Herakut and Rusk Paint the Tenderloin

 Posted by on August 16, 2012
Aug 162012
 
Herakut and Rusk Paint the Tenderloin

The Tenderloin / Polk Gulch Hemlock and Polk * * * The area under this fire escape in Hemlock Alley has been the home to many worldwide known graffiti artists. Roa was featured here not too long ago. This piece is by Arkut, Hera (who often paint as Herakut) and Rusk, all from Germany. HERA, 27 years of age, born in Frankfurt, is looking back on a straight and classic art education with taking lessons from old weirdo artists, starting from when she was eight. That plus her never-ending years of studying Graphic Design account for her preferences today: she Continue Reading

Mural Projects in the Tenderloin

 Posted by on July 23, 2012
Jul 232012
 
Mural Projects in the Tenderloin

The Tenderloin 126 Hyde Street  This group was shot on May 6, 2012 * * True Compassion by Evan Bissell This temporary mural was created through twelve workshops with local artists about the nature of compassion. The double portraits depict the artists interacting with themselves in a compassionate gesture of their choosing. The portraits will be left untreated and then washed away before a new one is painted each Thursday in chalk pastel by the artist Evan Bissell. The participants of the workshop painted the medallions that frame the installation. The symbols contrast with the background drawings that represent challenges Continue Reading

Mitchell Brothers Theater Mural

 Posted by on July 21, 2012
Jul 212012
 
Mitchell Brothers Theater Mural

Corner of O’Farrell and Polk The Tenderloin This sweet and rather innocuous mural is on the side of Mitchell Brothers Theater. The Mitchell Brothers O’Farrell Theatre is an adult club, opened as an X-rated movie theater by Jim and Artie Mitchell on July 4, 1969, the O’Farrell remains one of America’s oldest and most notorious adult-entertainment establishments; by 1980, the nightspot had become a major force in popularizing close-contact lap dancing, which would become the norm in striptease clubs nationwide. The late journalist Hunter S. Thompson, a longtime friend of the Mitchells and frequent visitor at the club, claimed to Continue Reading

Qi Lun in Little Saigon, San Francisco

 Posted by on July 20, 2012
Jul 202012
 
Qi Lun in Little Saigon, San Francisco

Little Saigon The Tenderloin Qi Lun by Walter Wong – Marble and Granite 2008 These dragons mark the entrance to a two-block corridor of Larkin Street between Eddy and O’Farrell officially declared Little Saigon in 2004. There are about 250 Vietnamese American-owned businesses in the Tenderloin and eighty percent of the businesses on the two blocks of Larkin are owned by Vietnamese Americans The two granite and marble pillars serve as a symbol of peace, happiness and safety for the Vietnamese that have settled here. Most were refugees fleeing persecution by the Communist government after the 1975 war. Designed by Continue Reading

American Indian Occupation in the Tenderloin

 Posted by on July 16, 2012
Jul 162012
 
American Indian Occupation in the Tenderloin

The Tenderloin/Polk Gulch Austin at Polk * American Indian Occupation by Jaque Fragua and Spencer Keaton Cunningham Jaque Fragua is an acclaimed multi-media artist from New Mexico. From his cultural background, he has developed a yearning for creativity and for the intrinsic process that is Art. Experimenting with various mediums, such as aerosol, found-objects, earthworks, poetry, & music, messages of civil unrest, social justice, emotional introspection, and personal healing have heartened his unique perspective on life through art. Fragua has studied at the Institute of American Indian Arts, and in turn, has taught many community-based workshops, such as mural projects/public-art Continue Reading

The Tenderloin – We Rock Hardest

 Posted by on May 14, 2012
May 142012
 
The Tenderloin - We Rock Hardest

Polk and Eddy Civic Center/Tenderloin Englishman Ben Eine has many murals around San Francisco. Here is a video of the installation: The piece was done to launch his gallery exhibit at White Walls Gallery.  They did a marvelous interview with him that you can read here.      

The Tenderloin – Boeddecker Park

 Posted by on May 4, 2012
May 042012
 
The Tenderloin - Boeddecker Park

The Tenderloin Boeddecker Park Eddy and Jones Untitled by Anthony J. Smith This abstract sculpture is a sphere held up by a pair of large hands. Set in niches around the surface of the sphere are fourteen life masks of people who live in the Tenderloin district of San Francisco. The artist’s face and the face of Father Boedekker are also included in the sculpture. The bronze sculpture stands on a low, circular concrete base. This photo was taken through a fence. Boeddeker park is in one of the most crime ridden areas of San Francisco. The park is not Continue Reading

