Neighborhood Projects
This page collects the projects and artwork that I features my neighborhood, known as “Temescal” (wiki) in North Oakland, California. I moved into a flat on Shattuck Avenue in February 1999, and I’ve been based there since. I began my “documenting projects” in 2010, shortly after opening Smokey’s Tangle, and co-creating the “Temescal Art Hop”, a neighborhood art walk. We created a maps of the neighborhood participating galleries and shops, I began illustrating some of the buildings façades. In 2014 Smokey’s Tangle hosted a performance of Mr. Let’s Paint T.V. by John Kilduff. The next day John created a plein air painting out front of the gallery. I joined him, it was my first time painting outside. A few weeks later, I did so again, and I continued to do so, finding it so liberating to be outside and painting from life. I lost my love of studio painting from that point on, and I stopped painting fiction.
Painting Link
Filmmaking Link
Drawing Link
Mapping and Surveying Link
Computer Illustration & Desktop Publishing Link
Smokey’s Tangle | Studio & Gallery History Link
My Tools Link
Telegraph Avenue Redesign Illustration Link
Scroll below to view chronologically,
Click above to view by medium.
Projects include architecture façade illustrations, surveying & mapping the cracks and lines in sidewalks, streets, and parking lots and distributing my discoveries in different series of brochures and zine booklets since 2020.
I’m also a fan of the construction process and enjoy documenting the changing neighborhood through different mediums including plein air painting, drawings and experimental videos.
Plein Air Drawing on Telegraph Avenue by Artist Brian Brooks | 50 evenings | Telegraph Avenue & 46th Street
August 11 2022 – December 21 2022
This Old House is one of my all time favorite television programs. I love buildings, and the construction process. The restoration of Kasper’s Hot Dogs was a perfect subject for a series of drawings.
The general rule of thumb I follow for construction documentation is that I will draw one drawing for each day of construction. Five drawings or paintings a week. I add the date to the front of the drawing to add a layer of information.
To have fun and challenge myself, I tend to vary my vantage points from which I draw from. Many drawings will have me move around the space to take in additional details, especially the more ambitious wide angle views.
The exaggerated birds-eye-view drawings are drawn from imagined viewpoints – some from many floors above the street. As a draughtsman trained in cartooning, I can “see” and render buildings from just about any angle.
Kasper’s Hot Dogs Exterior Restoration Construction Documentation Documentary Videos
September – November 2022
In addition to drawing, I sometimes bring a tripod with me and record time-lapse films documenting my process. The videos are edited and a soundtrack is created as well as over-the-top sound effects which give these short films a humorous edge. Originally shared as Reels on artist’s social media account [@briancharlesbrooks on Instagram]. Archived on the artist’s Vimeo page.
I keep to using simple tools, rigid practices, wearing a uniform, and am ever attempting to keep a no-nonsense aesthetic to try to reach the most general of audiences. I keep myself interested by setting ambitious projects that can both be completed in one day, but also build to form something that stretches out over week, months, or years at a time.
Kasper’s Hot Dogs Exterior Restoration Construction Documentation Brochure Publication
December 2022
I use brochures as a gathering spot for the different elements that make up a multifaceted projects that become richer through the addition of context, and history, and further documentation.
These brochures are works in process, and are all interrelated as they are all about the same neighborhood.
“I strive to make my publications for general audience, ie someone who finds a brochure on the back of a city bus will have something to look at for 7 minutes. My art practice has always tended to use the black and white aesthetic because of the ease of photocopies. I also prefer the use of black and white graphics as something more universal and “free from unnecessary conversation” as they say above the drivers on the bus.
Also, I like to imagine that perhaps cats and dogs and other animals may more enjoy the simplicity and rigor that black and white affords.
Beginning in 2020 during the pandemic lockdowns, I spent many hours around the neighborhood teaching myself how to DIY survey areas of land and capture the information onto index cards that I could then translate into computer graphics when back in the studio.
Short Film Series | Hooper’s Loopers
October 2022
I created Hooper’s Loopers in 2018 as a daily challenge to make an interesting short film every evening in the same empty lot. I developed a lot of reoccuring “routines” such as snapping my beret which cause funny spring like noises, or using a tape loop noise every time I spin in a circle. In this way I become the conductor of a soundscape.
I begin and end each video in front of an old side door. The videos are conceived to loop, as the popular trend at the time in social media was replaying the same video when it was finished.
Graphic Design | Social Media Account | Instagram User @temescalnow
2022
Desktop Publishing | Publication | Temescal Now #1 5.5 in. x 8.5 in.
24 Page Booklet
Published June 2022
Graphic Design | Telegraph Avenue Storefront Architecture Façade Illustrations (2022)
Details of Jack In The Box on Telegraph Avenue and 45th Street. The Promotional posters come and go – flavoring the scenery for months at a time, only pedestrians can take in all of the endless details of the neighborhood.
