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A Gory Substance

by | Oct 20, 2024 11:13 pm | Comments (0)

Via MUBI

The Substance
The New Parkway Theater
474 24th St, Oakland

We say body horror, I believe, because we have no better words. But, as one female viewer said, is that not just every 26 days as a woman? To paint the town, or theater, red with your pain, to present the fullest, raw and exposed version of your most monstrous self to anyone in your way? Monstro Elisasue is Elisabeth, Sue, and maybe all of us, in French filmmaker Coralie Fargeat’s latest feminist sci-fi/horror/comedy ​“The Substance,” but it seems none of us, myself very much included, have found apt descriptors for the film that do not rely on the female body as an inherent source of horror.

October kicked off with one helluva heatwave here in the Bay, so seeking temporary respite from the raised temps and worldly horrors surrounding us required films. Unfortunately, after getting seated in everyone’s favorite cozy couch-lined venue we were informed that the AC was out. Well, too late and too bad, we were already strapped in for the ride. One of my companions had neglected to look up the film prior to arrival, so I really got a double feature — the movie we’d come to see and the wild eyes of a man confronted with unexpected ladyblood, a whole lot of it.

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Custom Kicks and Sustainable Style: The Art of Sneakers

by | Oct 15, 2024 1:47 pm | Comments (0)

Vita Hewitt Photos

“C’est la Vic” by Vicky Vuong

The Art of Sneakers Vol. 1 by SoleSpace Lab
Oakland Style Lab
369 3rd St.
Oakland
Oct. 12 & 13, 2024


Do you find the topic of fast fashion versus affordability to be daunting? 

The Art of Sneakers, Vol. 1 offered an alternative and a tantalizing glimpse into that topic, into the ever-growing field of sustainable fashion, this past weekend in Oakland. Jeff Perlstein, co-founder of Oakland Style Lab and an artist, activist and shoe enthusiast co-curated the show. The first of its kind, the show immediately drew me in to the world of sneakers. Featuring 15 top creators in the industry, the shoes on display ranged in style and form; while some emphasized their sustainable roots, others brought a more sculptural approach to the shelves.

Sneaker by Jeremy Novy

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Upcycling in Uptown

by | Oct 14, 2024 11:39 am | Comments (0)

Agustín Maes photos

Melanie Walas in her Teletubby jacket, Mercury 20 Gallery.

Oakland Style
 Fourth Wall Gallery, Manna Gallery, Mercury 20 Gallery, Slate Contemporary Gallery, Uptown Fine Art
25th St. between Broadway and Telegraph Avenue
Oakland
Oct. 12, 2024


A habitué of thrift shops, flea markets, and similar bazaars near and far, artist Melanie Walas is attracted to stuffed animals and toys she finds at the discount emporia she visits. ​“I feel bad because they’re abandoned,” she said of the items she collects. ​“They were once loved by someone.” 

A few years ago Walas imagined incorporating the stuffed playthings into clothing. She began integrating the discarded playthings — often deconstructing their parts — by sewing them onto garments that seemed to match the clothes’ character. The result are wonderfully whimsical wearables that are eye-catchingly quirky and hilariously fun. The jacket she wore at Mercury 20 Gallery as part of Oakland Style, ​“A Celebration of Art, Fashion, Music, Cuisine & Culture,” pictured above, featured plush toy Teletubbies in red, green, and yellow. Her kind of thinking turns the corner from merely humorous and enters the realm of outright awesome.

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A Majorly Millennial Meal

by | Oct 7, 2024 10:54 am | Comments (0)

I <3 avocado toast, sorry not sorry.

Nunu’s Cafe
1724 Mandela Parkway #3
Oakland

West Oakland is widely known as a food desert, vast stretches of it devoid of any victuals outside of corner-store fare. And don’t get me wrong — as a foot-bound resident I am endlessly grateful to those purveyors of overpriced seltzer water (when it’s in stock, that is) and emergency bags of sugar to feed my Very Hungry Kombucha. But affordable and healthy food is hard to come by on near every stretch that is not 7th and Mandela, which houses the sweetest co-op around.

Small but mighty may be the neighborhood businesses’ calling card, though, as some of these businesses have been serving their publics for 10 or 15 years, in the cases of coffee shop Kilovolt and Mandela, respectively. Give us something good and we’ll stay loyal. Okay, give us something and we’ll be there. 

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Razzing the Nerds

by | Oct 1, 2024 2:50 pm | Comments (0)

Agustín Maes Photos

Jackie Keliiaa: Outing the visitor from Dorkistan.

