Market Street and 7th Street
This mural, covering an entire wall facing Charles J. Brenham Place (extension of 7th Street) is by Alicia McCarthy.
McCarthy’s work has a tendency towards the Naïve or Folk character and often uses unconventional media like house paint, graphite, or other found materials. McCarthy is best known for her weave paintings such as this.
McCarthy was born in 1969 and grew up in Oakland where she presently resides. She received her BFA from the San Francisco Art Institute in 1993 and an MFA from UC Berkeley in 2007. In 1992, the dean of the San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI) addressed an angry letter criticizing her campus graffiti, claiming that her art “looks like shit”. Ironically, McCarthy is now featured as a part of SFAI’s notable alumni
McCarthy was a key member of the Mission School movement, a punk artistic movement born in San Francisco. At that time she painted graffiti under the names Fancy and Probe and was a member of underground punk and LGBT movements in San Francisco in the early 1990s.
The mural came about after the Luggage Store Gallery, which McCarthy has worked with for years, partnered with the hotel to remake the wall.
