By Will Bundy from Wine & Bowties
This Friday, we’re proud to be bringing you “Feels”, a group show featuring twelve of our favorite artists from Oakland and beyond, at West Oakland’s own Grid Gallery. It’s a beautiful thing to be able to bring folks together, and we’re honored to be working with some of the creatives who inspire us on a daily basis. “Feels” celebrates the community around us — both physically in Oakland and SF, and digitally — with a focus on points of connection and common threads in our experience: sex, nostalgia, pop culture, iconography, strange and absurd shit that pops up out of mundane everyday life.
The Bay, and particularly Oakland right now, is host to a community of creative folks working outside of the margins, creating extraordinary, imaginative work, despite the fact that the traditional avenues for forging artistic careers are vanishing in front of our eyes. The logical response to that reality is collaboration: linking with like-minded collaborators on the ground level to build. “Feels” is meant to facilitate those collaborations, and though the artists have different lenses — whether psychedelic and surreal, tongue-in-cheek, or gritty and direct — there’s a certain kinship, and a common set of sensibilities shared between the works.
Put a little more simply, the show is an opportunity to link with dope and unusual people. So in that spirit, they’ll be hosting an opening party this Friday with booze and slap and trippy projections. Sounds will be curated by the formidable Trill Team 6 and Yung_SMH, and once again, the show will feature works from the folks on the flyer above, some of which you’ll know and some of which you won’t. To get you better acquainted, below is a preview, offering a brief introduction to each of our artists and what they do. Peep this for now, and slide through Friday between 7 and 10 p.m. to see the latest from everyone involved.
Victor “Kool A.D.” Vazquez
Victor Vazquez, better known as Kool A.D., is a rapper, visual artist, and author based in Oakland. His work has previously been shown in Damon Dash’s Poppington Gallery, in New York, in the solo exhibition, Free Snipes. He is a founding member of Das Racist, and more recently, capped off a run of solo material with the full-length LP Word O.K..
www.koolad.asia
Aris Jerome
Aris Jerome is a portrait photographer and filmmaker from the East Bay, and based in Los Angeles. Having founded his reputation on video work for Bay rap mainstays like Iamsu, Young L, Kreayshawn, and Bobby Brackins, Aris has since shifted his focus to intimate female portraits that run the gamut from Polaroids to digital to 35mm.
www.cargocollective.com/arisjerome
Ian Flanigan
Ian Flanigan is a Los Angeles-based photographer and director. Ian’s portfolio features portrait, landscape, and ambient work, among others. Ian is perhaps best known for his work with L.A. music collective Odd Future, having directed several music video projects for OF members Hodgy Beats, Left Brain, and Domo Genesis. He has also shot numerous features for Wine & Bowties, and previously showed work in our Echo Park group show, Things We’ve Seen.
www.ianflanigan.com
Danielle Schnur
Danielle Schnur is a painter and mixed-media artist working in Berkeley and Oakland. Her work explores the power of the feminine form and the iconography of internet pop culture. Most recently, she teamed with Brette Sims for the collaborative show, She Know and showed work in Flavourhood’s epic group showing The Return. She has also featured work at Oakland’s Warehouse 416 and in Native Thinghood’s 2012 exhibition, as well as multiple Wine & Bowties group showings.
www.danielleschnur.com
Ben “Lambo” Lambert
Ben Lambert is a Los Angeles-based visual and digital artist. Between his work in the musical realm with Freddie Gibbs, Madlib, and Innovative Leisure, Lambo creates digital collage and illustration pieces characterized by their playful approach, implementing vivid color and elements of ’90s nostalgia. His current Rarecade project experiments with the aesthetic of the classic arcade games of our collective youth.
www.lambozart.tumblr.com www.rarecade.tumblr.com
Freeman Files
“Freeman Files” is the alias of San Francisco shooter Jonathon Freeman. A member of the arts and music collective Them Hellas, Freeman specializes in lifestyle photography, female portraits, and self-published, limited run zines and publications. This year will see the release of his latest magazine project, The Freeman Files: [Fer Uh Monz].
www.freemanphotography.me
Jeremiah McNair
Jeremiah McNair is a San Francisco-based visual artist, illustrator and all-around image maker, specializing in photography and design. Working a variety of disciplines, McNair has applied his talents to projects across the creative spectrum, from ‘zine and publication layout design, to product campaign photography. He is also a member of the SF arts collective OnTask Family, and recently showed his work in Flavourhood’s 2013 group show, The Return in Oakland.
www.cargocollective.com/jeremiahmcnair
Lucky Bandit$
Lucky Bandit$ is a creative collective showcasing the works of visual artists B1ue and Gozi. Pairing Gozi’s photographic talents and B1ue’s keen design sensibilities, Lucky Bandits creates collage works and mixed-media pieces that put a surrealist touch on contemporary pop culture imagery. Most recently, they showed work at Liege in Oakland, in their self-titled debut show.
www.helloluckybandits.com/
Jus OnTask
Justin Carlisle-Angrand, known better as Jus OnTask, is a San Francisco-based designer and illustrator, and a founding member of the music and arts collective OnTask Family. Having worked in print, ink, and digital design, Jus also creates album artwork for the stable of producers, rappers and musicians under the OnTask umbrella. At our show, he’ll be showcasing a suite of pen-and-paper, B&W illustration work.
www.cargocollective.com/jusontask
Malidoma Collective
Malidoma Collective is an Oakland-based collection of artists projecting the female vision and voice. The collaborative brainchild of its core members, Malidoma includes MC and filmmaker Queens D. Light (also of Them Hellas), filmmaker Lala Openi, photographer Sasha Kelley, and all-around creative force Amanda Beane. This Friday, Malidoma will be creating a cosmic, immersive walk-in installation piece.
www.c-proof.org
Kristian Contreras
A mainstay of Oakland’s young creative community, Kristian Contreras is a photographer specializing in portraiture, and one of the talented writers behind the music blog and creative collective Youthful Kinfolk. Most recently, Kris has honed his craft shooting portraits for Duckwrth and members of Oakland’s Cre8tive Class collective.
www.kristiancontreras.tumblr.com
Warriors Collective
Warriors Collective showcases the collaborative work of Destinee Privado and Kev Nice, two artists born and raised in Oakland. From large-scale graffiti work and street art installations, to smaller illustrations and paint work, Kev and Des spread love and positive vibes, with a warm color palette and a healthy appreciation for all things funky. Their work was recently shown in a collaborative show at East Oakland’s own 3411.
www.warrs.weebly.com
Music curated by:
Trill Team 6
Not a lot of DJ crews have as much visibility, or as many members as Trill Team 6. Over the last few years, TT6 has been blessing SF and Oakland functions with curated selections, running the gamut from future bass to golden era hyphy to ’00s R&B to contemporary slap and beyond. Headed by spinners like Willie Maze, Bobby Peru, Neto and Starter Kit, TT6 is guaranteed to provide an extremely vibey atmosphere.
www.popgangartnet.com/trill-team-6.html
Yung_SMH
No one has spun more Bowties parties in the last year or two than SMH, and there is a simple reason why: Wave drops bangers, and in Wave we trust. A transplant from Long Beach, SMH is now known by a select few around Oakland, as an esteemed curator of wavy sounds and heavy rap. Through his mix series, and through the rare 1 a.m. sets, SMH creates sonic experiences for the folks who listen close.
www.soundcloud.com/senpai-slump
Feels opens Friday, April 25, at Grid Gallery in Oakland, and runs until May 25. Grid Gallery is located at 696 26th Street in Oakland, between MLK and West. You can find more info and updates about the show here.