Clarion Alley
The Mission
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This gorgeous woman is by BODE. This mural is in Clarion Alley in the Mission District.
Clarion Alley runs just south of 17th Street from Mission to Valencia.
CAMP, or the Clarion Alley Mural Project originated in 1982, inspired by San Francisco’s Balmy Avenue just down the street. None of the artists that formed CAMP had participated in the Balmy Alley project, nor did any of them have any background in mural projects. There is no theme to the alley or what artists are allowed to paint. Once an artist is given space, and as long as it is maintained it pretty much belongs to the artist. There is a committee that notifies the artist if the mural has been tagged or defaced.
The Clarion Alley area has an ethnically diverse set of residents and owners, but it is also the site of serious drug dealing and substance abuse, and is frequently used as an outdoor toilet. Although Clarion opens onto Valencia Street directly across from a new district police station, that has had no impact on the alley’s illicit users.
It was hoped that if the alley became the site of artwork which brought visitors, then its “inhabitants” would be inclined to go elsewhere to defecate and shoot up, there is some indication that this is happening, but not fully.
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Mark Bode is the son of legendary Vaughn Bode, and is a prolific and highly successful artist in his own right.
I lived a couple of blocks from Clarion for three years in the late ’80s. I was then and still is one of my favorite places in San Francisco. I think this particular piece is one of Mark Bode’s best. Far less cartoonish than much of his work, and very nice and moody.
IT was, not I was.
I suspect it will take more than the occassional person looking at these murals to get an addict to pay attention.
It’s hard to bring a place back from illicit use. I know some of the parks here that have become leash-free for dogs have become free of drugs too – too many people wandering about at all hours is bad for business. Such a moody mural – not the usual.