Press Releases

For Immediate Release

Cafe Metro Features East Bay Artist Michael Fram

MTC Art Exhibit

CONTACT:

Brenda Kahn
510.817.5773

Michael Fram
510.464.7873

OAKLAND, Calif., April 27, 1999... An "out of this world" exhibit of works by East Bay artist Michael Fram is now on display at Cafe Metro, located at the Joseph P. Bort MetroCenter, 101 Eighth Street in Oakland (adjacent to the Lake Merritt BART station). Cafe Metro is jointly operated by the three governmental tenants of the MetroCenter: the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC), the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) and BART.

Through the show, titled "Another Time and Place," Fram transports us to a future era where references to cultural icons and familiar domestic trappings are playfully juxtaposed with evolved human and alien life forms. "Part of this is a throwback to elementary school, when you're young and unaware of the history of art, and you don't have too many inhibitions about what you draw," Fram explained. "I have created a space for my mind to wander, filled with curious plants and animals and beings in an environment a bit like our own, as it might be in the future, or as we might find it on some other planet."

A reception will be held on Thursday, May 13, 1999, from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. at Cafe Metro, 101 Eighth Street in Oakland. The works can be viewed weekdays from 7:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. through July 30, 1999.

Earlier in his career, Fram painted in oils, focusing on family life and human relationships, often with a humorous and/or surrealistic twist. A switch to acrylic paints in the mid-1990s triggered a shift in colors as well as a thematic change. "Once I began to work in acrylics, I started to explore a fantasy outer space world with starry nights, rockets and creatures inhabiting other places," he said.

A prolific artist who currently resides in the city of Alameda, Fram divides his time between working in computer graphics for MTC and pursuing his fine art career at his Oakland studio. He has exhibited extensively in the Bay Area and Southern California.

 

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