Banksy in San Francisco

 Posted by on August 17, 2011
Aug 172011
 
Banksy in San Francisco
SOMA
8th Street between Folsom and Harrison
Quoting from wikipedia “Banksy is a pseudonymous England based graffiti artist, political activist, film director and painter. His satirical street art and subversive epigrams combine irreverent dark humour with graffiti done in a distinctive stencilling technique. Such artistic works of political and social commentary have been featured on streets, walls, and bridges of cities throughout the world.”  ” Banksy’s first film, Exit Through the Gift Shop, billed as “the world’s first street art disaster movie,” made its debut at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival.  The film was released in the UK on 5 March 2010.  In January 2011, he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary for the film.”
When Banksy started to show up around down it caused quite a store even the S.F. Chronicle got involved.

This is on the corner of Commercial Street and Grant Avenue in Chinatown in San Francisco.  This one is now protected by plexiglass.  I am not sure what that means, street art evolved into high art?  Building owner wants it to remain to bring more people to his stores vicinity?  I am stumped.  The colorful piece was done afterwards by Twick.

If at first you don’t succeed, call an airstrike.  This is at the corner of Broadway and Columbus in North Beach.

SOMA & The Haight – EL Mac

 Posted by on August 13, 2011
Aug 132011
 
SOMA – San Francisco
The Haight – San Francisco
This is on the corner of Russ and Howard Streets, South of Market.

Miles “Mac” McGregor.  Goes by The Mac or El Mac.  According to his own website El Mac was “born in Los Angeles in 1980 to an engineer and an artist, Mac has been creating and studying art independently since childhood. His primary focus has been the lifelike rendering of human faces and figures. He has drawn inspiration from the surrounding Mexican & Chicano culture of Phoenix and the American Southwest, religious art, pin-up art, graffiti, and a wide range of classic artists such as Caravaggio, Mucha, and Vermeer. He began painting with acrylics and painting graffiti in the mid ’90s, and has since worked consistently towards mastering his signature portrait style. Around 1998 he began to paint technicolor aerosol versions of classic paintings by old European masters. This led to being commissioned in 2003 by the Groeninge Museum in Brugge, Belgium to paint his interpretations of classic Flemish Primitive paintings in the museum’s collection. He has since been commissioned to paint murals across the US, as well as in Mexico, Denmark, Sweden, Canada, South Korea, Belgium, Italy, The Netherlands, Puerto Rico, Spain, France, Singapore, Germany, Ireland, and Vietnam.”

While I am grateful for the murals that he has done in San Francisco, please go to his website and check out some of the amazing work he has done around the world.   If you go to the spraypaint section and get as far as page 9, you will find, what I hesitate to label as my favorite, but certainly worth seeking out – Young Scribe.

This is on Fillmore between Haight and Waller.

SOMA – Freeway Prophecy

 Posted by on August 9, 2011
Aug 092011
 
SOMA – San Francisco
Clementina and 8th Street

Freeway Prophecy
 Subtitled “a surrealistic look at the future of transportation” this is another mural by Johanna Poethig sharing “lead artist” credit with Sofie Siegmann.   “Freeway Prophecy” was a major coordinated production crediting, besides Siegmann, nine other Artist Collaborators, seventeen Youth Artists and the Writers Corps poet Donna Ho.I am hard pressed to actually understand the definition of this mural, but if you would like a rather ethereal, and complicated description you can find one here on this blog.

the trees have grown to cover so much of the mural, but if you are in the neighborhood, stop by and take a look.

 

