Balinese Art and Furniture in the Heart of Oakland

Everyone remembers their first time.

Last Friday was one of my "firsts" - my first First Friday at Oakland's Art Murmur.

Located between Jack London Square and 26th Street, Oakland's art venues are open from 6:00-9:00p.m. on the first Friday of each month allowing art enthusiasts to get visually "high" on contemporary art.

Having spent the afternoon at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco surrounded by Shang Dynasty bronzes, I needed to adjust my eye-hole settings from "historic" to "contemporary" to fully appreciate the pieces on display.

Heading toward a heavy concentration of galleries on 25th street, we passed numerous vendors and musicians.  It was only 6:30 but the streets were alive and celebrating the beginning of the weekend.  People were literally dancing in the streets.

Strolling in and out of galleries, nothing quite caught my eye until I arrived at Monkey Forest Road on 25th Street.  Through the window, there it was - a large painting with surfing monkeys.  It lured me inside.

The 25th Street venue is not the main gallery but their warehouse.  The totally AWESOME gallery/furniture store/coffee shop is located at 3265 Grand Avenue, Oakland.

Why the name "Monkey Forest Road?"  Monkey Forest is a popular place to visit in Ubud, Indonesia.  There are, of course, monkeys everywhere.  For a small fee you can purchase bananas to feed them.  It was one of the many highlights of my trip to Bali a few years ago.  The forest's namesake gallery in Oakland sells art and furniture created by expats in Indonesia as well as native Indonesian artisans.