By John A. Barry And Bill Carmel
E-mail John A. Barry And Bill Carmel
About this blog: John Barry is the creator of trAction Painting, a process/performance genre in which he applies paint to large surfaces with bicycles, roller skates, and other wheeled conveyances. With Bill Carmel and other associates, he has bro...
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About this blog: John Barry is the creator of trAction Painting, a process/performance genre in which he applies paint to large surfaces with bicycles, roller skates, and other wheeled conveyances. With Bill Carmel and other associates, he has brought trAction Painting events to local schools and summer camps. He also creates visual puns. His works are included in several private collections. John has authored/coauthored a dozen books, including Technobabble and Sunburst: The Ascent of Sun Microsystems. John can be contacted at jobarry33@comcast.net or 925-918-7882.
Bill Carmel has 35 years' experience as a professional artist. His fine art paintings, sculptures, and designs are included in private, corporate, and public art collections in the United States, Europe, and Australia. After teaching at Humboldt State University and Southern Illinois University, he returned to the Bay Area, where he remains active in the arts by serving as a co-curator for the Lamorinda Arts Council's Orinda Gallery and by exhibiting throughout the Bay Area. Bill reviews exhibits at SFMOMA, the De Young and Palace of Fine Arts museums, and other Bay Area exhibition venues. Bill can be contacted at billcarmel3@yahoo.com.
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By John A. Barry
I’m very late in getting this written, but you still have a chance to visit
No Spectators: The Art of Burning Man, at the Oakland Museum of California, through February 16.
Burning Man is a widely known event held annually in the western United States at Black Rock City, a temporary city erected in the Black Rock Desert of northwest Nevada, approximately 100 miles north-northeast of Reno. The event started on San Francisco’s Baker Beach in 1986 and has since morphed into a corporate behemoth. Much info available on the organization’s website:
https://burningman.org
A primary focus of the Oakland exhibit is “Mutant Vehicles,” a few of which are shown here.
Tin Pan Dragon, 2006. Artist: Duane Flatmo. A pedal powered dragon made of pie plates.

I can’t find my notes for
The Picnic, but it is a bus that features seats, a movie screen (with running movie), and snacks.

Outside the theater is the
Temple of Reunion. Constructed entirely of wood by David Best and the Temple Crew, it features a slew of wood chips, on which visitors can write a message and attach it to the temple.
For more about the exhibit:
https://museumca.org/exhibit/no-spectators-art-burning-man