SOMA – Tile Buildings

 Posted by on August 6, 2011
Aug 062011
 
SOMA San Francisco
1235 Mission Street at 8th
This building houses the Department of Human Resources offices.
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From the Architect and Engineer Magazine of 1928:
 Bliss and Fairweather’s building for Mangrum and Otter Inc…is being favorably commented on for the somewhat daring, but nonetheless effectual, architectural treatment in glazed color tile…Admittedly, it was somewhat of a task to work out a design that would make a dignified front in bright colors.  The moorish type was chosen as best suited for such a treatment, and the effect is indeed pleasing.
Mangrum and Otter was a wholesaler of tiles, stoves and mantels, as well as fireplace and kitchen accessories for commercial and institutional use.  Founded in 1887 in San Jose by A.S. Mangrum, the company moved its headquarters to San Francisco in 1895, occupying a number of locations prior to erecting this building in the late 1920’s.  The flamboyant facade, to date of unknown origin, may well have been a response to the newly completed Howden Building across the bay in Oakland.
I contacted Riley Doty, a local expert on all things tile, and he informed me that this is one of the few tile buildings in the San Francisco Bay Area, that know one knows anything about.  The maker of the tiles remain unknown.
The entry tiles of the Howden building can be seen at Oakland Daily Photo or a few other photos can be seen here.

SOMA – Murals on 6th

 Posted by on August 3, 2011
Aug 032011
 
6th Street Corridor – San Francisco
6th and Minna Streets

6th Street in San Francisco is not the nicest street in the city.  Its overabundance of SRO’s crack dealers, and soup kitchens make it a street many people avoid.  I took all these shots while wandering by myself, however, it was broad daylight.  The point is, like any city, know your surroundings and keep your eyes open, and life is not all that scary.

This mural was painted in 1998 by Precita Eyes.  The designer and painter, specifically was William Boler Jr.

On the other side of the alley are these three little gems.

SOMA – Gordon Street Murals

 Posted by on August 2, 2011
Aug 022011
 
SOMA – San Francisco

This mural is on Gordon Street, South of Market.  Gordon is a dingy dead end alley off of Harrison Streets between 8th and 9th.  It is hard to find, and you would have no reason to even be on the alley, but it was a quiet Sunday and no cars or buses were blocking the view which is how I spied it.  The mural is titled Zen and is by Kristine Brandt.  Kristine studied at the Academy of Art University and the Florence Academy of Art.  What I really loved is the incorporation of the mural right onto the sidewalk.

This mural is right next to the one above.  It is by Katya Kahn (2011)

Katya Kahn has always sought to engage her community creatively, whether through designing, teaching, or mural painting. In her mural projects especially, Katya values the input of others to ensure the creation of a piece that resonates with the public. Katya has painted significant murals in San Francisco, San Diego, and Russia.

Both of these murals were partially funded by the SFAC StreetSmarts program.

SOMA -Art that Disappears when Buildings Do

 Posted by on August 1, 2011
Aug 012011
 
SOMA – San Francisco
260 Fifth Street at Clementina

This sign is an anathema to me for several reasons.  While hard to read, it states that this building will be demolished and a 9 story building will be put up in its place. Although not highly ornamented, it does have some lovely features. When I see old buildings with history like this arbitrarily being tossed by the wayside so that a non-descript highrise can be built, it makes my blood boil.

The unique architecture of any city is what makes it stand out, the more that we have nondescript, inexpensive highrises built around the world, our cities begin to more and more look like each other and we loose our reason to be tourists in other lands.
The other problem is this.
This mural is painted on the side of the building.  It was painted in 1986 by David Wehrle. In San Francisco, the law requires that the original artist of any mural that is about to be destroyed must be notified.  Apparently Mr. Wherle and the SF Arts Commission found no significant reason that the mural should remain, so it will be destroyed during the demolition.  So here are the photos of the entire thing before that happens.
 Update: This building was torn down July of 2012.  This picture was taken on July 7th, 2012

SOMA, Tenderloin, Market Street, July 30, 2011

 Posted by on July 30, 2011
Jul 302011
 
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 excerpt is from an interview he did with Blackbook Art Magazine.

