Cache Props
Of the tiny handful of art galleries supporting graffiti and illustration art in the U.S. today, Culture Cache Gallery is blazing the trail for an entirely new kind of art experience. Owner Miranda Gill believes in adding techno and experimental music to the mix. Having started Culture Cache as an online gallery in March of 1999, Gill wanted to support urban art, which she feels is still vastly underrepresented. For Gill, urban art "reflects the energy of the street, the artistic elements that surround us as we move through ... the urban core." She supports local graffiti artists Estria, Vogue, Mars, Maya Hayuk and local skater/artist Lucian Moon among several others.

Gill's idea to add music to the web site and to have musicians perform at gallery shows comes mainly from her own love of music and city life. She enlisted the help of San Francisco based DJ Robbie Sox in updating Culture Cache's web site. He adds new down-tempo and downbeat samples regularly and is currently working on some two-step and D&B breaks. "I change the music all the time, 'cause I'm always exposing myself to the newest music out there and want to turn everybody onto it - especially other artists," says Sox.

Gill opened the doors to her gallery space in an industrial zone of San Francisco's Mission District on April 15th this year. In addition to performances by DJ Robbie Sox, show openings have included music by skater Tommy Guerrero, and DJ Sifu, who sometimes commissions gallery artists to design album covers for his D&B label, Thermal Recordings. The synergy between art and music at Culture Cache, whether online or otherwise, is powerful. Its greatest success to date is in bringing like-minded creative types together and weaving them into a vital, vibrant community.