This podcast is also available on Spotify, Apple Podcast, Vimeo, and YouTube.
Join South FIRST FRIDAYS ArtWalk SJ on Friday, June 6, and Saturday, June 7, for the 16th Annual SubZERO Festival to celebrate local subcultures of art, music, craft, and tech in San Jose’s SoFA District. This two-day celebration features outdoor stages, vendors, artists, designers, musicians, and performers, forming a creative mashup of indie spirit and innovation.
When Cherri Lakey and Brian Eder first launched Two Fish Design, their plan wasn’t just to continue their graphic design work—it was to build something radically different. Inspired by a yin-yang logo of two fish swimming upstream, the duo adopted the motto: “Those who swim against the stream come to the source.” This philosophy of challenging the status quo and seeing what others overlook became the heartbeat of their now-iconic creative ventures: Anno Domini Gallery, Kaleid Gallery, Phantom Galleries, South FIRST FRIDAYS, and SubZERO Festival.
When they chose San Jose over the more established art hubs like San Francisco, they saw possibility within the void. San Jose could be viewed as a cultural wasteland at the time, but Brian and Cherri were determined to see what others didn’t. While Anno Domini Gallery started slow with its first show, its second, featuring a young Shepard Fairey, was electric, with a crowd forming around the block. That spark expanded their vision to include impact-driven experiments, such as Shark Bite Art, a massive public art initiative that raised $300,000 for local nonprofits while paying artists fairly.
To Brian and Cherri, Anno Domini was never just a gallery; It was “The Second Coming of Art and Design” —a sanctuary for street art, counterculture, and art as activism. Their curatorial philosophy is radical yet straightforward in that they curate the artists rather than the work. This belief in autonomy and trust, especially toward first-time or nontraditional creators, allowed for a space where raw and urban voices could thrive. Furthermore, when opportunities were scarce, they launched Phantom Galleries with the intention of revitalizing downtown San Jose by transforming empty storefronts into art spaces and creating safe environments for all artists.
The SubZERO Festival emerged from this same impulse. What began in 2006 as the “Street Market,” a simple stage and vendor tables outside the gallery, has grown into a flagship celebration of subculture and creative rebellion. Today, SubZERO offers a platform for emerging voices and unconventional formats, featuring experimental fashion shows, live music, and interactive installations that present raw, accessible art.
In this conversation, Brian and Cherri recount their journey from design to street art, their curatorial risks, the birth of SubZERO, and how they continue their hand in shaping San Jose’s cultural ecosystem.
Follow SubZERO Festival on Instagram @subzerofestival and learn more at subzerofestival.com.
Follow all of their other projects at
Anno Domini Gallery, @annodominigallery
Kaleidgallery, @Kaleidgallery
Phantom Galleries, @phantomgalleries
South FIRST FRIDAYS, @artwalksj