“Grizzly bears are just something I enjoy painting and I really enjoy painting them big. They represent an outsider coming into a tamed city of walls all the way from nature. They represent the West and a lot of other things, especially in San Francisco. The way I see it, they came here first. And they probably came here for the same reasons we came here. San Francisco is an amazing place and in this 7×7 mile radius there is a lot going on here with the weather, the hills, the water, and the fog. I mean, there were 10,000 grizzly bears that used to live here and were forced to get along and agree with one another and stand together, and they were so stoked to be here that they had to be sucka free and didn’t mind living so close together. Or there were some bears that just didn’t get it and were forced to leave or left here on their own, just like us. ”

 

 

SOMA – Inner City Home and Truth

 Posted by on July 29, 2011
Jul 292011
 
SOMA and Market Street Areas of San Francisco

This is by Ricardo Gouveia, a Portuguese artist residing in San Francisco.  From 1984-2002, Rigo used the last two digits of the current year as part of his name (in this case Rigo94) , finally settling upon “23″ in 2003.  As part of TODCO’s Inner City Arts Program, Rigo worked with Sixth Street hotel tenants to create this powerful statement of community identity, painted on the Knox SRO and visible for miles.   TODCO Group is a community-based housing/community development nonprofit corporation for San Francisco’s South of Market Neighborhood.

Sixth street is one of the rougher streets in the city and the work that TODCO does is really very special.

This is also by Rigo.  The “Truth” mural is dedicated to Robert King Wilkerson. After 32 years of incarceration, 29 of which were spent in CCR (Closed Cell Restriction)—a minimum of 23 hours a day inside a 6 x 9 x 12-foot cell—King’s conviction was overturned in 2001. Rigo 23 developed a friendship with King following his release.  The painting is on the Odd Fellows Building on Market Street.

Rigo’s is not just a muralist, his wonderful mosaic work can be seen here.  His work is all over San Francisco.

SOMA – Frisco’s Wild Side

 Posted by on July 28, 2011
Jul 282011
 
SOMA – San Francisco
Langton between Folsom and Harrison

This newly restored mural is on Langton Street between Folsom and Harrison in the South of Market area. Originally painted in 1995 by Precita Eyes it is called “Frisco’s Wild Side”.  It took more than 70 participants to plan and paint depictions of endangered species in North America. The animals are found in fantastical settings of ancient civilizations and modern industrialization interwoven with and sometimes battling the animals’ natural habitats.

San Francisco residents and local school children helped to paint and create tile mosaics that were then embedded into the concrete relief elements that run the bottom length of the mural.

The mural sits on the back side of Maltby Electrical and this is their warehouse entrance.  Between the tagging and the damage done by the trucks the mural had become extremely sad and tired.   With money from Maltby Electric and lots of work from the local neighborhood the mural was restored and is a point of pride for the people that live on the street.

Despite it’s atrocious name – no local would ever call San Francisco “Frisco”, it is a wonderful mural.

 

SOMA – Meagan Spendlove

 Posted by on July 17, 2011
Jul 172011
 
SOMA – San Francisco

This mural is on the corner of 10th Street and Sheridan in the South of Market Area of San Francisco.  The artist is Meagan Spendlove.  Her website reads “Meagan Spendlove currently works in San Francisco, California as a professional designer, illustrator and project coordinator. Her latest endeavors include yet are not limited to mural project coordination and digital illustration. Over the past twelve years her style has become recognized mainly for its feminine subject matter and organic ingredients. Assorted shaded ethereal women & bright colors surrounded by bold lines, similar to stained glass.”

The bright colors are what caught my eye, otherwise, it is on a very obscure alley and very easy to miss.

This piece was sponsored in part by the SFAC StreetSmArts Program.

SOMA – Califor’ya

 Posted by on July 11, 2011
Jul 112011
 
SOMA – San Francisco

This mural is on a building at the corner of 7th and Folsom Streets, (It is on the 7th Street side) in the South of Market area of San Francisco.

It was done by 1:AM short for First Amendment, a gallery at 1000 Howard Street in San Francisco.

According to 1:AM they are “a gallery that stands behind the freedom of speech.  We strive to showcase, teach, and inspire the public on street and urban art through our exhibitions, education, and street productions…  With the gallery, classes, and a veteran mural production team, 1:AM has become a pillar in San Francisco street art culture. ”

I contacted 1:AM to see what the mural was all about and this is what one of the artists told me:

“My name is Robert and I’m one of the artist involved with the mural. We really appreciate the communities interest and curiosity about the mural. We painted this mural more for the public in that area, seeing as how that particular wall is often plagued with graffiti. The theme of the murals we usually paint have to do with the community and the surrounding area. For example, this mural is down the street from court and gets a lot of foot traffic from people either going or coming from court. It’s intended to be a positive and uplifting work of art, for people who usually would be stressed out from either work or just having a bad day, thus the vibrant and exciting colors used along with the playful phrase, ‘cus after all “That’s Califor’ya!” ”

UPDATE 4/2013   There was a slight mishap with a mistaken painting over of this mural.  It is back with a few minor changes – here is the new view.

