What does French graffiti look like? Well, these and other questions can be answered by the plethora of museums and galleries in the Bay Area.
Many of these opportunities are accessible on a student budget, and the range of styles offered is enough to satiate any appetite, from classic and contemporary to the genre bending and absurd.
“It’s an interesting way to get off campus. The Bay Area is a hotbed of creative activity,” said Mills student Kaetchen Haugen.
A wave of new exhibitions hits the bay in the month of October, and to make your art quest a little less daunting, we’ve listed the most promising ones here.
The white walled love-child of clothing and book brand Upper Playground, the Fifty24SF gallery is hosting French graffiti artist Koralie this month. Her canvas works, graphic design and street art are cutesy with a touch of Tim Burton. It’s as if Banksy met The Nightmare Before Christmas, all with the most esoteric usage of color.
“Koralie reminds me of a more ornate Hello Kitty brand, with a dark side and a deeper element,” Academy of Art student Alexis Vaught said.
Where: 252 Fillmore St., San Francisco, www.fifty24sf.com
White Walls gallery is a huge and exquisite space to discover. Starting Oct. 11 they have Mike Giant, an artist whose work has been displayed everywhere, from graffiti on city streets to tattoos to t-shirts for the clothing line Obey. Propaganda art never looked so good.
Where: 837 Larkin St., San Francisco, www. whitewallssf.com
Starting Oct. 4th, the Oakland Museum of California takes a look at the pulsing Southern California art scene in LA Paint. This show exhibits 11 selected artists, whose works encompass everything from faux primitive paintings about strange Texas families to drawings on paper that satirize sexual stereotypes of African American Women.
Where: 100 Oak @ 10th St., Oakland, www.museumca.org
Art Zone 461 has an unassuming exterior, but don’t judge this book by its cover. This month they host Keith Gaspari’s show Allegory. His renderings of humans done in colored pencil are complex and stunning. One could almost feel the warmth emanating from his subjects, and everything down to the ridges of their fingerprints is done in detail.
Where: 461 Valencia St., San Francisco, www.artzone461.com
These are the People in your Neighborhood is coming to Gallery 16 this month. It is their 15 year anniversary show, in which they will have many artists that have displayed there before featuring their sculpture, pop art, and canvas works.
Where: 501 Third St., San Francisco, www.gallery16.com