Graphic Design | The Collected Logos of My Neighborhood | Telegraph & Shattuck Avenues, 40th Street – 52nd Street (2021)
Desktop Publishing | Publications | Project Brochures (2021)
45th Street McDonald’s McGraffiti Report (2021) [Coming Soon]
45th Street McDonald’s Land Survey & Map (2021) [Coming Soon]
45th Street McDonald’s McParks & McGardens (2021) [Coming Soon]
Hooper’s Chocolates Land Survey & Souvenir Map (2021) [Coming Soon]
Temescal Archipelago (2021) [Coming Soon]
Telegraph Avenue Road Redesign Survey & Illustration (2021) [Coming Soon]
Desktop Publishing | Publications | The Temescalatarian #1, #2 (24 Page Booklets) (2021)
Short Films | Document Video Projects (2021)
Short Films | Middle Of The Road Drawings By Brian Brooks (2021)
Short Films | Bus Stop Build-Out Construction Drawing With Brian Brooks (2021)
Video documentary with original soundtrack by artist Brian Brooks capturing the different steps in the construction of a bus stop build out on Telegraph Avenue and 45th Street. Series includes seven episodes.
Videos are hosted on my Vimeo page.
Desktop Publishing | Publications | Project Brochures (2021)
Brian Brooks Oakland Artist District One – About the artist. (2021) [Link 2 mb]
Big Temescal Map Drawing: Telegraph Avenue, 43rd – 47th Street (2021) [Link 2.3 mb]
Jack In The Box Corner Construction Drawings (2021) [Link 7 mb]
Pedestrian Plaza North Tip Brochure (2021) [Link 6.4 mb]
Pedestrian Plaza South Tip Brochure (2021) [Link 7mb]
Logos of Temescal (2021) [Link 2.4 mb]
Telegraph Avenue Road Redesign Documentation Illustration (2021) [Draft]
Graphic Design | Survey | Telegraph Avenue Road Redesign Documentation Illustration Project
The goal of this project is to map a 1/4 mile section of the recently repaved and redesigned Telegraph Avenue. I am about 1/3 done with this project.
My field notes are taken on index cards. I tend to draw the scene, then measure the feet, using my feet, and walking toe-to-toe. My 12″ shoes are “perfect” as one might say.
I am able to count off feet by just taking steps. My notes are either in feet and fractions there of, or in feet and inchese – I can use the 4″x6″ index card as a sight-measurement.
Once I take these notes home, comes the tedious work of deciphering my notes and turning this information into a clean vector art map.
Plein Air Drawings | Surveying (2020)
Plein Air Drawings | Surveying | Hooper’s Lot & McDonald’s north Parking Lot | Telegraph Avenue At 56th Street
August 2020- July 2020
4 index cards with 1/2 in. grids overlayed in pencil, with survey drawings in ball point pen.
Plein Air Drawings | Sidewalk Changes (2020) | Telegraph & Shattuck Avenues 45th – 46th Streets
Brian & Emily Weekly Pandemic Portraits | Hooper’s Chocolates Warehouse Wall
April 2020 – April 2021
Plein Air Painting | Painting Telegraph Avenue At 46th Street ] Beginning of the Covid Pandemic Lockdown (2020)
End of an era: The McDonald’s Suite, I painted these three paintings at the end of 2019 and beginning of 2020, just as the Covid-Pandemic was taking hold. These three paintings capture the sight of the future Pedestrian Plaza, and capture Telegraph Avenue before the road redesign.
Plein Air Paintings | The McDonald’s Suite (2019-2020)
Three paintings painted on site, February – March, 2020.
Plein Air Paintings | Telegraph Avenue & 49th Street – 51st Street (2019)
I was captured painting out on Telegraph Avenue (at 51st Street), during the spring of 2019 in the opening credits of KQED’s Check Please episode on local Ethiopian restaurant Asmara.
Plein Air Painting | Captured in the intro to KQED Program Check, Please! episode on Asmara Restaurant (2019)
Plein Air Painting | Temescal Wash & Dry Parking Lot, Telegraph Avenue & 49th Street (2019)
Plein Air Filmmaking | Hooper’s Chocolates Lot, Telegraph Avenue & 46th Street (2019)
Hooper’s Loopers (2019, 2022)
Ongoing series featuring an artist challenging himself to do something interesting in an empty lot. Filmed in the back lot of the vacant Hooper’s Chocolates building on the east side of Telegraph Avenue & 46th Street.
Survey & Map of Bougainvillia In The Neighborhood by Emily Wick & Brian Brooks (2019)
* As viewable via public streets and sidewalks. Survey taken 2019. Map Draft 10/17/2019
Plein Air Filmmaking | Shine Hunters series of Short Films (2019)
Shine Hunters (2019)
Short film series featuring Brian and artist Emily Wick in search for reflected shines around their neighborhood. 7 Episodes. Total runtime 7 minutes.
Plein Air Paintings | 4700 Telegraph: Construction (2018)
To take a break from multiple painting series, Brian replaced his easel with a tripod and continued to head out evening dressed as an artist but this time acting as a film maker, and subject of the film while interacting with the existing backdrops of the neighborhood.
