Sep 192011
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 artist faced some heat for featuring an image of a gay hustler, and for depicting famous graffiti artist Shepard Fairey at work, which a few residents said glorified vandalism. Still, the mural proposal is moving forward.”
Here is Dray’s explanation: “There are seven 6ft by 10ft panels which were painted and then later installed on the building. Each panel depicts a certain era with relative imagery to reflect that era. Even some of the styles of painting reflect the era also. Depending on which panel you are looking at you will see Max Beckmann, Picasso, Dali, Andy Warhol and Shepard Fairy. If you research the history of Polk Street you will see that this illustration is somewhat mild compared to what was REALLY going on on that street.”
How much fun it must be to walk down that street to see these! I find it hard to imagine anyone objecting to them!
What an interesting story of the murals. I like his colors and style — hope to visit it in person soon.
I think these are wonderful! Truly unique.
Thank you so much for sharing this at The Creative Exchange.
Have a wonderful evening!
lisa.
He is certainly correct. This is an improvement from 20-30 Years ago. You do a great job at documenting S.F. Pretty interesting. We used to get our car repaired on Polk years, and years ago.
Who wouldn’t want this series in their neighborhood. Informative and visually arresting post.