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Looking at Karl Fjelstrom’s realistic oil paintings is like flipping through a stranger’s intimate photos: each image offers a hint of a story, a glimpse into someone else’s life.

Tucked under the MacArthur maze in the outskirts of Oakland is a neon tube bending wonderland run by Bay Area native, Shawna Peterson. Inside, the tiny store front opens into a large alcove stacked floor to ceiling with glass tubes, recycled signs, and electrical materials. In one corner rests a vintage pinball machine featuring a robot overlord by the name of Magnotron. Glancing around I absent-mindedly comment on how warm it is inside, to which Shawna replies…

Bay area artist, Kristin Farr creates fluorescent not-to-be ignored op art compositions inspired by traditional Pennsylvania-Dutch folk art. Farr has a way of endowing her fragmented, diamond-like shapes with sentiments of humor and nostalgia. These endearing geometric compositions intend to spread good vibes and offer a moment of respite in a world that may otherwise be a tad overwhelming. Farr’s unique style has become a part of San Francisco’s urban environment with large murals on Market St, and at an elementary school parking lot in Potrero Hill.

Burly, bearded, and well-groomed, the men Travis Ridlehuber paints display cultural markers of Western masculinity. Gracefully emerging from custom made wood panels—crafted to Travis’ specifications by a trusted East Bay wood artisan—these portraits are at once macho and delicate. This artist’s detailed brushwork takes rugged manliness and elevates it to a thing of breathtaking beauty.

In the thirteen plus years street artist and muralist, D Young V, has lived in San Francisco, his striking images of war, weaponry, and revolution has very much become a part of the city’s urban environment. 

Brian Leo creates small-scale paintings that pack a visual punch. Using bright colors reminiscent of Warhol’s palette, Brian explores the socio-political, and the public and private spheres with an air of satire and humor. The commercial world offers this artist an endless source of inspiration as logos, media clips, memes, and the like often find their way into his compositions.

Shrouded in a black and white spandex pillowcase, Jeanne Lauren of Skyana Entertainment, stands on a pedestal at the center of the gallery. Behind her emerge electrical-tape renderings of free-flowing vine-like forms traveling up the gallery’s wall. To her left a partial contour-line silhouette of a human figure peaks out.

“You’ve gotta be really strong in your convictions. You gotta be the person who doesn’t care about what anyone thinks anymore,” Carly Ivan Garcia tells me by phone from a café in his Marin County neighborhood. “I started curating my shows when I was younger because no one wanted to exhibit me. I created a show in a one bedroom.”

    The Midway Gallery is thrilled to present “Falling ‘Deep Below Heaven,’” a watercolor series by Christine Aria in conjunction with Inyoung Seoung’s He•li•o•trop•ic.

Christine is one of The Midway Gallery’s inaugural resident artists and will be the first to activate the Gods and Monsters exhibition space with her sensual free-falling figures.

Last Friday night(April 8th), The Midway Gallery hosted the opening of Boback Emad’s Bold Expressions, a refreshing and invigorating solo show curated by Roll Up Gallery’s Betty Bigas.