Califor'ya 1AM

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Califor'ya

Tutubi Plaza – Make it Healthy

 Posted by on June 3, 2011
Jun 032011
 
More Tutubi Plaza

This is Super Hygiene Man.  He and his mates are on the Russ side of what used to be the SOMA health center.  These fellows sit on the wall of Tutubi Plaza that faces the butterflies.

Tutubi Plaza – Dragonflies

 Posted by on June 2, 2011
Jun 022011
 
Tutubi Plaza – SOMA – San Francisco

This little area has become a hub for the Filipino Community in the San Francisco area. Tutubi means dragonfly in Tagalog.  This mural is by Johanna Poethig..  Johanna was born in the Philippines, so I am sure this was especially important to her.  She received her BFA from UC Santa Cruz and her MFA from Mills, she presently is an arts educator at Cal State U in Monterey.  She has an amazing array of public work that you can see at her website.  Many of them are in San Francisco.

Behind this wall is a children’s park.  The fence that surrounds it is also part of the Redevelopment project.  The fence surrounding it is by Amy Blackstone.

 

SOMA – Tutubi Plaza

 Posted by on June 1, 2011
Jun 012011
 
Tutubi Plaza
Russ street, between Natoma and Minna in SOMA, San Francisco.
This is a San Francisco Redevelopment project, first proposed in 2008 it was finally finished in February of 2011.   This pavement installation is by Jovi Schnell.  Jovi was born and raised in Little Rock, Arkansas and lives in San Francisco, she studied at the San Francisco Art Institute as well as some serious time at several art schools in Holland.   This piece is called “Evolves Luminous Flora”.  In reading about this piece here there are so many meanings and symbolism according to the author, that I got lost in that and decided to just enjoy the piece.

It is put down through a process called street print, which is a thermoplastic surfacing system. Apparently they first reheat the asphalt pavement  then imprint the asphalt pavement with a template made from 3/8” flexible wire rope. The patterns are then hand painted with a high grade polyurethane compound.  That I would have enjoyed watching.

Looking back towards Howard Street.

This piece was commissioned by the SFAC for a price not to exceed $15,000.

2018 Update

The street furniture and bollards have been removed and the street is no longer a pedestrian street.  The damage is quite obvious.

Russ Street Tutubi Plaza Art work being destroyed

Learn more, watch our video

SOMA – Defenestration

 Posted by on May 17, 2011
May 172011
 
6th and Howard
SOMA
AS OF JUNE OF 2014 DEFENESTRATION HAS BEEN REMOVED
Geo

Defenestration is at 6th and Howard Street in San Francisco.  Not only is it about two blocks from my house but  I also had the privilege of working with its artist Brian Goggin (before this installation) through a charitable organization LEAP, which brings art and architecture into schools.  So, I was very happy to see that it has had a face lift.  Defenestration literally means “Throw out of a window”.  This installation was done by Brian and well over 100 volunteers.  It is on the site of a four story, abandoned tenement building.  And this is the description of the work in Brian’s words. “Reflecting the harsh experience of many members of the community, the furniture is of the streets, cast-off and unappreciated. The simple, unpretentious beauty and humanity of these downtrodden objects is reawakened through the action of the piece. The act of “throwing out” becomes an uplifting gesture of release, inviting reflection on the spirit of the people we live with, the objects we encounter, and the places in which we live.”  The bottom floor works as a rotating gallery for muralists.

Defenestration was installed in 1997, the building has been empty for as long as I can remember.  The city of San Francisco finally purchased the building this last year and it is slated to be turned into Senior Housing in the next 18 months.  I am sure that Defenestration has had a longer run than Brian ever expected, but when it is gone, it will be missed.

