Oppenheim speaks of growing up
in Washington and California, his father's Russian ancestry and education
in China, his father's career
in engineering, his mother's
background and education
in English, living
in Richmond El Cerrito, his mother's love of the arts, his father's feelings toward Russia, standing out
in the community, his relationship with his older sister, attending Richmond High School, demographics of El Cerrito, his interest
in athletics during high school, fitting
in with the minority class
in Richmond, prejudice and cultural dynamics of the 1950s, a lack of art education and philosophy classes during high school, Rebel Without a
Cause, Richmond Trojans, hotrod clubs, the persona of a good student, playing by the rules of the art world, friendship with Jimmy De Maria and his relationship to Walter DeMaria, early skills as an artist, art and teachers
in high school, attending California College of Arts and Crafts, homosexuality
in the 1950s and 1960s, working and attending art school, professors at art school, attending Stanford, early sculptural work, depression, quitting school, getting married, and moving to Hawaii, becoming an entrepreneur, attending the University of Hawaii, going back to art school, radical art, painting, drawing, sculpture, the beats and the 1960s, motivations, studio work, theory and exposure to art, self - doubts, education
in art history, Oakland Wedge, earth works, context and possession, Ground Systems, Directed Seeding, Cancelled Crop, studio art, documentation, use of science and disciplines
in art, conceptual art, theoretical positions, sentiments and useful rage, Robert Smithson and earth works, Gerry Shum, Peter Hutchinson, ocean work and red dye, breaking patterns and attempting growth, body works, drug use and hippies, focusing on theory, turmoil, Max Kozloff's «Pygmalion Reversed,» artist as shaman and Jack Burnham, sync and acceptance of the art world, machine works, interrogating art and one's self, Vito Acconci, public art, artisans and architects, Fireworks, dysfunction
in art, periods of fragmentation, bad art and autobiographical self - exposure, discovery, being judgmental of one's own work, critical dissent, impact of the 1950s and modernism, concern about placement
in the art world, Gypsum Gypsies, mutations of
objects, reading and writing, form and content, and phases of development.