Downtown Vallejo’s Autonomous Gallery aspires to be new community hub

VALLEJO – A longtime Bay Area artist opened downtown Vallejo’s newest art gallery earlier this month and hopes it will become a fixture for Vallejo art and events. 

Autonomous Gallery opened on June 14 at 419 Georgia St. Suite 8 in the Galleria breezeway. Its two rooms are already teeming with art created by its founder, Zachary Seth Greer.

Greer moved to Vallejo about two years ago after living and making art in Oakland for over a decade. In addition to being more affordable than Oakland, Greer feels Vallejo’s potential, available space, and friendly people keep him here. He wants to dig his roots in and build community through Autonomous Gallery. 

“The intention is community,” Greer told the Vallejo Sun. “I’m here to support artists and singer songwriters. I want people to show up in this space as they are and want to be, and come and make strange things and performances.”

The art on display encompasses 25 years of Greer’s art. “I’ve never seen all my work out like this before,” Greer said, and exhibiting it has been reinvigorating. 

One room contains over 150 artworks, mostly paintings and drawings of various shapes and sizes. When viewed together, the often overlapping pieces appear as an explosion of color, or an image seen through a kaleidoscope. But the pieces can also be viewed on their own. While much of the art is abstract, figures of people, animals, birds, and trees become more apparent as one steps closer.

The other room contains art with themes of the natural world — such as mushrooms, an octopus, eucalyptus bark, and an owl — and the art is displayed in a more subdued and spacious manner. There’s about a dozen hung works, mostly sculptures, and duller Earth tones like beige, brown and dark greens predominate.

Although he’s starting out by displaying his own work, he said he wants the people of Vallejo and the greater Bay Area to be part of Autonomous Gallery. Artists interested in using the gallery can reach out on its Instagram page. 

The gallery will be open for visitors on Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., the hours that the nearby Vallejo Farmers’ Market operates, as well as the second Friday of every month between 5 p.m. and 9 p.m. as part of Vallejo Art Walk, and every Thursday in August from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. during the nearby community event August Summer Nights.

Autonomous Gallery is also planning its own community event called Coffee and Collage on Sunday between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. Participants can enjoy brews whipped up by TreeBed Design while exploring and using Greer’s art materials and catalog of images to make their own art. Greer is a longtime explorer of thrift shops and collector of interesting images. He says his collection of “collage stuff” like vintage books and magazines has become extensive, and he hopes people can make “whimsical and surreal” art.

The event is a sliding scale cost between $25-40 and children under 10 get in free when accompanied by a parent or caretaker. Greer said he hopes to make it a regularly occurring event between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. on the last Sunday of the month for the foreseeable future.

Greer told the Sun he named the space Autonomous Gallery as “a tip of the hat to organizing and activism.” A Palestinian flag hangs in the space and flyers supporting the Stop Tech City movement against the California Forever ballot measure are displayed. Greer said he wants the space to be available for “art related movement work and organizing meetings,” and wants to start a radical zine library.

Greer is happy with the location in the Galleria breezeway, a short covered walkway connecting Georgia Street and Hudson Alley, and excited about the gallery’s neighbors. There’s a church and a therapist along with small shops like The Shäp, a reptile supply and education store, and Neighborhood Plant Dealer, a plant store and photoshoot space which often holds yoga, dance, and arts events. Formulation Barber Shop is set to open soon as well. The breezeway provides shared space and Greer said there’s been some discussion between him and neighbors about hosting events there.

Greer told the Sun he’s excited about what Autonomous Gallery can offer the community, and he encourages people to reach out about the space.

“This space feels like possibility,” he said. “It feels good to have something to offer.”