“It’s the warehouse with the red door” was the most important part of the directions that local artist Casey Smith gave us as we headed off in search of Oakland Gallery Lobot to check out some of his work. We’ll admit it, SFist doesn’t always follow directions very well. So it took a few wrong turns, false hopes, and skate punk shows, before we made it to the Lobot One Year Anniversary Show. Lots of our local fav’s were there, but we were most struck by Mark Taylor’s instillation. So struck that we hunted him down, talked him into an interview, and managed to acquire a few of his paper birds for ourselves. Which, thanks to Mark’s insights below, we now know are all about turmoil and longing. Even better.
Although the Anniversary show is already down, Lobot is still worth the trek to Oakland, and always has something to check out. Just make sure you go in to the warehouse with the RED door. Unless you want some Oakland adventures of your own.
Describe your art:
Right now I’m making a lot of art about love. I want to make something that is like an equivalent to a love song, but in the vein of Pharcyde "she keeps on passing me by" or Stan Getz's Girl from ipenema. I'm a crushes kind of guy, and I’m left with no option other than to make art about someone I’m pining for, or who broke my heart. So that stuff is just the fodder for my imagery, and I try to get across some emotion that I’m feeling and hopefully that becomes something that the viewer can relate to. I'm really interested in using images in an abstract way, so that when you see a cluster of birds, it's not about birds, it's about turmoil or a longing.
Tell us about Lobot Gallery:
Lobot Gallery is in my mind a pretty >amazing place. Just visually, it's huge with these 20 foot tall walls. Lobot tries to show art that describes what it means to be living here now. So mainly it's art made by young people. Lobot also hosts music shows, independent movie screenings, dance performances, performance art, puppet shows, a little bit of everything, but mainly music and art. Lobot also has a resident artist program where we have artists from all over the world come and make art for a month.
What's your take on the Oakland/Bay Area Art scene?
I think it is pretty vibrant; there are lots of spaces that show good art and lots of warehouse spaces for artists to live and make work. And that is rad. I moved here from Austin Texas and there were really only a few places that young artists could show new work. Something most people don't know about warehouses in Oakland is: There is totally legitimate art being shown, great music being played, and a bunch of really incredible people willing to make good things happen. I think I've been to some of my favorite art shows ever in Oakland.
Name:
Mark Inglis Taylor
Introduce yourself in one sentence:
Hi, I’m Mark, and I like to make things and ride bicycles.
Age and Occupation:
26/ Personal assistant
Home Town:
San Marcos, Texas
How much time have you spent in the Bay Area?
I’ve been in the bay now for just over a year. I moved to a warehouse in Oakland a few days after I graduated from school in Texas. I was working for a dot-com when I first moved here, and it almost killed me. Now I just have a bunch of small weird jobs.
Favorite website:
craigslist
Favorite local business:
The Rock Paper Scissors super store
What I'm currently Reading:
Me Talk Pretty One Day
Best Deal in San Francisco:
I'm not sure, I always lose my ass when I'm there.
Favorite mode of transportation:
Mmmm, bicycles!
Best Band or Musician to come out of the Bay Area:
Tough one, probably Deerhoof ?
Favorite local hangout:
Cole’s coffee
SF has the BEST:
Used bicycle listings on craigslist
You've never lived in SF until:
…you’ve been to…wait, I’ve never lived in SF
Favorite Bay area politician of past or present:
Harvey Milk
Now that Gavin Newsom is single, who are you going to set him up with?
My ex, so we can be friends again.
You can tell someone is a local here IF:
We don’t get lost trying to get back to the bridge at 3 am.
SF would be soooo much better if only:
BART ran all the time
Best Burrito:
Taqueria cancun
Best Restaurant:
No Name sushi place
Best movie scene filmed in or about SF:
Harlold and Maude
Best thing to do in the city in the summer:
Just walk around like an idiot in love and try to look at the city with new eyes.
Favorite artist to come out of the bay area:
Margaret Kilgallen
Favorite author to come out of the bay area:
Dave Eggers
Place you always tell visitors to check out:
I know it’s cheesy, but the golden gate bridge is total sweetness. You really can’t beat the fact that you can just walk across and be in the Marin headlands.
You have two hours and $15 bucks to kill in SF, what are you going to do?
I’d probably just buy some groceries and have a picnic in golden gate park. God, that is pretty lame, maybe I’d go to the MOMA so that I could fool around on that little bridge on the top floor. That thing is awesome.
I have found/sold/bought the following on craigslist:
A whole slew of bikes.
I want all the SFists out there to know:
Oakland is not a scary place to come and visit. I know that the whole Bart-goes-underwater thing is crazy, but really, Oakland is so close and good things are happening here.
Tell us a San Francisco Story:
I really have no bizzaro stories from SF. Maybe I need work harder to get into weird situations when I’m there.
Question you'd ask if you were doing this interview:
What is it about the Bay Area that made you come here or stay here?
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