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GREETING CARDS from OAKLAND IN TRANSITION SHOW FOR SALE MARCH 2018 OAKLAND MUSEUM SHOP Or order directly from [email protected]. $19.95 plus shipping for eight greeting cards. |
I love OAKLAND
I love my new city, despite it being the third worst for crime in the country. An intoxicating mixture of cultures and clashing purposes makes my blood run faster through my veins. Representatives from all classes of society from the one percent to the homeless mingle at farmers markets, where African bead sellers and food trucks serving Indonesians plates flank artisanal honey booths. It is almost always good weather, so even the indigent people smile at you. They may not have a shower but there are enough soup kitchens to keep them from starving, and many prefer camping out in empty lots to shelters. I don’t want to be shielded from the poor, because I don’t want to forget my obligation to them: to vote right and give what I can. Downtown Oakland, construction is constant, parking impossible, and car break-ins persistent, but I love walking by art deco buildings with an intriguing history, then coming upon a sunlit outdoor café with musicians catering to workers on lunch break and runaways alike. The crime dots most areas, and is intense in a part of town that is too littered with gun shot to walk around in, but there are dozens of other neighborhoods. Chinatown is lively with food stands spilling out on to the street sporting weirdly shaped roots and vegetables, and the locals resent me a little for sightseeing in their private world, but I need some snow peas. Walking around the 2.8-mile perimeter of Lake Merritt offers a look at exotic waterfowl, Uber executives jogging, and spread eagle vagabonds taking in the morning sun among the birds of paradise. Jack London Square is an artsy boat dock area, with a gigantic freight train barreling thought every so often. My neighborhood on the border of gentrifying Rockridge has upscale restaurants and boutiques but plenty of bookstores and a community oriented library as well. There are many more neighborhoods to explore, but they are constantly in flux from week to week. This is some of what I was trying to capture in my new show of paintings called Oakland in Transition.
I love my new city, despite it being the third worst for crime in the country. An intoxicating mixture of cultures and clashing purposes makes my blood run faster through my veins. Representatives from all classes of society from the one percent to the homeless mingle at farmers markets, where African bead sellers and food trucks serving Indonesians plates flank artisanal honey booths. It is almost always good weather, so even the indigent people smile at you. They may not have a shower but there are enough soup kitchens to keep them from starving, and many prefer camping out in empty lots to shelters. I don’t want to be shielded from the poor, because I don’t want to forget my obligation to them: to vote right and give what I can. Downtown Oakland, construction is constant, parking impossible, and car break-ins persistent, but I love walking by art deco buildings with an intriguing history, then coming upon a sunlit outdoor café with musicians catering to workers on lunch break and runaways alike. The crime dots most areas, and is intense in a part of town that is too littered with gun shot to walk around in, but there are dozens of other neighborhoods. Chinatown is lively with food stands spilling out on to the street sporting weirdly shaped roots and vegetables, and the locals resent me a little for sightseeing in their private world, but I need some snow peas. Walking around the 2.8-mile perimeter of Lake Merritt offers a look at exotic waterfowl, Uber executives jogging, and spread eagle vagabonds taking in the morning sun among the birds of paradise. Jack London Square is an artsy boat dock area, with a gigantic freight train barreling thought every so often. My neighborhood on the border of gentrifying Rockridge has upscale restaurants and boutiques but plenty of bookstores and a community oriented library as well. There are many more neighborhoods to explore, but they are constantly in flux from week to week. This is some of what I was trying to capture in my new show of paintings called Oakland in Transition.
Artist statement:
Seismic change is rocking the hills and valleys of Oakland. Not an earthquake, yet, but a cacophonic shifting of power, values, and generations. Small business owners snatch up real estate for their hip new café next to soaring construction sites preparing for monolithic tech operations. In the shadows, the disenfranchised scamper for a place to call home while savvy investors build nests for San Francisco refugees escaping astronomical rent increases. Who is getting trampled in the flurry of change? Who is seizing once-in-a-decade opportunities? Many are benefiting from the creative atmosphere of galleries, innovative restaurants, and non-traditional housing solutions. But in this time of renaissance, intriguing and sometimes comical, sometimes tragic, juxtapositions can appear while this caterpillar of a city becomes a butterfly once again, as in its early days of grandeur. It is this moment of change I attempt to capture in my watercolor show of paintings to be held at City Hall, during the month of May.
Seismic change is rocking the hills and valleys of Oakland. Not an earthquake, yet, but a cacophonic shifting of power, values, and generations. Small business owners snatch up real estate for their hip new café next to soaring construction sites preparing for monolithic tech operations. In the shadows, the disenfranchised scamper for a place to call home while savvy investors build nests for San Francisco refugees escaping astronomical rent increases. Who is getting trampled in the flurry of change? Who is seizing once-in-a-decade opportunities? Many are benefiting from the creative atmosphere of galleries, innovative restaurants, and non-traditional housing solutions. But in this time of renaissance, intriguing and sometimes comical, sometimes tragic, juxtapositions can appear while this caterpillar of a city becomes a butterfly once again, as in its early days of grandeur. It is this moment of change I attempt to capture in my watercolor show of paintings to be held at City Hall, during the month of May.
18 x 26 FOX AND CRANE $500
8x10 BILLBOARD AND BUNGALOW $250
8x8 GOLDEN SLUMBER $200
14x16 CHRISTMAS IN OAKLAND $300
8x8 ORTHOPEDICS $200
Morning doves $200
Dutch Boy $300
8x10 PAPER FLAGS $200
8x10 18 HOLES $200
11x14 CITY HALL $300
TRIBUNE $300
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18x24 JEWEL IN THE CROWN $500
18x24 TILTING BUILDINGS $350
11x14 URBAN WINDMILL $300
11x14 NEON ALLEY $300
8x10 HUDSON BAY $200
11x14 PARAMOUNT $300
8x10 THREE SHOPS $200
11x14 ARTS CRAB SHAK $250
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