Thus began a number of short film series, most of which were made to loop, due to the social media’s tendency to repeat videos once finished.
Using a trick learned from filmmaker Emily Wick (Buried Stories, Life With Alex) Brian chose to use the time-lapse function which allows the filmmaker to slow down time so much that there is not too much footage at the end of a shoot to have to sort through and edit. The time-lapse style also takes away the need for speaking, which helped push these into more of a visual medium, and more physical comedy as was prevelent in the silent film era. Original jolting soundtracks with the ever present comedic sound effects and editing by the artist.
The Chair (2018)
Featuring an artist and his daily meetings with a well-used discarded broken plastic chair. Filmed along Shattuck Avenue between 46th Street and 47th Street.
The Sleeper (2018)
Framed as the wake cycle of an artist who fills his time interacting with the corner of a building and the features of the sidewalk before racing back to sleep before the sun goes down. Filmed on the south east corner of Shattuck Avenue and 47th Street.
Plein Air Painting | Telegraph Avenue & 48th Street (2017)
photograph by Eugene Shlugleit, 2017
Studio Painting | The Ghost Ship Series (2017)
36 abstract paintings in memory of the 36 people lost in the Ghost Ship fire in Oakland (December 2, 2016)
18” x 24” acrylic paint on paper
Feb – June, 2017
Plein Air Painting | 4700 Telegraph: The Empty Lot series
36 paintings
9” x 12” acrylic paint on paper
Jun – July, 2017
Plein Air Painting | Telegraph Avenue & 48th Street (2016)
Plein Air Painting | 4700 Telegraph: Demolition series
Plein Air Painting | Yellow Van Series (2016)
Plein Air Painting | Colorful Temescal series (2016)
Plein Air Painting | Telegraph Avenue & 48th Street (2016)
Plein Air Painting | The Brignole Building series (2016)
East Bay Express | Radical Sharing Temescal (2015)
A group of artists, hackers, and other creative people have launched Omni Commons, a new community resource center in North Oakland that they hope will be an antidote to gentrification. By Julian Mark Jan 21, 2015
Photograph | Smokey’s Tangle Interface Gallery Takeover Photo Booth Diorama (2014)
Plein Air Painting | Telegraph Avenue 45th Street – 51st Street (2014)
Publication | Smokey’s Tangle 5 Yearbook by Emily Wick & Brian Brooks (2014)
Oakland Art Murmur Gallery Member (Smokey’s Tangle) & Postcard/ Map Designer (2011)
Map by Smokey’s Tangle (Brian Brooks)
Temescal Art Hop [biannual neighborhood Event] Event Co-creator and Poster, Map & Brochure Designer (2010-2015)
Oakland Art Murmuer changed their map
to concentrate on Uptown art galleries.
The Temescal Art Hop was a biannual
neighborhood interactive artwalk and raffle
created by galleries Smokey’s Tangle & Slate Gallery, with support from the TTBID (Telegraph/ Temescal Buisness Improvement District
Design: Brian Brooks, J. Otto Siebold, Gabriella Laz
Publication | The Wall Street Journal | Oakland’s Temescal Goes From Rundown To Reborn (2009)
How Local Merchants Found Success After Years of Work to Attract New Businesses and Reshape Their Neighborhood By Stu Woo Dec. 3, 2009
Smokey’s Tangle Studio & Gallery
Feb 2009 – Aug 2018
by Brian Brooks & Emily Wick
“Our gallery was funded with money we saved by living frugally and not having a car…”
“… the best part about having the space and promoting the art nights was the community we discovered.”
– Brian Brooks (Wall Street Journal)
Where On Earth Is My Neighborhood?
Neighborhood As A Studio
Emily and I have not owned a vehicle for 30 years, and rarely use one other than the occasional ride to the airport to visit family
I was first introduced to the joys of plein air painting by Oakland born artist John Kilduff in 2014 upon a visit to Smokey’s Tangle.
Incidentally John was also the inspiration for me taking up studio painting just four years before, through his inspirational painting videos as “Mr. Let’s Paint T.V.”. I hadn’t picked up a paint brush in over 15 years before I watched one episode, by episode two, I had paints out and painted a long.
Once I fell in love with the joys of painting out doors, ie being outside, I all but abandoned my indoor studio painting practice.
I now view my immediate neighborhood as “my studio”, if I can walk there with my easel, I figure it’s my right to do so.
Outdoor lighting is so superior to indoor lighting. plenty of room and different backdrops. And meeting people is so healthy and much easier when you are out doing your thing.
I consistently keep both long-term, and short term outdoor projects going as my hobbies that get me out of the house.
I began by painting the buildings around the neighborhood.
I have begun to place some of my projects onto the above interactive map hosted by Google My Maps. You can view this map full size and zoom in – to see a selection of my plein air paintings and a few drawings.
The map contains shaded color shapes which outline the vantage point that I include in the paintings attached to the map.