In 2023, our artist series collaboration with Nicole Andrijauskas, a Bay Area artist benefited Incline Gallery, an artist owned space nestled in San Francisco’s Mission District. Thanks to the unwavering support of our community, we were able to raise an impressive $5,000 for Incline.
Recently, we sat down with Christo Oropeza, the visionary behind the gallery, to dive into Incline and explore how the gallery intends to utilize the funds garnered from this collaboration. Read on to discover more about Incline, Christo, and the exciting prospects ahead for this dynamic art space.
CHROME: Can you tell us a little more about you and your involvement with Incline?
CHRISTO: My name is Christo Oropeza, I am one of the original Co-Founders of Incline gallery, Est. 2010. I'm now the sole proprietor here and run the gallery solo, with the help of community members.
CHROME: Can you provide a brief overview of Incline Gallery and its mission?
CHRISTO: Incline is an alternative art space that fosters relationships between community and artists. We create opportunities for emerging as well as established artists to exhibit in a non-cube format that challenges and encourages experimentation in exhibition design. Our role continues to expand by facilitating outside curators, international exchanges, and partnerships within a community-based organization.
CHROME: What inspired you to create Incline?
CHRISTO: Necessity, mostly. When I graduated from SFSTATE in 2008, the economy had crashed, and we were in a recession. There were a lot of closed store fronts, and as an active member of the arts community, I started an art collective named San Pancho Art Collective. We would write to landlords and ask if we could come into their space, and create a temporary art show; do a small amount of skilled labor in the space, and return it to the landlord in a better condition that it was in. Incline gallery was posted on Craigslist and that is how I learned about it. I wrote the landlord, broke off from the collective, and started Incline with a couple of the former members that wanted to put in the work to start it off. It has not been easy, and it put stress on all our relationships at the gallery, but it has been one of the most beautiful experiences of my life.
CHROME: How do you anticipate the donation will positively impact the local community or specific projects at Incline Gallery?
CHRISTO: My intention is to use half of the gift from Chrome for operations for the year and create a call for submissions from artists in SF to judge the applications and create two 1-Thousand Dollar "scholarships" to the winners of the call for artists.
CHROME: How can the community get involved or support Incline Gallery?
CHRISTO: The community can get involved by attending our exhibition openings, and people can support Incline by buying artist's work! I would love to continue to foster relationships with both people that make art, and the people who buy it. I believe there is a lot of work to do there, in order to demystify the idea of becoming an arts collector, and a lot of demystifying what the experience of being an artist actually is.
CHROME: Anything else you’d like to share?
CHRISTO: I just wanted to thank Chrome Industries and Nicole aka Chicken_In_A_Biscuit, for your generosity and willingness to work with alternative art spaces with strong mission-driven exhibitions. This gift to Incline helps keep the flame lit, the lights on, and the doors open to continue our work!
