Street Art Comes Up: Mission Muralismo at the de YoungBy Caitlin Donohue
So I’m sitting there chatting with some old school San Francisco anti-gentrification activists on the back patio of a Bernal Heights café and we’re excitedly leafing through a coffee table book. Wha-wha-whaat? Yes I know, anachronistic isn’t it?
This is the book (and please memorize the jpeg below because if you buy a "San Francisco" book this month/year/ever, it needs to be this one):
Great blue heads of people's art, coming soon to a coffee table near you
This is Mission Muralismo, a book edited by Annice Jacoby. Its got hundreds of pages of big, glossy photos of all the best of Mission street art sprinkled with thoughtful essays. Its contributors include Mission barrio luminaries like R.Crumb, Shepard Fairey, las Mujeres Muralistas, Neckface and Rigo.
Where does one purchase said volume, you ask? Well I just happen to know that the DeYoung is seizing upon the book’s release to kick off a yearlong program of events hooting and hollering about Mission neighborhood creativity (“a rising star on the global art map” says the museum. But then, they also say the dress code for the event is “Mission festive,” so I mean, whatever).
Back to our table at Progressive Grounds. The anti-gentrif activists are pointing at every other page in the book, telling me who did the murals/wheat-pasted posters, even the ones marked ‘Artist Unknown’ in the book. They’re recounting the stories of each one and I find myself listening to the history of class struggle in San Francisco illustrated in witty, brilliantly designed, bright-ass public displays of art.
The book is just like that. And not only does it have an introduction from Mission High graduate Carlos Santana, but the proceeds from Mission Muralismo go to the Precita Eyes Mural Arts Center’s efforts to keep all the stenciling and spraying and brushing going at a steady clip.
Wine and cheese and stencils and tags at the de Young this Friday
Dr. Loco’s Rockin’ Jalapeno Band will be providing the music at the de Young reception, and there will be live poetry readings and talks by the people who made the book and art activities for all ages and the standard Friday Nights at the DeYoung pull; alcoholic beverages in a world-class museum.
A coffee table book? Swanky museum receptions? “Rising star on the global art map”? It all seems a bit disorienting and strange when we’re talking about a vibrant underground street community, but gol’ dang it- I guess it’s time to get a little Mission festive.
Fri/6 5 p.m.–8:45 p.m., free
de Young Museum
50 Hagiwara Tea Garden, SF
415-750-7694 www.famsf.org
digg •
del.icio.us •
sphere •
google
•
