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Art Murmur
Aaron and I went to Art Murmur in Oakland today. Held the first Friday of every month, Art Murmur features a bunch of free, open galleries, tons of street performers and PBR in all kinds of places.
We got off the train at 19th Street and followed the hipsters (anyone wearing a funny hat or sporting an odd-looking mustache) down towards 23rd. It was about an hour and a half in, and the streets were packed. Apparently, this was the first time they decided to do this without closing the streets, which struck us as a terrible idea since people pretty much took over the streets anyway.
We started with a few galleries (including the Johanssen, on the recommendation of Molly) but found ourselves on the Occubus downing Occuritas, which were super big, super cheap margaritas. (The other option was “The People’s Beer” aka two cans of PBR.) There was a super cute baby on the bus (he/she looked basically like a baby doll) and thanks to the Occurita I was in the pleasant enough state to get really excited.
The next gallery was maybe my favorite (thanks, no doubt, to the last minute chugging of my Occurita). As opposed to the studios we’d visited first, which were more muted and high class, this one (the name of which I never quite got) was bright and colorful and just super fun. The artist, Samuel, had a bunch of posters for sale, but in my broke college studentness I couldn’t even afford his inexpensive posters. So I bought a brownie from the gallery and considered that my contribution to his artistic endeavors.
After that, the walk just seemed to go on and on. Every time Aaron and I thought we’d reached the end, we turned the corner and found four more galleries. Standouts included a studio featuring Aztec inspired protest art, a gallery showcasing really grim cartoons and a large hall with some really neat sculptures. All along the walk, musicians and rappers provided a pumping soundtrack. And on the farthest street we reached, a few people launched clearly illegal fireworks, which were really pretty but scared the shit out of me. (A firetruck went by as we were leaving, and it seemed to give off a bit of a dgaf vibe. Although they might’ve intervened after we left haha)
All night, Aaron and I wished we had money. We went into it being like, cool! Free event! But next time we know to bring cash for the cheap booze. And maybe a spare $2000 for a painting
