During the last two weeks, I’ve been putting in a lot of hours at Zocalo cafe. I have a major writing deadline tomorrow, and Zocalo is the perfect place for me to work. The tables are generously sized, there are lots of plugs for my laptop (which, incidentally, has a terrible battery), and the staff is very friendly. Although I’ve been putting in long days of writing and editing, I’ve also been getting in my share of people watching. One of the reasons I like working at a cafe is because it’s a lot less isolating than working at home. I’m never the only person working, and I like being surrounded by other telecommuters. This guy was one of them. I was intrigued by his hair and by the fact that he was wearing an item that you rarely see in the 21st century, the short-sleeved dress shirt.
There’s a stretch of International Boulevard that I always try to avoid. It’s that busy stretch that runs from about 30th to the big High Street intersection. There are an awful lot of pedestrians and an awful lot of crosswalks; and a lot of the folks prefer to wait not on the sidewalk, but out in the street. This brother is a perfect example. When I drove past him, I had to wonder whether or not he actually cared about his toes, because six inches closer to the curb, and I would have driven them right off.
Maxx foods on MacArthur Boulevard might be best described as the Big Lots! of food. Picture that in your mind, for a moment. The image should speak volumes. Given that he was entering the Big Lots! of food (just as I was leaving), this guy had a surprising amount of spring in his step. Whenever I walk into this place I feel a little depressed. Maybe I am setting my expectations too high. If I was simply shopping for Funyuns and Kool-Aid, I’d probably be perfectly satisfied.
There are certain corners in Oakland where brothers just like to hang out. Some of them attract older groups of friends, and others seem to draw the younger set. Some hangout spots are located outside of so-called convenient stores, but others are seemingly random locations with no businesses to serve as a draw. One such corner is Fairfax and Monticello in the upper Melrose neighborhood. It’s not an everyday hangout spot, but of all the corners in this quiet residential neighborhood, this is perhaps the only one that is even an occasional gathering spot. On a recent warm day, my errands took me past this corner several times, over the course of about three hours. This brother was there the whole time, sometimes chatting and laughing friends, and sometimes just watching the day go by.
I encountered this happy guy at last weekend’s Art Murmur/First Friday’s event. I was showing at Uptown Body and Fender, and he was just strolling through the event. He stopped at my table and asked several questions about this very series (1001 Black Men). His big smile and his genuine curiosity about my project made me feel welcome at this event. It’s interesting that someone who has no affiliation with the venue could make me feel welcome, but he did, and after he left I really felt like I was “in the zone.”
Here’s another pic from the gym. This guy was leaning on the glass with his back to the action happening on the court. I have changed the glass into a cinder block wall (a la public high school athletic center), and I’ve changed the indoor court into an outdoor court, mostly because his pose was just so evocative to me of college and high school athletes killing time between workouts or practices.
I created this drawing based on a guy who goes to my gym. I’ve been a member for 2 months now. Is that long enough to be able to call it my gym? In any event, he stood out for me because while a significant number of the more muscular guys at the gym dress in sleeveless basketball-style jerseys he appeared to be wearing your basic plain, white, undershirt. For this drawing, I’ve taken him out of the gym, seated him on a wall of sorts, and framed him using an oval-shaped composition in muted shades of peach. I like drawing feet, and so I’ve drawn him shoeless to give this a dancer-like and more timeless quality.
I’ve been thinking about this kid since late summer, when I saw him skateboarding down the middle of Foothill, near Fremont High School. He looked so relaxed and free; and, given the unpredictable traffic on Foothill, he had to be pretty brave, too.
You gotta give props to the brother wearing the afro puff, especially the brother with an afro puff, arched eyebrows and a shimmering lip tint. This guy doesn’t need a scowl and a posse to let the world know he’s an independent man. All the neck tattoos in the world don’t say as much about fierceness and courage as a brother who isn’t afraid of a trip to Sephora, and not just to buy a gift for his girlfriend…
I was out shopping for Valentine’s day, and I ran into this guy at a gift shop on Piedmont Ave. He was dressed in an unseasonably skimpy top, but the detail that truly caught my attention was his sailor stripes! I have been obsessed with Gaultier since I saw the designer’s retrospective at the De Young Museum, and Gaultier is obsessed with (or at least heavily influenced by) Jean Genet. In honor of Gaultier’s obsessions and my own, I created my own unique design, the Jean Genet sailor shirt, with a classic photo of the iconic French writer showing through the stripes on this gentleman’s shirt. The background is an excerpt from Journal du voleur (Thief’s Journal), the author’s most famous book.
For another homage to Gaultier and the French sailor shirt, follow this link to 1001 Black Men–#468.
