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Grounded TV Network and Endless Canvas will be releasing a series of artist documentaries throughout the year. The first video will feature David Polka. View the videos for free throughout the year at EndlessCanvas and on GetGrounded.tv
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Jet Martinez painted a food truck last week. I found that truck at the Soma Street Food Park on 11th Street at Division. It serves up beer and wine and stays at that location.
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Piece by Piece documents the street art scene in San Francisco from the 1980’s to 2004. It was produced by Underdog Productions in 2005, directed by Nic Hill and narrated by Senor One, know on the street as Renos, Norm, Grey, Saber and Deen.

Although a few years old we thought it was important to share because it gives some background on the local scene. The movie begins with a vibrant bay area scene with local writers whose unique style was influenced by writers from the East Coast and LA to the formation of crews and the impact of law enforcement on their activities. It features artists and crews, recognizable by both newcomers and long time followers of the San Francisco street art scene, who share their reasons why they do it and what it was like with footage and photos they took during that time period to document their own work.  Some of the featured artists are Cuba, Giant, Poesia, Reyes, Saytz, Twist(Barry McGee),Twick and crews AWR, ICP, Lords,MSK TMF and TWS.

Having lived in San Francisco during this time period, where I saw the extensive tagging and bombing, was charmed by Remininsce’s horses and noticed the impact of the graffiti laws passed in 2000,  I found the movie gave me a better perspective for where we are today. Apparently the Examiner had the same sentiments when the movie was released. The movie is also available for purchase online on several sites.

“You’ll never look at graffiti the same again” — San Francisco Examiner

In 2011 Max Good and Nathan Wollman produced a film Vigilante Vigilante that focuses on anti graffiti vigilantes who expend their energy getting rid of graffiti as fast as it goes up. Their operations tend to be as covert as the taggers, bombers, and free thinkers who leave their thoughts on the street. Both parties co-exist in the same communities across the country and feel equally as passionate and enabled about their activities.
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Walking through Mission streets, you are greeted by murals adorning storefronts, doorways, schools, and entire alleys. They are playful, confrontational, political, tongue-in-cheek. Some are painted with brushes and acrylics, some done with spraycans, still others look like children’s drawings. Behind many of these works of public art stands Precita Eyes, a mural arts organization keeping the Mission’s muralismo tradition thriving since 1977.

The Precita Eyes Mural Arts & Visitors Center, located in the heart of the Mission on 24th St., is hard to miss. The bright blue building with its yellow sign evokes the vibrant hues of local murals. The walls of the colorfully cluttered visitors’ center are decked out with art by Precita muralists; a larger-than-life Frida Kahlo looks down from a wall mural over the racks of postcards, books, and shelves of paint. Precita Eyes is a hub for both public art and education, and leads mural tours in the neighborhood. I chose their Sunday Classic Mural Tour as a starting off point.

Our tour group – some locals, a recent transplant to San Francisco, and a couple of high school students on assignment – was greeted by Patricia Rose, a muralist with Precita Eyes since 1980, who intimately knows the painters and the behind-the-scenes stories of the murals. Walking through a storage area brimming with half-finished mosaics, brushes, and paint cans, we start our tour with a slideshow overview of the mural movement’s history. Although “painting on walls” has existed as a concept since prehistory, it was during the ‘Golden Age’ in 1920’s Mexico that the mural as social commentary really took off. After new paint innovations, murals started appearing outdoors and became at once more accessible to the public and more rooted in populist themes. Taking this democratization one step further, the Mujeres Muralistas shifted the focus of the murals away from the ‘masculine’ themes of struggle and war to instead celebrate life affirming themes like community, heritage and family – themes very visible in the Mission today.

After the dark room and faded slides, it was a relief to get outside and see the murals in person. Although murals crop up in the neighborhood as often as taquerías, nowhere are they denser than Balmy Alley, with 40 murals on walls and garages along a 1-block stretch. The oldest of these are 40 years old; the peeling paint and faded color gives away the murals’ age. Old murals are never painted over or destroyed. In one case, a damaged garage door had to be replaced, taking a section of a mural with it. The new garage door was repainted in the spirit of the older mural still framing it, and now depicts a close-up of a young girl’s eyes: a soldier is reflected in one, a dove in the other.

The neighborhood’s murals are deeply rooted in the heritage and culture of the Mission. A utility box on Harrison and 24th is painted with portraits of actual Mission residents: a bakery owner, a flower vendor. Alongside murals representing the Nicaraguan and El Salvadoran revolutions, the most recent Balmy Alley mural portrays more immediate and local issues, such as foreclosures and gentrification in this traditionally Hispanic and immigrant neighborhood. The mural is bright, almost cartoonish, but doesn’t shy from heavy themes; for example, there is a reference to the Trayvon Martin shooting in the foreground.

In addition to community collaborations and private commissions, Precita muralists partner with StreetSmARTS, a San Francisco initiative that seeks to replace graffiti-prone blank walls with art. Precita also works with with local organizations and communities to help them design and paint their own murals. One such mural in Balmy Alley, titled “Those We Love, We Remember,” was done in collaboration with Children’s HOPE Project for children affected by HIV/AIDS;  it is all the more poignant to see the clearly childlike lines in the mural’s figures.

At the heart of it, Precita Eyes is about community, with art as the medium. You can support Precita by volunteering, taking a class, or going on an educational mural tour – though Balmy Alley is the most well known, the intricate mural on St. Peter’s Church and the mosaics in the 24th Street Mini Park should not be overlooked.

