Nothing Comes From Nothing

This Party Blows

One of my favorite things about life, is that you pretty much just have to walk out your door to find something interesting. I grew up in a small agricultural town, and one of the nicest things I can mention about this fact, is the ability one gets to entertain; to entertain yourself, others, and time itself. I digress.
Above is a picture taken in June 2010, when, on a whim, I decided to walk out my door and see what was going on at the then very popular Art Murmur, in Oakland. My friend has a studio centered in the hub of this, so I thought I'd go and see what the fuss was about.
Artists and craftspeople were set up around the block, musicians were playing on the street, and bacon was being sold hand over fist. The few galleries were fairly packed. All was pretty much living up to the hype of the time. Cutting through the alley behind my friend's studio, I found this Magic. I saw the lettering on the side of the truck/gallery and was immediately charmed by the cheeky sentiment. The simple genius of making a moving gallery piqued my curiosity, and I couldn't wait to see more. Up the stairs and inside the gallery-space were paintings that seemed both familar and unique. I still kick myself for not buying one. There was an organic fun and energy buzzing around this scene. I noted that this was the best thing I'd seen all night, and took a snap (shown above).
The next day, I showed my friend, Dan this picture, and he immediately said, "J. Otto!". And that's why the work seemed familiar to me; it was the moving Gallery of one J. Otto Seibold, a well-known Artist, Author and Illustrator, who was also living in Oakland. Having a few mutual friends, I reached out to him and long story short, we are putting together a book. It will will be awesome, and available in a fairly limited edition.
Tomorrow night, J. Otto will be debuting his latest Party at the Oakland Museum. For more information, please click on the link here. Be there or be square. xo