Silence!

Can you hear my heart?

 

Photography by Thomas Lindahl Robinson & Jewelry and Sculpture by Victoria Skirpa

Opening party July 13th 6 – 9pm
With live music by woodwind renegade Cornelius Boots
Show runs through September 28th 2013

In a world that revolves around money, money that is entirely imaginary, existing only in our minds, as humans we manage to enslave all forms of matter on this earth, living or not. Oakland artists Thomas Lindahl Robinson and Victoria Skirpa are uncovering this silence.

Thomas Lindahl Robinson documentary photography  
Often confined to a box of silent voices, whispers abound, as sentiment for the revolution dissipates like the summer rains falling on the Caribbean Sea, “What can we do, but open our eyes and look beyond our window shades, beyond the iconic images of what has been left behind of our revolution, past the horizon where we dream.”

And when we dream, we dream all things Cuban, as we accept the reality with which we are presented – government handouts of sugar, beans, and rice. Despite our decaying roof-tops, our, crumbled side walks, long hot days without water and electricity, and many moments of frustration and despair, yet even in chains, we Cubans still learn how to dance.

Somewhere between melancholy, tranquility, and non-sobriety, in a place so surreal, fiction is truth. I remain silent, without a Spanish voice, invisible, and like a fly-on-the-wall; I leave without a trace, my existence in the here and now fade into the fiction, as I too, begin to dream in Cuban.

Thomas Lindahl Robinson is documentary photography, who lives and works in and around the Bay Area, and continues his photo documentations of families in Cuba and Asia. His works are held in private collections, and have been exhibited domestically and abroad.  Thomaslindahlrobinson.com

Victoria Skirpa, sustainable jewelry & sculptor
Victoria’s interest in the body and visual forms led to a deep exploration of jewelry as an intimate sculptural medium. In 2009 VRS by Victoria jewelry design was founded. Jewelry is so special, says Victoria "because it is intimate and can foster human connection."

The love of beautiful objects, and the dismay over human and environmental destruction that often accompanies the supply chain, brought Victoria to the shores of sustainable jewelry, and Sulusso Custom Sustainable business. For Victoria, the foundation of sustainability is to value, facilitate, and sustain relationships over time, between human beings and the environment. It is simple. When we wear sustainable jewelry we commit and trust both beauty and meaning.

"Designing custom sustainable jewelry for clients is a delicious opportunity for collaboration and engagement with those committed to sustainability in a profound sense."  - Victoria Skirpa

Victoria is an entrepreneur and artist of incredible creative and material breadth.  As an experienced visual artist, her work dialogues between contemporary design and visual archetypes; contemporary, yet anchored in history. While Victoria respects craftsmanship and is meticulously attentive to detail, her work also radiates energy, movement and life. Studio 106, Victoria’s first successful business, produced sculpture for galleries, museum pieces, as well as architectural metalwork for select clients in the wine country of California. VRS, victoriaskirpa.com

Opening night music by Cornelius Boots
East Bay reed renegade Cornelius Boots is a progressive rock composer, bass clarinet performance specialist, wu wei woodwind instructor and Zen flute adept.  Since 1996, he has led and released two albums with Edmund Welles, the world’s only composing bass clarinet quartet, for which he has composed and arranged over 60 pieces of virtuosic “heavy chamber music.”  Recent projects include Sabbaticus Rex (elemental sound-structuring ensemble) and mukyoku etudes: 27 Training and Performance Pieces for Taimu shakuhachi (large Zen bamboo flute). He has three music degrees (clarinet, audio, jazz) and is currently working towards his shihan (master teaching license) in shakuhachi. CorneliusBoots.com