The Tenderloin – Safe Passage

 Posted by on March 29, 2012
Mar 292012
 
The Tenderloin - Safe Passage

The Tenderloin * * On Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Chinatown Community Development Center teamed with community partners to paint a sidewalk mural, part of the “Safe Passage” project, in the Tenderloin neighborhood. “Safe Passage,” a two-part project that began in 2008, encourages community participation and effort to help improve street safety for children, and maintain a harmonious environment for all Tenderloin residents. The 11-block street mural of a bright yellow brick road provides children with visual guides around the neighborhood so they can walk safely to their schools, afterschool programs and homes without getting lost. The mural covers the Continue Reading

The Tenderloin – We are Humans

 Posted by on February 14, 2012
Feb 142012
 
The Tenderloin - We are Humans

The Tenderloin Ellis and Jones * * This triptych is by The Luggage Store. According to their website: “…three new murals depicting humans and its relationship with the increasingly robotized culture. It is about living in a time when science is searching for ways to create human traits in robots but in the meantime with all the excess of technology we are losing some of our human senses. It is also touching the subject of human diversity and its rights to belong to a society or being alienated by it. It all intertwines and also questioning; who are aliens, who Continue Reading

The Tenderloin – Our Future!

 Posted by on February 13, 2012
Feb 132012
 
The Tenderloin - Our Future!

The Tenderloin This was done by Laserpunch and RattleCan Blasters.  They were joined by  team co-captain – and avid artist -Vernon Davis who added his creative touch  The mural is part of  the San Francisco Arts Commission’s StreetSmARTs program. The StreetSmARTS program is a joint initiative of the San Francisco Arts Commission and the Department of Public Work that connects established urban artists with private property owners to create vibrant art in an effort to curb graffiti vandalism. “Laserpunch and the Rattlecan Blasters consists of 2 graffiti artists, Camer1 from San Francisco, CA and Fasm from Modesto, CA. The Duo teams up Continue Reading

The Tenderloin – Pieces of San Francisco

 Posted by on February 12, 2012
Feb 122012
 
The Tenderloin - Pieces of San Francisco

The Tenderloin 569 Ellis Street Pieces of San Francisco Mural Project – 2008 -Created by youth from Glide Memorial, Youth With a Mission, Golden Gate YMCA and Hamilton Family Center in collaboration with Amnesty International. This mural is in the Tenderloin neighborhood of San Francisco, on the street side of the organization of “Youth with a Mission” on Ellis Street. This area in San Francisco is notorious for its problems with drugs sales and a as center for homelessness in the city. However the Tenderloin is also known for the intense community efforts to improve the area by providing opportunities Continue Reading

The Tenderloin – 191 Golden Gate – Mural

 Posted by on February 6, 2012
Feb 062012
 
The Tenderloin - 191 Golden Gate - Mural

The Tenderloin 191 Golden Gate Avenue The corner of the mural reads: “The Gifts you take are equal to the gifts you make.” 2009 Precita Eyes Muralists Funded by Community Challenge Grants Program and San Francisco Clean City Coaliton Special Thanks to Tenderloin Community Benefit District, Tenderloin Health, San Franciso Arts Commission. Precita Eyes Website had this to say about the mural – “The Gift You Take is Equal to the Gift You Make” celebrates the gifts that the community brings and receives in the Tenderloin neighborhood including diversity, varied backgrounds, and rich cultural heritages and experiences. The “SS New Continue Reading

The Tenderloin – Police Department

 Posted by on February 3, 2012
Feb 032012
 
The Tenderloin - Police Department

The Tenderloin San Francisco Police Department 301 Eddy Street  First Person Plural by Anders Barth  Fired Clay Glaze *   * (Lenda) Anders Barth has another piece of ceramic work on the Richmond District fire department. First Person Plural is an 8 x 24 foot, hand-carved and glazed tile mural on the Jones Street wall of the Tenderloin Police Station. The entire mural is comprised of 188 large tiles and numerous, smaller brick forms. Silhouettes of thirty-five people of different ages and races are depicted at work and play. Interspersed between them are animals typically found in the Tenderloin neighborhood—cats, dogs, Continue Reading

The Tenderloin – Hemlock and Larkin Mural

 Posted by on February 2, 2012
Feb 022012
 
The Tenderloin - Hemlock and Larkin Mural

The Tenderloin Hemlock and Larkin This was done in 2009 as part of Precita Eyes Urban Youth Arts Program.  It was in conjunction with Larkin Street Youth Services.  

