Friday already again!  This week has gotten the better of me…

In effort to finish up my Art Murmur escapades before leaving town, I’m going to just ramble for a bit…  After leaving bayVAN, we stopped in to Johannson Projects.  I’ll have to do another post on the Projects in the future because it’s considered one of the best independent galleries in the East Bay, if not the greater Bay Area.  Voted Best Gallery of 2008 and 2009 by the East Bay Express, “[the] art shown in this stylish space… is postmodern-cool, often involving unusual methods or processes, but well crafted and visually appealing.”

Founded by Kimberly Johannson, who just happened to luck out with the already existing lovely “K” mosaic installed at the entryway, this space is the epi-center of Art Murmur.  As such, it tends to be unbelievably crowded, even on a dark drizzly evening in February…

While a lively environment to pal around with friends and meet like minded artsy types, it wasn’t all that easy to see the art, and none of my photos turned out very well, so you’ll have to go check this one out for yourselves.

The current installation, titled Article X, features amazing photographs by David Trautrimas… otherworldly beautifully de-saturated Cold War landscapes constructed out of common everyday household items like coffee pots and waffle irons, and fascinating sculptural installations by Kristina Lewis. Lewis “frees utilitarian objects from their allegiance to human agendas and gives the materials of our disregarded possessions space to evolve. Emancipated zippers, stilettos, and light switches (complete with their wiring), become indescribable relics that could be machine or animal.”  Both of these installations feature the DIY sensibility that is often associated with this gallery.  Show is up through March 20th, and the gallery hours are 12 – 6pm Thurs/Fri and 11 – 5pm Saturdays (also by appointment).

Also featured this evening was a performance by a men’s a capella group called Conspiracy of Beards. Have you heard of them? Based here in the Bay Area, they’re a 30-member group, performing exclusively the works of Leonard Cohen in complex 4 and 5 part harmony arrangements. Can you say dreamy? This was just about the handsomest room full of men I’ve ever seen, and they were pouring their hearts out in song. And boy could they sing. These gentlemen put on a show worthy of the great Mr. Cohen, whom I had the good fortune to see on his recent stop at the Paramount; it was… truly transcendent.  Here’s a brief clip of Conspiracy…

There were a few other stops Friday night, but I’m running out of time so I think I’ll just stop there.  Kind of a nice note to end on I think.

I hope to get a bunch of posts up next week about my historical tour focusing on African American leaders influential in our Oakland’s development.  But it all depends on internet access… vacation starts tomorrow!!!