Oakland’s Bay Area Currents, an annual juried exhibition at the Oakland Art Gallery, is a smaller version of the tepid Bay Area Now juried exhibition that takes place at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, showcasing several promising Bay Area emerging artists. Though not aggressively promoted, Bay Area Currents usually hosts noteworthy guest jurors (past including Rosamund Felsen, from Gemini G.E.L., Los Angeles, and James Elaine, curator at the UCLA Hammer Museum) and draws equally significant diverse artists and new work by resisting any static or packageable themes in the selection process.

This year juror Christopher Miles, a Los Angeles based curator, writer, and professor at CSU Long Beach, provided a full scale selection that resulted in a deeply entrenched Bay Area, one that easily resonates with the environment and offer hints of the familiar for the regular art viewer. Miles’s ability to navigate the physical space of the gallery, gallery mission, and the value of what is unique to Bay Area art was exceptional. Miles’s chosen were kind, inflective, and quiet, showcasing the roots of artists working in the Bay— there was nothing sensationalist in the show.

Not that sensationalism is a bad draw, but herein Miles was not trying his hand at art star discovery as much as he was assisting in highlighting some very interesting emerging artists. The artists showcased in Bay Area Currents 2006 were (in many ways) obvious partners for the Oakland Art Gallery: inflective, not bigger than the space (literally and formatively), and could very well benefit from being in the show as a part of their growing exposure. The show made sense, and for that alone, Miles is absolutely rewarded for executing such a solid show.

As mentioned, the lack of a concrete theme lead the viewer to explore the general idea of ‘West Coast art’ and ‘Bay Area art’ as has historically been treated: Miles did not go too far on the kitsch, but allowed for some of the eccentricity that makes its way through most Bay Area art, setting it apart from the glossed up market-art that makes up most other art bases nationally. Serena Cole, Ben Riesman, Michael Mellon, Tabitha Soren, David Ryan, and Kirk Stoller are a handful of the thirteen selected artists that proved exceptional examples of emerging Bay Area artists.

Cole’s watercolor and pencil images reflect a dwarfed version of western beauty mixed with iconographic styling (goldleaf crowns, pendants, flowers) and deadened facial expressions. Cole’s work recalls Oakland artist Alika Cooper’s portraiture style, but moves away from the rich figurative Bay Area tradition Cooper rests within by working almost exclusively with the contemporary. Cole’s subject and visual translation thereof are near perfect matches: ‘Death is Not the End’ captures a turn-of-the-century Vogue demigoddess shaven down to resemble 90’s heroin chic donning a Holtzman Ink Blot-esque crown of magnificent black hair. The visual result insists on its artificialism, its program as prop, and its vivacious nature intensified by an array of blue blacks, teals, and fuchsias.

Serena Cole, "Death Is Not the End", 2006, watercolor, colored pencil, and gold leaf. Image courtesy of OAG/ K.Johnson

David Ryan’s sculpture, ‘Makes Me Feel Like a Swan’ is a colossal mixture of old west iconography and folklore placed among a fantasy state in residence with matching bluebirds, broken bottles beside random driftwood planks. The focal point: a female shaman figure. As a solid icon or symbol, the female figure is donned in recognizable modern day fashion with a trace of bohemian (ripped blue tights, unkempt hair, black flats, skinned knees) that suggest the narrative is approachable, yet wrought so heavily in symbolism that interpretation is a layered task in itself. Ryan’s work carries a mystical element: soft landscapes that seem dream-like, sedated animals, cowboys in awkward places— almost like painted replicas of a perfect set design. Ryan’s work contains a complex dynamic of an ultimate fairy tale landscape courting human waste and discard. This dynamic is very easily evocative of the mystic or the richness illustrating the divine serenity of being a working artist in a place out west—specifically in the Bay Area.

Tabitha Soren contributed four C-Prints which illuminated the corner of the gallery space with a calm, almost spiritual viewer draw-in. Soren works with suburban outlets, titling each piece by a street or avenue name, drawing distinct attention to individuals in their home environment. Similar to a Todd Hido voyeuristic backdrop, Soren seeks out the quiet moment that individuals find while existing in their own dwellings, separate from the demands of the outside world, moments that act as an intimately renewing force. Beyond providing aesthetically sedating imagery, Soren’s work delivers a certain social passage within all the leisurely advent of quiet, private, and serine living spaces, implying there is a sphere so far away and separate from work complete with beautiful linens, pool sides, and manicured single family homes for the majority of the population. While this may be a reality for some, others may be happy with reading Soren’s work as the ultimate fantasy. The result is a visual storybook of the quiet segments of life, an idealistic log of those who can still afford to own (and interact leisurely) in their own private space modern day.

Tabitha Soren, "Chartres Street", 2004, Chromogenic print. Image courtesy of OAG/ K.Johnson

Oakland based artist Jessica Tully provided two video pieces: Our Allies Are Everywhere and Liquidations: The Dance of Water Power. The reasoning behind what Tully was attempting with Our Allies Are Everywhere seemed indefinite and did not come across as contextually solvent. Although Tully explained the symbolism of each act therein, (clenched fist, union handshake, the dove, etc) and costume (traditional Scottish dress) within her statement, the reasoning behind the piece seemed more complex and loaded with detailed historical elements that were not approachable or largely relevant for a majority of viewers. Conversely, Tully’s second piece, Liquidations: The Dance of Water Power, was unmistakably clever as social sculpture exploring the issue of water privatization via a four person performance graduating from reservoir to underground aqueducts. Tully’s strength lies within her ability to use her visual interpretation to afford the greatest amount of social awareness to the largest amount of people coherently and captivatingly. That said, Our Allies Are Everywhere was a complicated addition to her credit.

Jessica Tully, "Liquidations San Francisco Public Water Source", 2005, Video Selection, Still. Image courtesy of OAG/ K.Johnson

The annual juried Bay Area Currents exhibition proves to be a great opportunity for emerging and early to mid established artists in the Bay Area to present new work, as well as affording the Oakland Art Gallery, (a tucked away space in Oakland’s City Center sometimes overlooked), to expand their scope of working artists in the region. Whereas the exposure for the advent of the event itself could use more attention, Bay Area Currents has continually produced a smart and full directional show of regional artists and work that is not connected or indebted to a branding pitch by instead placing a greater attention on uncovering the most contemporary and less visible artists in the Bay Area.