polk sheet

On Saturday, I attended the closing reception of the Indoor Mural Project at 941 Geary Gallery (between Polk and Larkin). A handful of emerging and established graffiti and street artists from the world over have been working over the last few months for this big reveal of a series of site-specific works. Guests were invited to visit the gallery to see the progression and transformation of the blank canvas gallery space, although I was only able to make it to the final unveiling.

These are a few of my favorite things:

Erik Foss created this large-scale American flag made out of cardboard homeless person signs, complete with stars crafted from condoms — don’t want to know whether they’re used. The piece makes an obvious point about a gross national problem, but I also thought it was interesting to see these cardboard box signs, discards to begin with, given a permanent address. However sad, many were quite creative and humorous, and it’s nice to see that celebrated in a way. So many clever copywriters in our midst.

Bay Area-based artist Edie Colla created a wall of individually-painted news boxes using wheatpastes, newspapers, and stencils. Logo and street sign imagery nodded to the advertising that normally dominates our urban landscapes, but I was most interested to see an outdoor staple, newspaper dispensers which are often covered in graffiti, taken out of context indoors.

Chad Hasegawa‘s bear was absolutely rad. He uses a lot of grizzlies in his work with layers of torn wallpaper and that rectangular Pointilist effect, but this particular mammal has a serious presence. Be scurred.

There was a lot going in Damon Soule‘s Surrealist painting with a tower of school chairs dripping in purple tar, Moorish print turkey basters flying about, and soda cans littering the scene. Makes you think twice about tossing your recycling out with the trash . . . nevertheless, the colors are captivating and the design is seriously eye-catching.I was excited with Hugh Leeman‘s smoking, SF Giants hat-sporting man. I’d spotted a photo of the progression of the painting/drawing on the 941 Geary blog and was looking forward to seeing how it turned out. I also often see Leeman’s wheatpastes around town and I’ve been contemplating pilfering one off of a billboard for my living room.

Aerosol artist Chor Boogie‘s mural was pretty apocalyptic. The details are brilliant; even just a 2′x2′ piece of this puzzle would make a coveted abstract artwork.
If you didn’t make it, I’m sorry you missed it. Keep your eyes peeled on the sidewalk for more stellar designs by these star artists.

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