Express Gallery

With all the available vacant space in Oakland’s Jack London Square I was thrilled to see some of that space used for creative purposes. I wandered along Oakland’s waterfront on Saturday afternoon trying to walk off some of the million calories I indulged in at the 2010 Eat Real Festival when I came across this free installation.
The gallery sponsored by the East Bay Express, a weekly alternative newspaper based in the East Bay, is open on weekends only, but to coincide with Eat Real they extended their hours for the weekend. The name of the current exhibition is «A Decade With No Name» and it is a celebration of some of the East Bay’s best artists both old and new.
Through paintings, installations, illustrations and other mediums the show is a graphic feast for the eyes, and the vast size of the space is perfect for an exhibition such as this. Photography is allowed and some of the artists are on site to offer some insight into their art as well as to make a little extra money by selling prints and personalized sketches. One of the exhibit’s sponsors, Oakland based apparel company fiftyseven-​thirtythree, even has a rack of clothing for sale inside the show.
Being the one-​time comic book junkie I once was one set of prints by artist Alex Pardee titled «West Coast Avengers» (
) certainly caught my eye. Also having majored in architecture throughout my college years I spent a lot of time perfecting my art and illustration skills and the fine lines in these illustrations definitely caught my eye. One piece titled «Hat Trick» (
) by artist Dave Correia caught my attention as it made me think back on a project in junior college where we were asked to morph a body part into something abstract. Back then I executed my project using an Eagle draughting pencil only, but Correia’s piece looks so much better in acrylic, a medium I continue to practice with even today.
Painting with oils was always difficult for me so when I saw artist Aaron Nagel’s many pieces on display I appreciated them even more. Here are just a couple of examples of his work. The subject matter of this first one (
) needs no description nor does this series of four (
). One of the more intriguing, and probably amazing, pieces of art on display is one by artist Annie Voight. From a distance I thought the piece was made of wire, but upon further inspection I realized the entire piece was cut out continuously on one giant sheet of paper. I looked for sections that may have been glued or fused together but found none. «Do I Look Like Your Mother?» (
) has a very deep message inscribed within the art, but you’ll need to see and read this one for yourself.
The exhibit which opened on August 6, 2010 will run through September 12, 2010.
I took a handful of photos that can be viewed on my Flickr page here:
Exhibit sponsor
also created a video of the exhibit here:
An after party is scheduled for Friday, September 3, 2010, and you can find the information here (
).