Past Shows
November 19th
Artist's Reception 6-9pm
Nov 19th - Jan. 8th
A group show where artists try to make sense of the fuckedupness that is pervasive in our world while still remaining true to themselves.
Isolation, instability, uncertainty. Common terms describing the new reality as we emerge from a pandemic. Add economic and political upheaval to the mix and you have a recipe for chaos. How we choose to respond will determine our success for survival.
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What the FCK! thoughtfully examines the general state of fuckedupness that is pervasive throughout the world. The undercurrent of this new reality runs deep within our psyches as we grasp for the tattered threads of our sanity. Two tour de force installations by Judson King Smith, Anthropocene Dream and
One of Us deliberately explores climate change in conjunction with political disintegration. One of Us is a touching tribute to an artistic soul encouraging us to spread our wings before it's too late.
Sept 10th 8pm
UMA Gallery Oakland is proud to bring back Mark Growden for a solo performance. You may have seen Mark at our last show "Cottonflesh Sacrifice" by Christiane Cegavske. Mark was the composer for her animation "Blood Tea Red String". On Saturday, September 10th at 8pm join us for an evening with Mark Growden.Mark Growden is known for his soulful and poetic performances in which he sings and plays baritone saxophone, accordion, banjo, jaw harps, sruti box, bicycle handlebars, seljefloyte, Swedish bagpipes, lur, jouhikko, kankles, and kantele.He has released several critically acclaimed albums, including Saint Judas, which was awarded “2010 Rekkid of the Year” by music blog Stash Dauber and ranked in the 2010 Village Voice Critics Poll. Growden has toured the the US extensively, performing at venues such as the The Fillmore, Cowell Theater, and Great American Music Hall in San Francisco; Snug Harbor and the Marigny Opera House in New Orleans; and The Knitting Factory and Tonic in New York. Growden’s one-man show “Spare the Rod” – directed and co-written by Remy Charlip – played to sold-out audiences at Dancer’s Group/Footworks in San Francisco.Growden has performed and collaborated with numerous musicians including Hamza el Din, The San Francisco Opera, Remy Charlip, Kid Congo Powers, Wendell Brunious, Stan Ridgeway, John Santos, Jim Santi Owen, Evan Fraser, Omar Sosa, Ralph Carney, Rising Star Drum & Fife Band, James Singleton, Baby Gramps, Eric McFadden, Larry Sieberth, Extra Action Marching Band, Faun Fables, and Carla Kihlsted from Tin Hat Trio. Please get your tickets early as we expect this show to sell out.
Mauro Ffortissimo's Piano Liberado
Saturday January 29th 2022 at 2pm
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Mauro Ffortissimo speaks about Piano Liberado
I’ve been literally “playing” the inside of pianos for more than 25 years. People that have never heard it before ask me “What is this, how did I come across this instrument, did I invent it?” Some realize it is just an upright piano from which the keyboard and “action” (the hammer mechanisms) have been removed: thus opened and liberated from its original construction. Following in the steps of Harry Parsh, John Cage and the de-construction concepts of Jack Derrida, I’ve added my touch.
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Following the concert will be the closing reception, open to all, for Paulette Traverso’s exhibit “Slow Fuse”, featuring pandemic inspired works, her video animations with sound by Mauro Ffortissimo, and other drawings and prints.
SLOW FUSE
Paulette Traverso
Opening Reception, Saturday Dec. 4th runs through Jan. 8th
For Paulette, creating is as necessary as breath. Daily art practice is essential. Her inspirations are nature, literature, history, music, science and art. Especially from earlier centuries where technology as we know it was nonexistent. The making of illuminated manuscripts, daguerreotypes, pigments from minerals and plants, scientific illustrations, glass models from blown glass... That primal connection of the eye, hand and spirit to make a creative expression.
DROP: A Psychedelic Exploration
Saturday, June 04, 2022 , 6:00pm-9:00pm
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Location
3630 Telegraph Ave
Oakland, CA
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Free
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You're invited to DROP: A Psychedelic Exploration this Saturday June 4th from 6-9pm. Come meet these inspirational artists and see their psychedelic explorations. Video and sound installation by Gordon Fung and Ernest Strauhal along with Attaboy, Hi-Fructose Magazine, David Normal Art, Institute of Craziology, visionary artist, Chris Isner stellar artists DaryllPeirce, Justin Teisl, Harvey Stafford, Scott Schryver, John Gullak, Billy Douglas, Gary Comoglio, Dan Levin, Travis Wilson Art, Carl Linkhart, Vincent Robbins, Judith Threadgill, Deirdre Weinberg, Yule Gullak, Bruce Pollack, Allison Renshaw Artwork Gabrielle Cohen, Richard Blakely, Robert Blakely and Amber Gruhlkey Farhangnia. Show runs through June 18th. Gallery hours Thursday - Saturday Noon - 5pm, or by appointment. UMA Gallery Oakland is located in the old Mosswood Chapel, 3630 Telegraph Ave at 37th. Five minute walk to Temescal restaurants and MacArthur Bart Station. Plenty of street parking.
Viva La Punx
Guest Curator: Destroy Art 12/4 - 1/8/22
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This December at Oakland's UMA Gallery!
VIVA LA PUNX! is an art show by punx, and for all those punk lovers.
