This is our third exhibition at our new Dream Farm Commons annex space: Ricky’s Tribune Barber Shop. The new site to be explored is at 341 15th Street, two doors down from our main galleryspace. Ricky's Tribune Barber Shop was a live barbershop in downtown Oakland for over 50 years; first in the Tribune Building on 13th Street and then later in our building on 15th Street, run by the ever kind, ever diligent Ricky Ramirez of Oakland, who is greatly missed by the street years after his passing.
Between the World
and Me
Chavez Smith
April 12 – May 17, 2025
BETWEEN THE WORLD AND ME
Opening Saturday April 12 7-9 PMArtists Talk Saturday May 17
Chaves Smith is an artist with a long relationship to 15th Street, painting murals, graffiti and canvases here for a decade. He has built an installation in the annex of Dream Farm Commons, in conversation with a piece across the street, two giant and very different canvases.
In the words of Chaves Smith:
“In a world on fire, there seems no hiding place. The human form is burdensome and full of pain, and it often looks like there is no way out. Trapped in nihilistic self-destructive patterns, humanity has lost its way. Have we abandoned our compassion? Bygone our decency? Did we ever have it in the first place? Humanity has exposed a vile and despicable ugliness.
I find myself in the shadow of discontent, ashamed of the complacency and my individual role in apathy. Global morality has failed. As individuals we sit watching grotesque unimaginable atrocities perpetrated daily in front of our eyes with seemingly no end or accountability in sight. I am filled with rage and sickened by my inability to stop this horrific experience. Through this anger I find my voice on the canvas, the only safe space left. This work seeks to expel the cloud of regret and fear, gazing outward toward the light and love that hopefully still exists in this realm.
These paintings are a visual prayer, a prompt to stay present and grateful for this body and soul. They are symbols of compassion and resistance. set as a reminder that this human experience is precious and fleeting. Through beauty we fight and prevail. This work serves as a message of r