She was a wolf. She was a mare.
Pen, gouache and glitter on canvas (24” x 24”)
$500
Wednesday, June 26, 2019
Tuesday, May 28, 2019
Saturday, February 09, 2019
"Everything is True" Artist Reception: Raven's Wing Magical Co. March 2nd 6:30-8:00
Please stop by and say hello at my artist reception March 2nd 6:30-8:00 at Raven’s Wing Magical Company. The paintings are up now if you want to take a look.
Hope to see you there!
If you're interested in buying, prices are reduced from the ones appearing on this site. Click here to see price list. Or you can get in touch with the shop or with me through FB Messenger.
The Raven's Wing Magical Co.
536 Grand Ave, Oakland, CA
(510) 444-9355
Sun-Fri. 12-8pm, Sat. 11am-8pm
Hope to see you there!
If you're interested in buying, prices are reduced from the ones appearing on this site. Click here to see price list. Or you can get in touch with the shop or with me through FB Messenger.
The Raven's Wing Magical Co.
536 Grand Ave, Oakland, CA
(510) 444-9355
Sun-Fri. 12-8pm, Sat. 11am-8pm
Everything Is True
paintings by Brian Strang
“Everything exists, everything is true, and the earth is only a little dust under our feet."
― W.B. Yeats, The Celtic Twilight: Faerie and Folklore
― W.B. Yeats, The Celtic Twilight: Faerie and Folklore
I paint to discover the world, to see the world as it exists and to imagine it as it might exist. I look and listen within and without, to what is possible and impossible, and follow where my imagination goes. But my imagination, like everyone’s, is part of a collective unconscious, an expanding universe of dreams, full of universal archetypes floating through the ages.
Everywhere is the center of the world. The universal unconscious is the chant of nature and it is the native speech of dreams: images, archetypes, forms within ourselves, shaped by the world and part of it. Everyone is a part, nobody apart. What we think is new is timeless. Nothing is new. Myth is a language of symbols, as alive and flowing through the interconnected blood of the past, present and future, outside of time. Look closely at the kingdom within you and you will find it is the same as the kingdom everywhere.
Poetry—linguistic rhythms encoded in the world—is everywhere and is read through the lens of imagination. When we read these symbols, we read ourselves, where in the speech of dreams, we become timeless, simultaneous, beyond belief. We are made of eternity: matter made of waves, stories made of symbols, retold again and again, a never-ending flow of interwoven meanings, inseparable from their sources. The images and rhythms of the collective unconscious are an eternally recurring symbolic language: a literature that extends beyond the possible, beyond imaginable. I read the world through its poetry and its language of symbols.
B.
About Brian Strang’s painting, the SF Bay Guardian has said, “Strang’s work... suggests a more romantic pleasure in and response to visual phenomena. It betrays a rhythmic sensibility not unlike that found in a sketch by Matisse” (6/13/07).
His paintings, which all contain written poetic text, have been exhibited many times over the last ten years in solo and group shows, have been republished in magazines and currently reside in many private collections. He has lived in East Oakland for fifteen years, teaches English at San Francisco State University, has had several books of poetry published, most recently Dark Adapt by Duration Press, and plays guitar in Crow Crash Radio.
His paintings, which all contain written poetic text, have been exhibited many times over the last ten years in solo and group shows, have been republished in magazines and currently reside in many private collections. He has lived in East Oakland for fifteen years, teaches English at San Francisco State University, has had several books of poetry published, most recently Dark Adapt by Duration Press, and plays guitar in Crow Crash Radio.
Tuesday, January 29, 2019
Saturday, January 26, 2019
Saturday, November 03, 2018
Tuesday, September 18, 2018
Thursday, September 06, 2018
Wednesday, August 22, 2018
Sunday, July 15, 2018
Tuesday, May 29, 2018
Thursday, March 08, 2018
Tuesday, February 20, 2018
Friday, February 02, 2018
Tuesday, January 16, 2018
Monday, December 18, 2017
A great big thank you to everyone who came to the opening yesterday! The paintings will be up through January. If you're interested in a piece, let me know so I can set it aside for you, but all sales go through the cafe, not directly to me. Prices are listed below. My email can be found in "About Me" at the bottom of the right column. I'm going to donate half of everything I make (after the cafe's commission) to Joaquin Miller Elementary School. Happy Winter!
The Kingdom Is Within
An Exhibit of paintings by Brian Strang, "The Kingdom Is Within," is now hanging at Awaken Cafe through the end of January. Come check it out!
Awaken Cafe
1429 Broadway (@15th Street) Oakland, CA 
Brian Strang
About Brian Strang’s painting, the SF Bay Guardian has said, “Strang’s work... suggests a more
romantic pleasure in and response to visual phenomena. It betrays a rhythmic sensibility not unlike
that found in a sketch by Matisse” (6/13/07).
His paintings, which all contain written
poetic text, have been exhibited many times over the last ten years in solo and
group shows, have been republished in magazines and currently reside in many
private collections. He has lived in
East Oakland for fifteen years and teaches English at San Francisco State
University. His most recent poetry collection, Dark Adapt, is available at Duration
Press. His artwork, poems, reviews, essays and translations have appeared in
many journals including New American
Writing, Five Fingers Review, The Denver Quarterly and Caliban.
He plays guitar in Crow Crash Radio.
The Kingdom Is Within
The
relationship between the human and natural has been ingrained in our psyches
for centuries as an adversarial one. But
while each of us leaves footprints on the ecosystem, we exist within it. After all, who is not a part of nature? Ashes to ashes. We are all part of what poet Gary Snyder has
called “one vast breathing body.”
Imagination and
dreaming provide deep connections with commonality. They provide direction and context. We must learn to be guided by nature more
accurately, to listen to its myriad complexity, its interconnection so
pervasive that it exceeds our limitations.
We must listen with imagination and follow the ancient elemental poetry
of the world, even when it seems perilous.
Poetry is encoded within
the forms all around us; one only has to look closely to see it. I
paint to discover the world and to imagine it anew.
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The Kingdom Is Within
Gouache and pen on paper.
18” x12” 2016
$120 (framed)
SOLD
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Holy
Gouache ink and glitter on paper.
18” x12” 2014
$120 (framed)
SOLD |
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Outside Now
Gouache and pen on canvas.
18” x 36” 2017
$200 (framed)
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We’re Here
Gouache ink and glitter on paper.
Size 15.5” x 11.5” 2015
$150 (framed)
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Europa
Gouache and pen on paper.
Size 9” x 12” 2011
$100 (framed)
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Across
Gouache and ink on wood.
Size 20” x 16” 2013
$150
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Shimmers
Gouache ink and glitter on paper.
Size 13.5” x 10.5" 2016
$150 (framed)
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Sun Burns
Gouache and ink on paper.
Size 13.5” x 10.5" 2009
$150
(framed)
SOLD |
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The Wasp
Gouache and ink on paper.
Size 15.5” x 11.5” 2015
$150 (framed)
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The Four
Gouache, ink and glitter on canvas.
Size 38” x 38” 2017
$1200
SOLD |
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The Land
Gouache, ink and glitter on wood.
Size 20” x 16” 2017
$200
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Garden of the New Year
Gouache, and ink on canvas.
Size 20” x 20” 2010
$200
SOLD |
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Atlantis
Gouache and ink on canvas.
Size 20” x20” 2009
$200
SOLD |
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