Egopark opened its doors in December of 2001, one of the first galleries in what is now becoming known as the Telegraph Avenue art corridor.

 

From Owner and Founder, Kevin Slagle, April 2002:

“This is the second one of these things I've done, these whatever you want to call them galleries, art spaces. The first is called The Blue Elephant and it's in Frederick, Maryland. I started that one in 1996 and it's still running (albeit without a working phone) with my brother Brian at the helm.  Both came about as sort of accidents, or in a kinda what-else-are-ya-gonna-do-with-such-a-nice-space sort of way. I have this compulsion towards fixing up spaces. I think it might be the one thing I really love to do. Change space.  Alter use. Seek potential. I could never be happy with just an apartment. Where the hell do you put all your stuff? And I'm so not even close to being able to buy the ranch, or the farm, or even just a house with a garage. So like a million other pre-gentrification urban artsy types, the only option is to find an old fixer-upper warehouse with a nice landlord, weasel my way into a long, cheap lease, and go for it. Shoestrings and all.

 

“It takes about a year, I've found, to do it right.  And by right I mean well.  Nice lighting. Slick. Like you'd see in San Francisco or New York.  The kind of place that takes people by surprise, a high end, back alley space with a very modest facade (a secret I learned after having my tools and bikes ripped off - if they don't know you're there, they leave you alone.) And really, the whole time I was working on both of them I was thinking, "Jesus Christ don't make this fucking thing into an art gallery. Keep it for yourself.  Work on your own art for once.  Art galleries mean hassles. Press releases. Post cards. Mailing lists.  Artists. Why in the hell would you want to deal with all that?"  And both times, well, I didn't listen. Which I suppose is better anyway because although it has been, at many times, a royal pain in the ass, I have made a ton of friends and they've told their friends and so on and so on, and these really great communities have developed around having a venue to show art or play music or show films or whatever the hell anyone's into. With both of them I sort of just put something in motion and then stood back a little and watched as this really weird phenomenon occurred where the old, dead energy of the place starts to change until after not to long there's this bustling, living thing at work and the newspapers are calling and there's hundreds of people drinking beer and saying ironic and intelligent things about the art, and using words like juxtaposition or effusive, and all these cute girls show up and everyone says stuff like, "Wow, I never knew this place was here," or, "This is the coolest place I've ever seen."

 

“I really don't know what to make of it all. There's no money in it, that's for sure. Well, unless we have bands and charge a cover and sell beer, but what the hell is that? I just want to open the doors every couple months and let people look at art. I don't even care if it'd good art because really, I don't know what the hell good art is. It comes down to the artist I think; if they're serious but not too serious, it probably good art.

 

“So if you read this and want to send money, great. Or if you want to show your stuff, or other people's stuff, whatever, drop me a line. I'd really like to do an art show about overthrowing the government and kicking all the asshole corporations' asses or something political like that. I don't think there's enough political art out there.  I'm just hoping it's not because we're all white bread middle class idiots and don't know it. I guess time will tell.”