fletcher’s blog

The Albany Bulb

I first started going to the Albany Bulb late in 2000. The Bulb is the site of a landfill that was closed in 1984. In the nineties it became a sizeable community of homeless people and an area that attracted many artists. The artists created a large body of work that was primarily constructed and painted on materials found onsite – concrete, rebar, old plywood, flotsam, and lots of other stuff. In 1999, the City of Albany evicted the homeless, and an assault on the artists has taken place ever since. Despite all the pressure from the powers that be, many homeless still inhabit the Bulb, one of the beauty spots of the Bay, and many artists continue to create true public art.

The art that is there is in a constant state of change. It is exciting to see how pieces weather, how they hold up sometimes despite taggers, the elements, and the authorities. There are times that this can be disconcerting – when you happen onto a location that had some great art, and it is completely covered by someone’s ego trip, or when you discover that the very cool skateboard bowl has been deconstructed and carted away by those who would “improve” the Bulb.

I was going to include some links regarding the Bulb; instead I suggest that you Google – Albany Bulb – and you will find an incredible number of websites that have literature, photos, and history of this great place.

(Click on images to see larger views)
August 2003	May 2008

The art work in the two photographs above and the two below, were done by SNIFF, a group of 4 artists who worked collectively for several years at the Bulb, doing large paintings that have been slowly been changing and evolving over the years.

(Click on images to see larger views)
December 2003	May 2008

The photograph below is of a sculpture done by Osha Neumann and friends. Osha is an artist, lawyer, and political activist, who has been working in the Bay Area for many years.

(Click on image to see larger views)

May 2008