East Bay art collective Irresistible Small Creatures have transformed the barren walls of SF State’s The Art Gallery into a vibrant canvas of artistry.

Oakland artists Caleb Rogers, Nate Crane, Nathaniel Russell and Mark Inglis Taylor use the space within the gallery to inspire their art installation “Instant Memory,” which is a fusion of mural, drawings, photography and mixed media wall pieces. It went on display Sept. 13 and runs through Oct. 10.

Coming together in 2005, Irresistible Small Creatures intended to show people things that are wonderful and beautiful in the world, while exposing their concerns about things that are not.

“I like the awkward truths, the hidden meanings of things,” said Russell. “It’s not all kittens and trees, although those are good [too].”

“We all are trying to put onto the wall and paper what we are thinking about,” he said. “I think most of [the] concerns are of the personal and introspective variety.”

Meshing an unconventional vision of beauty with random thought, the collective averts the traditional art gallery approach with their installation.

“Most times, the curators will look through the artists’ pieces and decide what they want to display,” said Liberal Arts major and The Art Gallery employee, Sophie Johnson, 21.

Instead of allowing galleries to exert discretion amongst the pieces shown, the group creates its art directly onto the walls, forging its own format and environment in the midst of producing it.

“It seems that the way we are approaching things is to jump in headfirst, see what comes of it, then go again,” Russell said. “We had some basic rules, like a color palate.”

The artists worked off of each others’ additions to the mural to make it come to life, adding elements to the subtly-colored mural consisting of people, animals, other characters, phrases and scenery.

The 15 foot mural took around a week to complete, said Russell.

“[Irresistible Small Creatures’] photography is thought-provoking,” said Senior Fine Arts major Laurel Shear, 23, pointing to approximately 40 colored photos lined up next to each other on the gallery’s wall.

Before appearing at SF State, Irresistible Small Creatures’ art has been showcased at San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Center for the Arts and at Oakland’s Rock Paper Scissors Collective and LoBot Gallery.

Instant Memory can be seen at The Art Gallery on between the hours of 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. on Monday and Friday and 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday.