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For Rolls and Tubes Collective, Toilet Paper Became a Creative Medium During...
I was scrolling Instagram as I worked on the first draft of this review (don’t judge) when a post from @vodkalana presented itself as the (chef’s kiss) perfect introduction. In one shared meme, she...
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In a San Francisco Bell Tower, SFAI’s Archive Prepares for a Big Move
t’s been very quiet on the San Francisco Art Institute campus since the school closed its doors behind its last graduating class on July 15, 2022. Except for a security guard, archivists Jeff Gunderson...
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Oakland Photographer Ashley A. Ross Reflects on Her Religious Upbringing in...
Photographer Ashley A. Ross knew as early as high school that she wanted to pursue art as a career. After graduating from California College of the Arts in 2021, the Oakland artist has debuted her solo...
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Frank Moore’s Radical Portraits of Love, Lust and Pop Culture Solidify His...
Leave it to Bay Area legend Frank Moore to have more breasts in his first museum exhibition than a Girls Gone Wild VHS. One should expect no less from the exhibitionist, shaman, presidential candidate...
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At ICA SF, ‘Resting Our Eyes’ Affirms Black Women’s Right to Leisure
The late Toni Morrison once reflected on her work as a Nobel Prize-winning Black woman author who wrote about Black people by saying: “I stood at the border, stood at the edge, and claimed it as...
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A Celebration of Oakland’s Black Cultural Figures, in Portraiture
Inside a lobby off Frank H. Ogawa Plaza in Oakland is a series of illustrations of educators and MCs, as well as photographers, poets and Black Panther Party members. The portraits — all comprised of...
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As CCA Pauses its Curatorial Practice Program, a Look Back at its Influential...
The news spread quickly through my former classmates. On Feb. 3, California College of the Arts sent out an email to alumni of its curatorial practice master’s program (CURP), announcing the school’s...
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A Fond Farewell to Ratio 3, Closing After 20 Years in San Francisco
On March 7, the Mission District gallery Ratio 3 announced its permanent closure. “The time has come for us to close the gallery and explore other creative endeavors,” read the Tuesday email...
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All Aboard ‘Muni Raised Me,’ SOMArts’ Ode to Working-Class San Francisco
Almost every longtime Bay Area resident has their favorite Muni route. For me, it’s the 38, the bus that starts downtown, then cruises past the Fillmore and Japantown to the Richmond District. When I...
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Meet the Artist Behind ‘Short Dog’s In The House’
Editor’s note: This story is part of That’s My Word, KQED’s year-long exploration of Bay Area hip-hop history, with new content dropping all throughout 2023. On the title track of Too Short’s 1990...
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Two SFPL Shows Look for Humanity in City Mugshots and Official IDs
On the sixth floor of San Francisco’s main public library, there are two large antique cabinets currently serving as holding cells. Inside them are century-old mugshots from the city’s past. The...
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At the de Young, Kehinde Wiley’s Epic Elegy for Black Lives Also Creates...
I did not watch the video of Tyre Nichols being tortured and killed by police officers in Memphis, Tennessee on Jan. 7. For my own self care, I have not watched an eye-witness or body-cam video of a...
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‘Sargent and Spain’ Is Full of Hits, But Still Holds Surprises
Look, the Legion of Honor doesn’t need any help from me to publicize Sargent and Spain, its exhibition of paintings, watercolors and sketchbooks made by the American expat John Singer Sargent during...
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‘Tax Dollars Kill’: Spie One’s Decades of Bay Area Graffiti Activism
Editor’s note: This story is part of That’s My Word, KQED’s year-long exploration of Bay Area hip-hop history, with new content dropping all throughout 2023. he name Spie One has resonated in the Bay...
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San José’s Chopstick Alley Centers the Work of Southeast Asian Artists
Behind the storefront windows of the former Zanotto’s grocery store in San José sits a new gallery with an elongated, narrow design — not unlike an alley. Its name, then, is fitting: Chopsticks Alley...
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Reclaiming the Technology of Surveillance and Deportation
On a sunny afternoon, the Mission District’s colorful streets are even more vibrant than usual. Light reflects off of large-scale murals that bring to life the symbols and stories of the neighborhood’s...
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How Bay Area Hip-Hop Found Its Sound in the 1980s
In the mid-1980s, after years of street dance, DJing and graffiti sharing equal space, rapping took center stage. The Bay Area’s bass-heavy sound would arrive at the end of the decade. (Clockwise from...
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‘Showing Up’ Depicts a Refreshingly Realistic Artistic Life, Without...
I regard most films about artists with trepidation. At its worst, the so-called “art world” — a complex and diverse conglomeration of working artists, art schools, galleries, nonprofit spaces, museums,...
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Looking Back on My Album ‘No Need for Alarm,’ 30 Years Later
Released Nov. 23, 1993, Del the Funky Homosapien’s ‘No Need for Alarm’ is shown at the original location of its cover photo, in Chinese Garden Park at Alice and 7th Streets in Oakland. (Photos by Beth...
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In MoAD’s ‘Black Venus,’ Artists Reclaim Their Beauty and Autonomy
When I was first introduced to the concept of Venus in high school, my understanding of the mythological goddess figure was shaped by the romantic lens of European Renaissance painting. This rendition...
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