Chuckling Beer
Degrees Plato Tap Room Bottle Shop & Kitchen
4251 MacArthur Boulevard at High Street
Oakland
Sept. 28, 2024

Vexillology: That’s the study of flags, in case you didn’t know. It’s an interest of mine, one I never imagined could be used as a comedic weapon — let alone against me.

But that’s how it went down at the Chuckling Beer stand-up comedy show at Degrees Plato Tap Room Bottle Shop & Kitchen in Oakland’s Laurel District.

I blame the beer for loosening my lips about my dorky leisure pursuit when comic Jackie Keliiaa took the stage asking if anyone had any nerdy hobbies. But hey, as the emcee Rafi D. Susman said at the beginning of the show, ​“Drink lots of beers and ciders. The more you drink the better the show’s gonna be. No empty glasses! You! Empty glass! Go get something! Also, no talking. You can talk during the other comics’ sets but not my set. For my set I want RAPT ATTENTION!”

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“These Things Are Like Yeast”: 50 Years On, New College Artists Remain Collective

by | Sep 26, 2024 4:30 pm | Comments (0)

Vita Hewitt Photos

Artist Henry S. Rosenthal in front of the many uniforms that he earned between the years of 2009 through 2020, on display at Gray Loft Gallery.

THE NEW COLLEGE CIRCLE
THE LIFE-LONG IMPACT OF A CREATIVE SCHOOL
Gray Loft Gallery
2889 Ford Street, 3rd Fl.
Oakland
Sept. 21, 2024

Once, when I was a young, bright-eyed MFA student, a professor told the class to ​“look to the left of you. Look to the right of you. You should know that only one in five of you will still be making art in five years time. As the years go on, it will be even less.”

In the mid- to late- 1970s, a group of students from New College of California defied these expectations and created their own path over five decades. Utilizing the radically experimental education offered by the school and the friendships forged within it, they found ways around and through the barriers that keep young artists from becoming mature artists. Their impressive body of work spanning 50 years can be found on view at Gray Loft Gallery now through Nov. 10. 

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Small Sculptures Steal the Show

by | Sep 25, 2024 10:28 am | Comments (0)

Sarah Bass Photos

Detail of “Crossroads 2”, foreground, painting by J. Braman in back.

Interior of the June Steingart Gallery at Laney College

Peralta Colleges District-Wide Faculty Invitational
June Steingart Gallery
Laney College, Tower Building Lobby
900 Fallon St.
Oakland
Sept. 18, 2024

Ever lost hours in search of a sculpture you saw a decade ago and only vaguely recall, both online and among your own poorly archived history? She’s bronze, just smaller than life-sized, arms behind her back, facing the vista, standing on the side of a hill. She may be getting ready to swim, or bathe, I cannot recall. Is she in Italy, Fiesole, overlooking Florence? Or have I manufactured her, a compilation of delicately rendered women and girls I have encountered, set to patina in the elements?

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Prescott Not-Quite-Night Market’s Got the Golden Goods

by | Sep 19, 2024 11:40 am | Comments (0)

Sarah Bass Photos

Two tasty bits from Rize Up Bakery

Prescott Night Market
18th St at Peralta Ave.
Oakland
Sept. 5, 2024

Thirsty, not a little sweaty, and determined to fill up on some fried and salty food: a perfect recipe for enjoying an evening at West Oakland’s successful new-ish night market, now in its fourth month.

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Proud to be Scratchy

by | Sep 18, 2024 10:33 pm | Comments (0)

Monica Valentine, Untitled, 2022. From the "Into the Brightness" exhibit at the Oakland Museum of California in 2023.

“Creative Growth at 50: A Visual History”
Creative Growth
355 24th St., Oakland
Sept. 13, 2024
On view through Nov. 16

At the opening of the special exhibition ​“Creative Growth at 50: A Visual History,” a woman with a guide cane asked if I’d seen her reflectors. I didn’t know who she was, and I didn’t know what reflectors she was referring to. She held out her hand — at a different angle than I’d anticipated — to greet whomever it was I was. We shook. ​“What’s your name?” ​“Agustín,” I answered. I asked hers. ​“Monica,” she replied. By ​‘the reflectors,’ she meant those on the bag slung over her shoulder, bejeweled by red rear bicycle reflectors.

“Do you have a bike?” she asked. I told her I did, but that I rarely rode it. I soon realized I was talking to Monica Valentine, whose work I’d seen before. I was rather starstruck, as I’d seen some of her pieces in ​“Into the Brightness” at the Oakland Museum of California last year. Hers is art that combines the visual and the tactile, fusing them together with fierce perception.

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