The Tenderloin – Trolleys

 Posted by on February 1, 2012
Feb 012012
 
The Tenderloin - Trolleys

The Tenderloin Bush and Polk 1399 Bush Street  Trolleys by Bruce Hasson This artwork includes 56 cast aluminum balustrades and a balcony. Four designs based on the human form and images from transportation, interspersed on the top three floors of the garage.  These pieces are part of the San Francisco Arts Commission Collection. Bruce Hasson lives and works in San Francisco.  He draws inspiration from his studies around the world, and is especially influenced by the Etruscan art in Tuscany and Southern Italy, the Egyptian and Assyrian art collections of the British Museum, the Inca art of Peru and the Mayan Continue Reading

The Tenderloin – Louder, Harder,

 Posted by on January 29, 2012
Jan 292012
 
The Tenderloin - Louder, Harder,

The Tenderloin 259 Myrtle Street  Louder Harder by Ben Eine Ben Flynn, a.k.a. EINE, shot to international fame when David Cameron presented one of his works to President Obama as a gift on his first official state visit, but is arguably more famous for ‘Alphabet Street’ – the shutters and murals he painted in his trademark colours and typography in Middlesex Street, London– described by The Times as “a street now internationally recognized as a living piece of art with direct links to The White House.” Ben Eine has been in this site before, a recent interesting interview with him that you Continue Reading

TheTenderloin – Fern Alley

 Posted by on January 28, 2012
Jan 282012
 
TheTenderloin - Fern Alley

100 Block of Fern Street The Tenderloin * * * * Dray has been in this site before, and is a really terrific guy.  In researching this piece I found a lovely article about him from his days in Las Vegas. Dray did this mural pro bono in hopes that the alley would attract more muralists.  Fern Alley is a part of a recently launched quarterly art walk called LoPo (Lower Polk) Art Walk. The alley is blocked off and artists display their art right there in the alley. All of the local galleries participate as well as some merchants. If Continue Reading

The Tenderloin – Flores del Tehuan-derloin

 Posted by on January 23, 2012
Jan 232012
 
The Tenderloin - Flores del Tehuan-derloin

The Tenderloin Larkin and Cedar This is “Flores del Tehuan-derloin” by Jet Martínez. The mural was commissioned by the SF Arts Commission project StreetSmARTS.   It is done in the style of embroidery created by the Tehuanan women of Oaxaca, Mexico. This is what Jet said on his Facebook page about the work: A mural based on Oaxacan embroidery designs. These patterns were assimilated by the Oaxacans from Chinese silk embroidery popular with the Spanish rulers of the time. Currently, some of the most beautiful textiles of the type are being made by the “muxeres” ( Transvestite men) in Juchitan. Continue Reading

The Tenderloin – Zombie Michael

 Posted by on January 5, 2012
Jan 052012
 
The Tenderloin - Zombie Michael

The Tenderloin Hemlock Street at Polk Zombie Michael The artist on this is Ezra Li Eismont. It was in support of his solo exhibition at Space Gallery, “Now I Lay me down to Sleep” This is the gallery description of the exhibition.  Now! I Lay Me Down To Sleep. Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep Guide me through the starry night And wake me with the morning light Thank you for another Day, A chance to learn, a chance to play. Paintings exploring the darker side of media manipulation of the minds Continue Reading

Tenderloin – NBC Radio City Building

 Posted by on December 11, 2011
Dec 112011
 
Tenderloin - NBC Radio City Building

Tenderloin 420 Taylor Street Mural by C.J. Fitzgerald Diane Winters is a tile restoration artist.  She recently emailed me about this mural that she was instrumental in restoring.  I had never seen it before, and was thrilled to get a chance to photograph it and learn a little bit of San Francisco history, I was completely unaware of. The mural sits on the side of a parking garage, little did I know the building also housed Radio City. The NBC Radio City building in San Francisco was not owned by NBC. It was built for NBC and owned by a San Continue Reading

Polk Street History in Murals

 Posted by on September 19, 2011
Sep 192011
 
Polk Street History in Murals

Tenderloin 1221 Polk Street This series is by Dray.  This set of murals is on the side of Lush Lounge at 1221 Polk Street in San Francisco.  When I spoke to Dray about these murals he relayed an article in the San Francisco Examiner that discussed the controversy regarding a series of murals that was to be scheduled in the neighborhood on Hemlock, just down the street. While Dray’s murals were not quite as controversial the Examiner stated “The Fern Alley mural proposal was far less contentious — the artist, Dray, proposed a visual timeline of Polk Street dating back to 1906. The Continue Reading

The Tenderloin

 Posted by on August 21, 2011
Aug 212011
 
The Tenderloin

The Tenderloin – San Francisco 149 Mason Street * *This block of Mason Street is looking so much brighter now that Glide has moved into the block.  This is on the outside of  GLIDE Economic Development Corporation’s 149 Mason Street Studios, an eight-story building which features 56 furnished studio apartments designed for people who have been chronically homeless. The colorful tiles are by Johanna Poething.  Her prolific amount of work has shown up in this website many, many times.  According to her website, Johanna Poethig is a visual, public and performance artist who has exhibited internationally and has been actively creating public Continue Reading