Visit Precita Eyes

Precita Eyes offers the following tours: the Classic Mural Tour on Sat. & Sun. at 1:30pm; the Mission Trail Mural Walk on Sat. at 11:00 am; and the Precita Park Tour on Sun. at 11:00 am. For more information, stop by 2981 24th Street, San Francisco, CA 94110, call (415) 285-2287 or visit their website.

During 2012, Street Art SF photographed over 1300 pieces of art on the streets of San Francisco and a few in Oakland. They ranged from small stickers to large murals. The art was done during 2012 as well as in prior years.

We looked at the number of page views per item on Streetartsf.com as well as the number of likes and re-blogs on tumblr to find out which pieces were the most popular. The art is shown in no particular order. Notably all the photos of GATS pieces posted in 2012 had an extremely high number of views and the photo of his sticker on the window was the most popular of all.

The 10 Most Popular Photos of 2012

Truck by Jurne.

Mural in progress by Apex on the corner of Haight and Masonic. Photos of the finished piece are on our blog but the photo that really took off was the one we took when we ran into Apex while he was painting the wall.

CCTV on Erie and Folsom Street in San Francisco.

The wall of 1:AM SF on 6th and Howard Street in San Francisco painted for the Reckoning show by Pemex and Leon Loucheur.

Unknown artist. 10,000 Warrior Poets photographed by Dustin Boyer.

Letter by Reyes part of his Misspelled series which although not painted in 2012 was photographed and shared by us in 2012.

Flower by Bella Ciao on Telegraph and Grand Avenue in Oakland.

Utility box by Eddie Colla at Grand and Broadway in Oakland.

GATS on the window at Cell Space on Bryant and 18th Street in San Francisco.

Lock by Swampy at Telegraph and 26th Street in Oakland.

Happy New Year!

A fellow street art fan, Anno Sterling recently shared a link with us to a feature documentary titled “Working Class” that is about  street artists Mike Giant of San Francisco and Mike Maxwell of San Diego.

The movie documents their friendship that started with a tattoo and has extended over a decade. Jeffry Durkin, a former architect directed and produced the movie along with two collaborators Jeff Durkin and Jeff Katz. Using the Tale of Two Cities as inspiration, the movie is divided into two stories of their art and life and their respective cities San Francisco and San Diego.

Enjoy the trailer and check out what we have found on the walls in San Francisco for Mike Giant. Learn more about or purchase the movie on their site Working Class Film.

The (de)Appropriation wall is a wonderful juxtaposition of ownership with its seemingly illegal legal art. It is on the site of the former Mission Police Station which moved to its’ current location further down Valencia Street in 1994. Artist, Bruce Tomb lives on the property,conducts his business there and documents the wall.

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Preface: We are excited to have Kseniya join us as a blogger and photographer on Street Art SF. She developed her interest in street art much in the same way we did, by walking by it daily. We look forward to sharing more of her work.

Some people collect souvenir magnets or similar tchotchkes when they travel, others bag global golf games. I collect street art. No matter where I travel, I make it a point to keep an eye out for a splash of color on a bleak wall, a sticker on a telephone pole, a stencil on a utility box. Souvenir postcards all look the same, but the variety of street art never fails to astound me.

On a recent trip to Vienna, I dutifully visited palaces, churches and the sort of art that lives in picture frames, indoors. These tourist-filled areas of the city seemed little conducive to street art – I only spotted one in 3 days, a somewhat faded but still amazing wheat paste of a bright bear-windmill-creature.

But, by chance, an evening stroll led me to the Donaucanal, or Danube Canal – the area along it is being redeveloped into hip bars and clubs, but the walkway along the water below leads to walls filled with murals and graffiti. I caught a free hour one rainy morning to take a closer look and capture some of it.

The canal is spanned by several bridges, and every square inch seems to be covered by graffiti. The lettering looked particularly bright in the gray drizzle.

The ramps sloping down to the water were also covered in art, like these stylized faces.

An ominous grin below a bridge.

An elaborate fever-dream of a mural by REM – a group started by street artist Nychos.

Someone very, very large left their heart in Vienna.

My favorite piece was this beautiful Klimt-inspired face, a fitting homage to the city’s most famous artist.

If you or your friends are into art and want a memorable stay in San Francisco, view the painted rooms, make a reservation and experience luxury as written in the New York Times in 2005.
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Self guided walking tour through lower Polk Gulch.

The lower Polk Tenderloin neighborhood is a transitional area with mom and pop businesses, coffee houses, night clubs, restaurants and a vibrant art scene. Those who walk these streets will be rewarded with street murals by artists not found elsewhere in the City and several excellent art galleries with constantly changing installations of works by emerging and established local and international artists.
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Authored and submitted by Marilyn Roxie.

“The Grace Alley Mural Project at the Center for Sex and Culture will be a highlight of San Francisco’s sexual history and culture– paying homage to our past sexual renegades, founders, activists and healers featuring some of our very own notorious and not so notorious mural artists. The Mural location is in an area of SF that is a mix of nightlife, non-profits, neighborhood residential, and mixed commerce– but it’s also an area in need of beautification to our public spaces. It will enhance the good work we are doing here and let the surrounding community know we are an organization that plans to stay and grow in this neighborhood.”

Participating artists are: Eddie Colla · Amanda Lynn · Finley Coyl · Jeremy Novy · E Clair Acuda Bandersnatch

More photos are available at Grace Alley Mural Project and CSC is doing a fundraiser to complete the mural at Grace Alley Fund Raising Site
The Center for Sex and Culture is located on Mission at Grace Alley by 9th Street in San Francisco, Ca. The mural is on the side of the building on Grace Alley.