For Immediate Release: Exhibit Dates January 30 through February 28, 2007

Looking for Hope: Paintings About Oakland
By Daniel Camacho

****************************************************

(Oakland, CA)-The César Chávez Branch of Oakland Public Library will display a month-long exhibit of works by local artist Daniel Camacho from January 30 to February 28, 2007. The a crylic-on-canvas, banner-style paintings in this series, titled Looking for Hope, represent the artist's view of Oakland and were created to "evoke a sense of community and change within a context of social problems," according to Camacho. A public reception for the artist is set for Tuesday, January 30, from 6 to 8 pm, at the Chávez Branch, 3301 E. 12 th Street, Ste. 271.

Daniel Camacho is an international muralist who has painted numerous murals around the Bay and around the world, including in Canada, Mexico, Central America, Germany, Spain, and the United States. He is an alumnus of Mexico City 's National Institute of Fine Arts, "La Esmeralda", as well as the San Carlos College of Fine Arts in the National Autonomous University of Mexico. In Mexico, he devoted 16 years to "Ojos de Lucha" ("Eyes of the Struggle"), a cultural group he co-founded.

Daniel has lived and worked as a professional artist and cultural worker in California for 14 years. For the past eight years, he has taught art and installation to school children in Richmond and Oakland.

"For over 20 years, my professional efforts have been devoted to public art," says Camacho. "I have worked alongside organizations, creating images to empower people in their work for social change. I have worked with artists from many parts of the world, to create images that unite people from different backgrounds. I have spent many years capturing people's experiences on large canvasses ('mobile murals'), creating images that symbolize the struggles, the challenges, the accomplishments, and the joys of ordinary people."

Looking for Hope is a very personal interpretation offered by the artist, representing his visual opinion of Oakland. It was funded by the City of Oakland's Cultural Funding Program.

For more information, please call (510) 535-5620, or see the Library's Web site: www.oaklandlibrary.org. The Oakland Public Library is a department of the City of Oakland.

###