A few more wheatpastes down the building from yesterday’s. This one’s pretty fantastic…
And this one next to it looks like it was pretty interesting too… bummer I didn’t catch it before it was damaged. It says “Just Becauz“.
Category Archives: emeryville border
E-ville Wheaties ~ part I
This is another abandoned building that gets frequently used by local artists… I’ve also featured this location before, but spotted this piece last weekend as I whizzed by and knew I needed to come back to feature it. I love it.
The building is located on San Pablo Avenue, just across the Emeryville border. I drove this stretch of San Pablo probably a thousand times over the years and it never ceased to amaze me how dramatically things shifted across that city line. Hell, even the street lamps were prettier! To me, this long-standing boarded up building looks more Oakland than antiseptic Emeryville. Regardless, I love to check on it from time to time to see what folks have thrown up…
What I love about this piece is its depth, not to mention its message. I actually tried to watch Glenn Beck last week just to see what all the hullabaloo is about… all I can say is, the man is f&*#ing crazy! I had to turn it off after just 5 minutes, and find it hard to believe (and sad really) that millions of Americans have simply shut off their brains to consume this man’s rants as gospel. Thank god we have artists like this who are willing to question the status quo.
It’s a wheatpaste on top of a wheatpaste and has some killer stencil work (I think) in the tiny bomber plane…
The backdrop consists of 6 large “Fox News” posters mounted to plywood and then stenciled with the plane and the repeated words “media blitz media blitz…” But on top of all that is mounted another wheatpaste… a monster war machine of a tank with the words “Fox News” emblazoned across the top. The whole thing seems to be covered in some type of plastic or acrylic material to protect it.
See below right for fragments of all the older wheatpastes on the sidewalk below… There were a couple others up nearby; I’ll feature them in my next post or two, which should be on the shorter side, as last week’s were kinda time consuming. Please check back.
Ave Maria ~ Hail Mary
Here’s another one of those incredible giant wheat pastes… spotted just around the corner from the last one (abandoned building on San Pablo near 35th street freeway overpass). This is the biggest one yet, spanning at least 15 feet wide, and fashioned out of more than six 3-foot wide strips of paper.
“Ave Maria” is latin for “Hail Mary,” a traditional Catholic prayer asking for the intercession of the Virgin Mary. Interesting…
Similar to the others, a bison is depicted with some type of bomber plane encasing (or replacing) its head. But unlike the others, this one has more than four legs. Hmmm….
Others:
Random Ramblings…
I’ve been thinking about this awhile now… I’m looking for some guest bloggers. Anyone out there got a passion for Oakland, a camera, and some ideas to share?
I’m not exactly sure how it will work, but I’m open to suggestions… Could be once a week, once a month, or maybe a whole week at some point to give me a little break. The blog is simply a personal project right now and doesn’t have any advertising on it to generate revenue, which sadly means I can’t pay you. It would strictly be a volunteer effort… a labor of love.
Anyone? Please send in comments if interested…
In other news, and I’ll admit this is completely un-art-related, it’s Pickle & Pepper’s birthday! Here’s a shot of them resting up now, so they can party like crazy later. Just thought I’d share…
And last, but certainly not least, here are some mostly-art-related events coming up that you’ll definitely want to check out…
- 4/23 Friday – Oakland Underground Film Festival kicks off (98 Broadway, Jack London Square)
This festival will be running through August so do check their site for schedule details. This Friday features Local Talent Short Films and I’m particularly interested in A Day Late in Oakland by Zachary Stauffer about the murder of journalist Chauncey Bailey and the history of the Black Muslim Bakery in Oakland. - 4/24 Saturday – Oakland Organic Plant Sale at California Hotel (35th St. @ Chestnut, West Oakland)
This event is sponsored by People’s Grocery and related organization Ferment Change. Plants from local West Oakland organic farms (People’s Grocery and City Slickers) will be sold to raise money to hire low-income residents from the hotel to work in the newly established garden and greenhouse at the hotel. Live music too. - 5/1-2 Saturday/Sunday – Oakland Museum Re-opening Weekend Celebration (Oak @ 10th St., downtown) Well it’s been a long wait, but next weekend proves to be an exciting celebration of the newly renovated Oakland Museum. The museum will be open for 31 hours straight and admission is FREE for the entire weekend. Check out their site for all the groovy events planned… it’s gonna be a great party!
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