The Tenderloin – GEDC Family Housing

 Posted by on August 20, 2011
Aug 202011
 
The Tenderloin - GEDC Family Housing

The Tenderloin – San Francisco 125 Mason Walking this section of Mason street, I noticed a profound difference in its essence.  It was far cleaner, and brighter than I remembered from the past.  This is most definitely due to two new housing buildings that have recently gone up.  This one is 125 Mason Street and is the GEDC Family housing.  Glide Economic Developement Committee is part of the Glide Memorial Family.  The front of the building is covered with these wonderful three dimensional sayings, that lend a sense of respect to the building. The installation is by Mildred Howard. The Continue Reading

The Mission & The Tenderloin

 Posted by on August 18, 2011
Aug 182011
 
The Mission & The Tenderloin

Tenderloin – San Francisco The Mission District – San Francisco Taken on Hemlock just off Polk The rabbit is by internationally know ROA.  He has an amazing body of work that you can view at this website.  Born in Ghent, Belgium, his start in the art world was like most graffiti artist, under bridges and on subway walls, but as you can see he has grown substantially. ROA strives for precise anatomical detail, and his works often come across as unsentimental, feral beasts whose looming scale and piercing gaze can present a real challenge to the viewer.  “Belgian graffiti artist ROA is Continue Reading

The Tenderloin – Friedel Klussman, The Cable Car Lady

 Posted by on August 16, 2011
Aug 162011
 
The Tenderloin - Friedel Klussman, The Cable Car Lady

Tenderloin, San Francisco Polk and Hemlock This mural, commissioned by the Mayor’s Office of Economic Workforce and Development as part of the Polk Street Alley’s Program, was painted by Dray.  It is “Friedel Klussman, the Cable Car Lady”.  I happened upon Dray while he was cleaning the tags off the mural and we got into a great history chat about the cable cars and its depiction in his mural.  Front and center you see a horse. That is because originally horses drew the cars, often with heavy loads.  On a typically damp summer day in 1869 one of these cars Continue Reading

The Tenderloin – Humming With Life

 Posted by on August 4, 2011
Aug 042011
 
The Tenderloin - Humming With Life

The Tenderloin – San Francisco Hyde and Golden Gate This is panel one of a new mural on the U.S. Postal Service office building  at the corner of Hyde and Golden Gate.  It was done by Johanna Poethig, whose work we saw in The Tenderloin National Forest and Tutubi Plaza.  This mural is titled humming with life.  If you hop over to her blog. where she has posted lots of pictures of the activities that took place around her while she was installing this blog you get a sense of how apt the title its. This is directly from her blog – “Humming With Life”, Continue Reading

The Tenderloin – 20,000 Missing Seats

 Posted by on July 31, 2011
Jul 312011
 
The Tenderloin - 20,000 Missing Seats

The Tenderloin – Market Street Junction – San Francisco 6th -Taylor – Market Street This fascinating piece is on the back side of Show Dogs Hot Dog Stand at the corners of 6th Street, Taylor and Market. The mural is an homage to those movie and performance art theaters (Strand, Unique, Embassy, Rialto, Granada, Regal, Imperia, Pantages, Tivoli, Hub, State, Egyptian, etc) that once graced this area of Market Street prior to the 1906 earthquake and up into the 1950’s.  It is part of the S.F. Arts Commission 2011 Art in Store Fronts Project. The artist is Rafael Landea an Argentinean Continue Reading

SOMA, Tenderloin, Market Street, July 30, 2011

 Posted by on July 30, 2011
Jul 302011
 
SOMA, Tenderloin, Market Street, July 30, 2011

Bears Around San Francisco A while back I was walking in my own neighborhood, SOMA,  (this is Berwick and Heron off of Harrison or 8th Streets) and in this little alley I came across this great big bear. Well as I was wandering The Tenderloin Forest, I came across this guy I knew I had seen this work before and was happy to see another wonderful character.  Then last week I was driving through the intersection of Market and 6th Street and what do I see? The artist is Chad Hasegawa.  He was born in Hawaii and has quite a repertoire.  This Continue Reading

Tenderloin – Alcazar Theater

 Posted by on July 16, 2011
Jul 162011
 
Tenderloin - Alcazar Theater

Alcazar Theater – Tenderloin – San Francisco This is the center section of the Alcazar, it is flanked by two matching wings. In 1976, the Alcazar was awarded the highest rating for architectural significance in a survey of city buildings.   Located at 650 Geary Street, between Jones and Leavenworth in the Tenderloin, it was built in 1917 at a cost of $150,000 as the Islam Temple, Ancient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. The Shriners, a men’s social and charitable organization of the Freemasons, used the building until 1970. The building was designed by Scottish-born architect Thomas Patterson Ross. Continue Reading

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