Featuring the art of Monkey (The Adicts), Rikk Agnew (D.I/ (R)Adolescents/ Christian Death/Social Distortion),
DNGRCT (The Degenerics/Kamikaze) &
Phil Geck (Monster Squad/LUV), we're celebrating the other side of punk rock through its visual expressions - loud, youthful, scary, irreverent, yet truthful.
Opening night is on Saturday 12/4 (free entry), with a live painting session on Sunday 12/5,
VINYL EPITAPH
LORI HERBST
Opening Reception, Saturday Dec. 4thruns through Jan 8th
What a treat! UMA Gallery has a surprise for you in the embalming room. Lori Herbst, an independent artist specializing in realistic portraits made from glitter upholstery vinyl that she hand cuts with hobby blades and sews to canvas.
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Lori's art is truly unique and one of a kind. Horror movies, her never-ending love of Sci-Fi, modern mythology all serve as inspiration in creating her vinyl portraits. These portraits give us a glimpse into our ever changing culture. Lucky for us, Lori is our guide.
I Want It All To End, an evening with M. LAMAR
February 2nd 7:30pm(doors open at 7pm)Masks recommended
UMA Gallery Oakland is very excited to present the multitalented NYC composer/artist/performer M. Lamar. Alumnus of both SF Art Institue and Yale School of Art Lamar has been presented internationaly, most recently at The Rewire Festival in The Hague. An operatic countertenor and pianist, Lamar is a wizard at extracting elements from folk lamentation, European opera and goth creating his own revolutionary style aimed for the deepest spiritual and moral transformation.
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“Lamar’s Goth-postpunk-diva affect is fused with his operatic style to create a mélange that cannot be named.” – KQED
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“When talking about his art, Lamar is an intellectual powerhouse, but his work is informed by that thinking — not constrained by it. It is as emotional as it is thoughtful.” – Out Magazine
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The singular artist M. Lamar is a classically trained counter tenor whose brilliant original work is in the unabashedly political yet emotionally powerful tradition of artists like Diamanda Galas and Paul Robeson. He also has a sense of humor, and the songs, with titles like ‘That Obscure Object of Desire’ and ‘Exploitation Chic,’ can be sexy, funny, angry, and sad, often all at the same time. - WBAI PACIFICA RADIO.
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Other performances by M. Lamar:
Trauma Bar Berlin, Atrium na ŽižkovÄ› Prague, The Manhattan School of Music, Wellcome Collection London, The Cloisters at The Metropolitan Museum Of Art, Funkhaus Berlin Germany, Kunstgebäude Stuttgart, The Meet Factory in Prague, National Sawdust New York, The Kitchen New York, MoMa PS1’s Greater New York, Merkin Hall, New York, Issue Project Room New York, The Walter and McBean Galleries, San Francisco; Human resources, Los Angeles;Wesleyan University; Participant Inc., New York; New Museum, New York; Södra Teatern, Stockholm; Warehouse9, Copenhagen; WWDIS Fest, Gothenburg and Stockholm; The International Theater Festival, Donzdorf, Germany; Cathedral of Saint John the Divine, New York; Performance Space 122, New York; and African American Art & Culture Complex, San Francisco; among others.
Check out M. Lamar’s new album “Lordship & Bondage: The Birth Of The Negro Superman”with @livingearthshow
Photo credit: Wil Adamy
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Unkle Morty's Zombie Sweetheart Market
February 4th, Noon - 5pm
Unkle Morty's is back with a selection of ghoulish new vendors, mouthwatering treats, spooky cute accoutrements, plants, clothing, all in the the old Mosswood Chapel. Swing by for an afternoon of fun. Get something unusual for your sweetie.
ARTIST STATEMENT:
COVID positive, bored but with low energy, I decided last winter to re-archive more than 500 of my drawings made between 1993 and the present. Something happened to me as I started going through the boxes and hard drives. The years leading up to that moment had paved the way for a breakthrough / breakdown. The pandemic, politics, civil rights and unrest, deaths in the family – the list of pressures went on and on. At some point, “coping and adapting” had become the name of the game, at least for me.
The prior five years or so, I had been focused on filmmaking (and work and life and everything else), but after going through my old work – literally and figuratively opening up those boxes – I was inspired to start drawing again.
It took a while, but after a few weeks of daily drawing, the ideas started flowing and the dexterity came back. And then it just exploded, and everything just poured out. I could see into things that had previously been opaque. I could express what I was seeing around me and inside me.
I’ve learned a lot about myself over the past year. I recently came out as Trans (non-binary). That’s been a big one. Even though I hadn’t totally figured it out back then, there were plenty of glimpses and moments of queerness in those boxes, which I cherish now as I look back at my younger self.
I had another big realization after adopting our 4th cat, when a student told me that I was “really turning into a cat person.” It was funny and true. I was definitely in the thick of a “turning.”
Most of the works in this show are from the past year, but I’ve included a small selection of drawings from the 90s that I feel are connected to my current work and provide some context.
Personally, it’s been a hell of an experience crawling back into the mind of my past self, crawling out, and then crawling back into the mind of my present-day self. I hope it’s quite an experience for you, too.
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Bio
K Pontuti is a trans non-binary artist and filmmaker based in northern California. They create drawings and multimedia works under their brand ANYTHING 4 ANOTHER DAY. Their recent feature film The Yellow Wallpaper, is now streaming on digital platforms. Additionally, Pontuti is the Director of University of the Pacific's Media X major, and Chair of the Department of Art, Media, Performance, and Design.