The Bold Italic’s 2020 Awards
The Best Bay Area Mural in 2020: Oakland’s Sprawling ‘Black Lives Matter’
It’s also perhaps the largest piece of local public art created this year
This article is part of The Bold Italic’s 2020 Awards, which celebrate the Bay Area’s small businesses and local residents who have hustled and shown creativity throughout 2020. See all the award winners here.
The pandemic and ongoing civil unrest in this country have served as a source of inspiration for Bay Area creatives to pull from and work into their artwork in 2020. By now, we all have our favorite boarded-up mural that’s presently arranged across an empty storefront. Or maybe your phone’s filled with pictures of the hopeful signage that lined the Great Highway in October. It’s been — excuse the pun — a banner year for public art in the Bay Area. Though, you’d be hard-pressed to find a more timely, impressive mural than the sprawling of the words “Black Lives Matter” in downtown Oakland.
Painted by a group of artists and volunteers (aided by the occasional curious pedestrian), the public painting covers three blocks in the heart of Oakland with bold, yellow letters. Perhaps most impressive? The entire display was created in a single day.
