Saemmool Lee

Berkeley artists share religion-focused work at Richmond Field Station

Green and orange ceramic statues with a reptilian texture were displayed inside “Bodurinao’s shrine,” surrounded by candles. At first, the statues looked like the body parts of crocodiles, but on closer look, were actually mixed creatures composed entirely of sex organs. The shrine itself was actually the inside of an art studio at the Richmond Field Station. It was built for a new religion called “Leymusoom,” created as an art project by Heesoo Kwon. Visitors came into the shrine and…

Oakstop in Oakland

On a Monday morning, about 10 people sat around a big table in the Oakstop office, a shared working and event space in Oakland. Most of them were looking at their laptops and wearing big headphones while typing on their keyboards. One guy was talking with someone on the phone. “Okay, I’ll email you by tomorrow,” he said. Everyone was surrounded by art pieces hung on the walls. “All of the artwork within Oakstop is done by local artists of…