ohlone.

These pics were shot Wednesday and while much has been accomplished, there appears to be much yet to do…
public art temescal

temescal public art, overpass painting project
Alan Leon, alan leon muralist, oakland murals
temescal flows, temescal flows mural project, alan leon
24 underpass art, temescal art project, temescal murals, oakland murals
temescal creek, waving lines represent water, community art

“Art in the Streets” – LA Style

zebra muralI took a quick jaunt to LA this week; the trip just happened to coincide with the opening of a much ballyhooed exhibit at MOCA – what was to be “a groundbreaking exhibition of street art, the most ambitious show of its kind ever mounted in the United States.” So of course, I went!

My girlfriend and I went to the members-only opening Saturday night amidst a buzz of press and paparazzi – the line for them nearly as long as the line for new members, both of which were dwarfed by the queue for existing members with invitations. As we all waited to get in to the Geffen Contemporary (a 40,000 square foot former police car warehouse in Little Tokyo renovated by the noted California architect Frank O. Gehry, and one of three museums housed under the umbrella of MOCA), the first piece of the exhibit, itself a whirlwind of controversy, loomed large above the crowd.

You can read all about it in the LA Weekly’s “Street Art at MOCA” by Shelley Leopold, but I will summarize… the director of MOCA, Jeffrey Deitch, was tasked with the challenge of boosting new membership to the flailing museum. One idea he had was to showcase the cutting edge world of street art, and to open the show with a bang, he commissioned the Italian muralist Blu to make the entire north wall of the Geffen Contemporary his canvas. Unfortunately, what Blu chose to paint (controversial imagery of coffins draped with money) was deemed inappropriate and was later painted over by Lee Quinones along with “a handpicked contingency of dudes”, producing a native American tribute titled We the People. I actually didn’t even see this mural as it was on the backside of the building.

Lee Quinones, MOCA Street Art, coffins draped with dollars

photo right by LindsayT on Flickr

Instead our introduction to the show was the piece below… a tribute to the innovative graffiti artist BLADE. Here’s an interesting blogpost by the artist commissioned to do the piece… (Blade Tribute at the MOCA).

Jersey Joe Art, Blade Tribute, Freedom sketch for Blade Tribute

The show was quite good, although I definitely had problems with several of the installations that attempted to replicate street environments inside the museum. One in particular was a movie-set-like construction of a back alleyway, dimly lit, strewn with trash, complete with a live character hobo huddling in the corner. I don’t know if this was the actual artist having a bit of fun, or just another out of work LA actor taking any gig he could get, but either way… it was just too damn contrived.

The show comprised over 50 artists’ works over the last few decades (including early visionaries like Jean-Michel Basquiat & Keith Haring to more contemporaries like Shepard Fairey, Os Gemeos, and even Banksy), and focused on “key cities such as New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, London, and Sao Paulo, where a unique visual language or attitude has evolved.” You can see a complete list of artists here.

I didn’t take that many pictures because there was so much art to try and take in, it was a little overwhelming, but here are a few…

Geffen Contemporary, Street Art, Los Angeles

Roa rabbit, ROA bird, MOCA street art

ROA

stelios, street art, stelios mural

Stelios

shepard fairey, obey giant, shepard fairey installation moca

Me shooting everyone shooting Shepard Fairey

os gemeos installation, os gemeos street art, os gemeos moca

The Os Gemeos installation was huge and included instruments for the crowd to play - I played the drums! (but not as well as this 10 year old boy)

Os Gemeos at MOCA, Os Gemeos LA installation

Os Gemeos

swoon paper installation, swoon installation moca

Paper installation by Swoon

MOCA Geffen Contemporary, street art exhibit los angelesMOCA los angeles, art in the streets

If you can get down to Los Angeles in the next few months, this show will be up through August 8th.

Puzzling…

US Springs building mural, east bay mural art

New mural at San Pablo & Adeline.

west oakland mural art, black & white mural art, B&W mural

Kuhl Frames + Art

Just a quick shout out to the awesome Kuhl Frames + Art, framing shop & art gallery in Uptown Oakland.

kuhl frames, oakland framing shop, kuhl art gallery, uptown art galleries

I’ve been meaning to write about Kuhl Frames + Art for over a year now, for a number of reasons.  After a painfully frustrating framing experience with Michael’s a couple years ago (don’t be seduced by their 50% off deals!), I opted for a different experience altogether.  F*ck the big box Emeryville stores, I say! Our local independent shops are where it’s at, and this one is no exception…

Located in the thick of it all, at 22nd & Broadway… you can grab breakfast, lunch, or dinner and any fashion of associated beverages, all within a block of this lovely little shop. There’s Farley’s East, Uptown Cafe, Luka’s, Plum, Punchdown Wine Bar, Era… and those are just the one’s in spitting distance.  So plan accordingly.  And bring your appetite along with your art.

Owner Travis Kuhl has a great curatorial sense and the eye for display that goes along with it.  Quite simply, he will transform your works of art into true heirloom treasures. He’ll spend an unbelievable amount of time with you, exploring framing options that will highlight the subtlest aspects of your pieces; he’ll examine 73 shades of white to get the one that looks just right; he’ll work within your budget and can offer gorgeous hand-made Italian frames (at a premium) or economical pre-sized standard frames that are still far more interesting than anything you could get at Ikea.

Additionally, the space is a lovely little gallery, hosting not only rotating art exhibits, but also small retail displays of interesting and eclectic items: like mid-century lamps, Travis’s gorgeous fireplace yule-log-ish glass lamp constructions, art books, letter-press cards, and more.

The first time I went to Kuhl Frames (to frame a piece of art I bought during Art Murmur no less!) they had a fantastic show up called Lil Tuffy, showcasing dozens of stunning hand-screened posters by the artist of the same name…

Lil Tuffy, hand-screened posters, silk screened posters, lil tuffy posters

I meant to write about it way back then, but somehow didn’t get around to it. More recently, the gallery hosted the Lily Black exhibit I wrote about last week.

And also the wonderfully serene and spacious paintings of his wife Elisa Carozza-Kuhl. Her nature-inspired pieces can frequently be seen on rotation here… the current exhibit is a body of recent work exploring the new medium of acrylics, with a series entitled “Flights”. As we walked past them, Tim said, “I can almost hear these paintings.” I love her color palette of greens and golds… she says these colors hold an “emotional resonance” for her.

elisa carozza, flight series,

I love her color palette of greens and golds… she says these colors hold an “emotional resonance” for her, which, at least in my case, resonates for the viewer as well.

If you have a chance, do check out the current exhibit… I believe they’ll be working on a new installation at the end of the month.  It will also give you a chance to ask Travis about Oakland’s Guardian Angel, who personally, in the dead of night, slipped this loving tribute to Kuhl Frames under their door…

“Invest, build, prosper, and live happy in Oakland.”

guardian angel of oakland, oakland guardian angel notes

Dear Kuhl Frames,

Your craftsmanship and dedication to art in Oakland is nothing short of inspiring.  Wishing you unbounded success, I remain yours truly.

Oakland’s Guardian Angel