Oakland art gallery thrives with loaners
I had my first encounter with an NFT at the Oakland Art Library.
In a nutshell, an NFT, or nonfungible token, is a form of digital property that represents a specific image. My first NFT was a work titled “Logan Paul, Box Breaker” made by the YouTube celebrity in the style of a Pokémon game card, which was printed and displayed at the gallery. The concept of digital visual assets is the latest thing in the art world: Christie’s auction house even got in on the action this year with the announced sale of an NFT by the artist Beeple.
Paul’s NFT was one of the more nontraditional pieces at the 2yearold gallery, which is trying to change what it means to be a gallery in the 21st century. Their hightech crypto art isn’t the only thing challenging conventions: For a $20 monthly fee, members are allowed to check out mostly local art. While many galleries have struggled with a lack of foot traffic during the pandemic and museums have dealt with forced closures, founder Luke Fraser says the Oakland Art Library has been flourishing in a new location on College Avenue. At the moment, it counts about 100 members with about 40 works of art out on loan.
For me, the library’s mid-pandemic success speaks to a number of factors. I can’t think of another gallery where I could find this combination of works — along the stairs, the painting “Plan A” by Arika von Edler hangs at an angle (von Edler presented at the Venice Biennale in 2018). Another wall is made up of wrenching art created by death row inmates.
Photos from Golden State Warriors games by the team’s official photographer, Noah Graham, also get ample space. Speaking of ample: There’s also an oil portrait by Roberto Zavala of camp horror movie hostess Elvira, her heaving decolletage exposed as Bela Lugosi’s Dracula looms above her.
The library also has an extremely casual and welcoming vibe — Fraser said he strove to make it “the antiGeary Street experience,” referencing the downtown San Francisco area that was once considered the epicenter of the city’s gallery scene. You could easily imagine kicking back in the library with a glass of wine or edible as you browse.
Over the past year, digital exhibitions filled an art void in many of our lives, but there is really nothing like getting up close with a work an artist has touched with their own hands to see the nuances of their practice. The library takes that a step further by allowing you to take the art home.
“People are bored looking at the same stuff that’s been on their walls all these months,” Fraser said.
Wandering through the library, several pieces caught my eye. Lisa Pisa’s decoupageacrylic work inspired by Japanese portraiture and manga art was haunting, but also so intricately detailed that I kept returning to it. A wall of abstract canvases by Gabe Weis was so compellingly grouped that I asked whether one could borrow a full installation of works. (Yes.) There were also several pop culture depictions like paintings of Marvel hero Black Panther and the timetraveling DeLorean from “Back to the Future” as well as paintings by library curator Mike Hampton that show Oakland locations, such as Eddie’s Drivein Liquor and Videos just a block away.
Fraser hopes his concept might be adopted by other gallerists in other cities. With its checkout format and Fraser’s enthusiastic recommendations, the library reminded me more of an oldschool video rental store than a traditional library. Even the lesson Fraser gave me on NFTs felt like the kind of banter I would have gotten at the Blockbusters of yore, exactly the ambiance he says he is going for.