Oakland is the Center of the Beautiful World is a vibrant Byzantine glass mosaic by local artist Squeak Carnwath. This public art in private development artwork was commissioned for a residential tower in the heart of downtown Oakland. Installed on the corner of Telegraph Avenue and 20th Street, this artwork is a love letter to Carnwath’s hometown. Chandra Cerrito / Art Advisors was honored to have worked with Carnwath, the development team, architects, building contractors, and City staff to help envision and realize this project through its many stages from inception to installation.

 A myriad of tediously cut, irregularly shaped tiles create a mosaic with a painterly feel, strongly echoing the paintings for which Carnwath is widely celebrated as a significant figure in Bay Area art. On the larger panel facing Telegraph Avenue, stylized representations of California and United States maps, a globe encompassing a kissing couple, a record album, cargo ship, diverse faces in a crowd, a chef’s hat, and other distinct Oakland images intermingle over a star chart in an explosion of color and vitality. Facing 20th Street, at the building’s entrance, loosely shaped linear patches of color create a field on which float the words that are the artwork’s title and the artist’s proclamation, “Oakland is the Center of the Beautiful World.”