San Francisco - Alison Bing [81]
Art never forgets its roots at this showcase for Latino art since 1970. Witness Salvadoran Victor Cartagena’s Invisible Nation installation of found ID photos, a group show exploring SF’s Latin gay culture and David Bacon’s portraits of indigenous Mexican migrant laborers. On the gallery wall outside is the Digital Mural Project, a billboard featuring slogans like ‘Trust Your Struggle’ instead of the usual cigarette advertisements.
AMPERSAND INTERNATIONAL ARTS Map
415- 285-0170; www.ampersandintlarts.com; 1001 Tennessee St at 20th St; admission free; noon-5pm Thu-Fri & by appointment; 22, 33, T
Curator Bruno Mauro really takes his work home with him: since 1999, his live/work Dogpatch loft studio has doubled as an installation space for Bay Area and international galleries (there’s a sister space in Paris). Recent shows have featured Ellen Babcock’s mysterious melting glacier caves made of salvaged Styrofoam, and Andrew Vogt’s wall-mounted found-wood sculptures that look like old-fashioned contraptions and are carefully crafted to appear as though they’re falling apart.
MISSION HIGH SCHOOL Map
415-241-6240; 3750 18th St; 14, 22, 33, 49, J; 16th St Mission
San Francisco’s most spectacular bell tower is the churrigueresque tiled tower of Mission High, built in the mission revival style from 1925 to 1927. This is one place where you might actually want to see a high-school musical – the theater has a glorious gold-leafed dome with deco chandeliers. The multiculti student body here is mostly African American and Latino, and its famous alumni include Maya Angelou and Carlos Santana.
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MISSION ART TRAMP
Walking Tour
1 Clarion Alley Once favored by heroin addicts, this alley still sometimes reeks with the stench of a just-missed urinal. But since the Clarion Alley Mural Project was founded in 1992, almost every inch of wall and garage door here has been covered with art – some by San Francisco street artists who have gone on to museum shows, including Barry McGee and Chris Johansen. Only the strong art survives peeing, tagging and overpainting here and in neighboring Sycamore Alley.
2 Generator Adorning the side of an apartment building on the corner of Lexington and 18th Sts, this collaboration by Andrew Schoultz and Aaron Noble shows a Seussian metropolis of tall buildings twisting around birdhouses, capturing the competition for space in gentrifying SF neighborhoods. You may recognize the theme and bird motifs from a Schoultz mural over on Clarion Alley.
3 Women’s Building Maestrapeace covers two sides of this four-story structure, created in 1993–94 by seven local muralistas with a team of community collaborators.
4 826 Valencia Stop by the Pirate Supply Store to browse the selection of glass eyes, peg-leg oil and publications by local authors, or just go with the Dadaist flow of puffer-fish performances in the Fish Theater.
5 Balmy Alley Following the lead of Mexican muralists Diego Rivera and José Clemente Orozco, local muralistas address current social and political themes in styles that range from social realism to hallucinogenic.
6 Eleanor Harwood Gallery End your adventure with new discoveries at this gallery championing local artists with dreamy, obsessive visions. The gallery makes the international art fair circuit, but saves the best for home. If you can’t live on art alone, do what starving Mission artists do: head to nearby Tortas Los Picudos for a Mexico City–style stuffed sandwich with all the fixings.
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WALK FACTS
Start Clarion Alley
End Eleanor Harwood Gallery
Distance 1.5 miles
Time 1½ hours
Exertion Easy
Fuel stop Tortas Los Picudos
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THE CASTRO & NOE VALLEY
Drinking; Eating; Shopping; Sleeping
This frumpy Scandinavian-Irish neighborhood became a glamorous symbol of gay freedom when Haight hippies flocked to the area, attracted by cheap rent, freer love and music with a beat. The time was the ’70s, the soundtrack was disco, and in the sunny Castro,