SOMA – Faces

 Posted by on April 28, 2011
Apr 282011
 

555 Mission Street
SOMA

Moonrise East December

The sculptor and mixed media artist is a Swiss, based in New York named Ugo Rondinone. The sculptures are of mottled aluminum.

Moonrise is the title of a series of 12 giant, ghost-like sculptures each named for a month of the year, and standing nine feet high. Their amorphous shapes and color make them look like primitive sculptures. Each one wears a different expression. I can’t presume what the artist was going for, so why that particular face for that particular month? It would really be fun to sit around and talk about it, speculate and just giggle about their expressions.

Notice that all of these are named Moonrise East, I found a Moonrise West series for sale at the Phillips de Pury Gallery. Those are the same faces but much, much smaller, cast black urethane and more mask than sculpture.

 

I can’t wait to see if he does a North and South series.

San Francisco – Public v Private Art

 Posted by on April 7, 2011
Apr 072011
 

555 Mission Street
SOMA

Public versus private art.  This piece entitled Human Structures by Jonathan Borofsky is a permanent installation at 555 Mission Street.  The two heads are part of a series of three by Ugo Rondinone entitled Moonrise Sculptures.  The city of San Francisco has two ordinances to promote art. The first is a zoning code requiring downtown buildings to include privately owned public open space.  The second is a twenty-five year old law requiring that developers with large projects in the Financial District and along upper Market Street must spend at least 1 percent of their total construction budget on public art.  This is the reason that downtown is dotted with lovely spots like this that all can enjoy.

However, there is now a push by San Francisco Arts Commission that they have the right to approve this art.  Enough is enough.  Developers already have to show their plans to city planners and the department says it already works with developers to ensure that such art projects are publicly accessible and not artistically inappropriate.  It is bad enough that the little amount of public art we have in San Francisco is “art by committee”  please don’t water down the rest.

Stanlee Gatti proposed a foot sculpture for the “foot” of Market Street.  I loved the idea.  Hey they have a thumb in Paris.  What is wrong with a foot in San Francisco?  But alas, that is what happens when you have art by committee.  It becomes bland, and washed out, as though the public is to insipid to want to be challenged by their surroundings.

If you are going to pay for art, you should be able to put up what pleases you.  I appreciate the fact that it is reviewed for its appropriateness, whatever that means, but adding another layer of bureaucracy and hoity-toity opinions is just too much.

On another note the sculpture above is composed of 62 painted steel figures, interconnected to form 5 towers.  Each of the 62 life-size figures is water-jet cut from steel plate.  The heads are of mottled aluminum.

 

Honoring the Workers

 Posted by on January 20, 2000
Jan 202000
 
Corner of Mission and Steaurt

An Injury to One is an Injury to All – The rallying cry of the Wobblies.  That is the name of this sculpture found on the corner of Spear and Mission Streets, San Francisco.

The brass plaque that accompanies it reads

“In memory of Howard Sperry and Nick Bordoise, who gave their lives on Bloody Thursday, July 5, 1934, so that all working people might enjoy a greater measure of dignity and security.

Sperry and Bordoise were fatally shot by San Francisco police at the intersection of Mission and Steuart Streets, when longshoremen and seamen attempted to stop maritime employers from breaking joint strike. Community outrage at these killings sparked a general strike by all San Francisco unions.

The maritime strike continued through the middle of summer, concluding with a union victory which brought decent conditions to the shipping industry and set the stage for the birth of a strong and democratic labor movement on the west coast.”

Painted in 1985 by an artist’s collective on steel forms shaped to evoke images of the sea, the six panels depict the events before, during and after the 1934 Maritime Strike. This mural-sculpture was placed by the International Longshore and Warehouse Union near the Sperry and Bordoise Memorial (which consisted of the brass plaque, mounted on a stone monument). When the Hotel Vitale was built in 2004, the sculpture and plaque were moved a short distance and re-erected, with the plaque now mounted on the wall of the hotel.

The artists were: Miranda Bergman, Tem Drescher, Nicole Emmanuel, Lari Kilolani, James Morgan, Raymond M. Patlan, Eduardo Pineda, James Prigoff, O’Brian Theile and Horace Washington.

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