10 Best Oakland Gallery Shows of 2009

Oakland Swee(t)art’s list:

Top 10 best Oakland Gallery shows of 2009

By Obi Kaufmann

 Note: This is a Lovefest, get ready. I contemplated the 10 worst shows too but don’t have the desire at all to list them. I have seen a lot of great work this year and have been involved as curator and as artist in many exhibits myself. This list does not include any of those shows. I can’t go there. This show does not include a lot of Oakland, namely, Jingletown, the Museum, Oakland East, etc…I live at 40^th and Broadway and make it to 23^rd and telegraph every month but I don’t spend my life going out. Oakland is a beautifully horrible/horribly beautiful place with a pluralistic vibe that can just barely be touched by a list like this.

 10. Narangkar Glover at Blankspace. “It’s Gonna Be Awesome” September

http://www.narangkar.com/index.html

http://www.blankspacegallery.com/

 This is the show that won me over to Narangkar’s work and I think the show that really kicked her up a critical notch with both her large-scale figurative work and her enticing needle point craft married in fearless unison.

 9. Val Britton and Michael Meyers at Johansson Projects “The Echo Fields” July

http://johanssonprojects.net/phpflickr/echo_show.php

 Kimberly Johansson continued in the endless crusade to point the national spotlight on Oakland by putting forth consistently well curated and precisely thematic shows throughout 2009. Her gallery has become an institution of sorts and we all hope that she endures the locale for many many shows to come.

 8. Christopher Romer at The Compound Gallery “3AM: Under the Full Moon” October

http://thecompoundgallery.com/2009/08/31/the-woods-are-full-of-them-work-by-christopher-romer/

 I had not seen the Compound kick it up, formally like this yet. The space was clean and the design was impeccable. The art was mysterious and expertly installed. The show felt important and cosmopolitan, conjuring deep images of urban design, emotional craft, and rock-steady execution.

 7. Group Show, Rock Paper Scissors “Heroes and Villains” curated by Teppei Ando, March

http://teppeiando.com/hnv2009/H__V_Reception.htm

 This was an epic Murmur night. All that local Oakland Art wants to be: fun and rad. A great cast of artists all explored the idea of the super hero in startlingly relevant ways.  Teppei even put a zine comic together for the event and his commitment shined like a blazing fist.

 6. Group Show, Swarm Gallery, “Shop/Show” December

 http://swarmgallery.com/

 As I write this list, this is the only show that is presently still up. Here I was struck by the assembled talent and the community that was presently projected. Oaklandish setup a display of local artist Tshirts and the work all flowed well together as disparate as it all may have been. I need to give Honorable Mention to both the Compound Gallery and Blankspace Gallery for some amazing merchandising of art as well for their holiday shows.

 5.  Steven Barich, Rowan Morrison Gallery, “Logic Stone” June

 http://www.rowanmorrison.com/stevenbarich.html

 Steven consistently brings a refined flavor and a formal sense of execution to his choice drawings and paintings. A prolific artist with a number of different voices, he was able, in this show to tone down and focus many works through a single set of parameters.

 4. Group Show, Terminal 22, “The Deck Show” Sep

 http://www.terminal22.com/shows/sk8_show.html

 I have a real soft spot for Skate art. I thought it was really gutsy to, as their debut show, open with a deck show in a kind of implicit confrontation to Bedford Gallery’s seminal show “A History of Skate Art” open at the same time. Right up the street from Murmur, Terminal 22, now into their third show have shown they have a lot of guts and want to show experimental works and deserve our support.

 3. Group Show, The Oakbook Gallery “Improvised Branches” curator Theo Konrad Auer

http://bunnywax.wordpress.com/2009/09/28/improvised-branches-arttheoakbook/

credit: John Casey for blog link. Thank John!

 This show was a really an amazing survey from a multitude of voices across the scene and the Bay. Theo works really hard as a writer and an appreciator of the arts and the debut in his own art den really reflected his commitment as such.

 2. Event, Art Quest 1, 40^th Street Corridor.

 http://bunnywax.wordpress.com/2009/02/23/40th-st-corridor-artquest/

again, credit: John Casey for the blog link.

 Okay, so I was part of this show, I admit it. So many people worked hard to put it together and it was one of the greatest nights ever.

 1.Derek Weisberg and James Kirkpatrick, Hatch Gallery “Mine Us One” Nov

http://bunnywax.wordpress.com/2009/11/08/weisberg-kirkpatrick-hatch-gallery/

 Adam Hatch finished up the year with an epic show that failed to do nothing but delight and challenge. I am a huge fan of Derek Weisberg and James Kirkpatrick’s intriguing paintings complimented his work in surprising concert. I am happy and pleased to name this show number one also because I have been very impressed with Adam Hatch’s ability to deliver with both the Lobot venue and now as a hub of the Oakland world at Hatch Gallery.