Posts Tagged ‘clarionalley’

Mission mural roundup

January 20th, 2019

Calvin and Hobbes mural
 

It’s been too long since I posted about murals at home here in the Mission District. To fix that here’s some recent photos of murals in the neighborhood, starting with the Calvin and Hobbes one above across vacant storefronts.

The image seemed familiar; after Googling around I found the original on this page, which claims it was for the LA Times to accompany an interview they did with Bill Watterson.

 
Mission Street Mural
 

Further down Mission Street is this mural depicting a bird’s impossibly-colored feathers with the Golden Gate Bridge in the background. It’s by Cameron “Camer1” Moberg, who also created the mural at the nearby Cornerstone Church.

Now on to Clarion Alley. I haven’t been terribly impressed with many recent murals there, but a few caught my eye.

 
Clarion Alley mural
 

The mural of a woman here somehow fits this funny bookmark-shaped spot perfectly. If it looks familiar, it replaced a similar mural by the same artist group, WHOLE9 from Osaka, Japan.

 
Clarion Alley mural
 

The least serious mural here is a depiction of Adam Bomb (scroll down) of the Garbage Pail Kids. If you don’t remember the Garbage Pail Kids, they were collectible stickers parodying the wholesome Cabbage Patch dolls by depicting them in disgusting and disturbing situations.

There is a local street artist who goes by GPK, but the “GPK” here could also be a reference to the Garbage Pail Kids? Or both? I’m not sure about this one.

 
Clarion Alley mural
 

Somehow I never took a photo of Girlmobb‘s depiction of disembodied hands holding smartphones until recently, but the mural’s been there for a while. There’s something amusing about taking a photo of this one with your smartphone.

 
Clarion Alley mural
 

I’m afraid I’ve saved the saddest one for last. This one’s by Twin Walls in honor of Luis D. Gongora Pat. If this mural’s the first you’ve heard of him don’t be surprised — he was killed by SFPD but the news of his death didn’t get much local coverage. For all the details you’ll have to read about it in The Guardian. (The British paper, not the defunct local publication.)

Toward the end of his life Gongora Pat became homeless and spent a lot of time practicing soccer on Folsom Street in the Mission. Never knew the guy but that’s where I remember seeing him, kicking a ball around on the sidewalk.

Schedule your day like a skater

January 11th, 2015

Wake Bake Skate
Spotted in Clarion Alley

 

Sure, you could go to the library or a bookstore and find a book about optimizing your daily schedule. But that would involve reading more than three words, and therefore is a sub-optimal use of your time.

Instead, take the advice of the sticker I found on a wall in Clarion Alley and schedule your life like a skater. Wake, bake, skate. Sometimes the best things in life are the simplest.

Face sculptures in Clarion Alley

July 13th, 2014

Bini faces in Clarion Alley

 

Much has been written on the mysterious Mayan-esque face sculptures that have been appearing over the city in recent months. The only clue is that if you pick them up and turn them over, they say “Bini” on the bottom.

But of course, there is no real mystery here: as Mission Local reported, the painted plaster faces are made by local artist Bruce Hallman, who’s perfectly fine with people “liberating” them.

For more photos, Hallman himself documents the little Bini sculptures on his Flickr stream and in a Flickr gallery.

Clarion Alley updates

March 27th, 2014

Here’s a few new pieces that caught my eye in the always-changing set of murals in Clarion Alley:

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Clarion Alley

Blurry Simpsons

August 13th, 2013

Blurry Simpsons

Finally, a street art mural of the Simpsons that’s as blurry as my memories of a time when the show was still funny.

UPDATE: The Simpsons have now come into focus.

(Spotted in Clarion Alley.)

Piece of human shit ruins Lone Star Swan mural

January 11th, 2013

Lone Star Swan mural is ruined

Lately Clarion Alley has been hit by wave after wave of vandalism. Yes, this is why we can’t have nice things.

I’ve been curious as to how long it’d take before the wonderful Lone Star Swan mural would get defaced, and unfortunately I now have the answer. Over the past few days, some piece of human shit came in and spray painted their fucking tag all over the entire mural.

Taggers are like dogs that use spray paint to mark their territory instead of urine. At least piss washes off, a fact that places taggers a few steps below dogs in the intelligence ladder.

If you taggers insist on ruining art, at least have the decency to replace it with something meaningful. Perhaps a new piece, or some kind of social commentary? For fuck’s sake, it’s not that hard to add value instead of just shitting on other people’s work. Grow up.

Raised by cats

December 13th, 2012

Untitled

It’s got to be tough being raised by wolves. But cats? You’ll spend the rest of your life acting like sort of a selfish jerk who’s obsessed with birds and laser pointers.

(Spotted in Clarion Alley.)

I am a Cybear now…

September 27th, 2012

Cybear

The above teddy bear recently appeared on Clarion Alley. Red and blue like a 3D comic, his speech bubble reads “I am a cybear now…” The poor teddy bear. Someone needs to sew his little button eye back on.

Across the way on the pavement there’s a simplified version of the full painting:

Cybear

Sad note

August 29th, 2012

Sad note

I noticed this sad handwritten letter stuck to the side of a building on Clarion Alley the other day. It reads:

My friend died last night. He was stabbed twice in the heart. He was dead before the abulence (sic) arrived. His name was Sol. He had an interview for admission to an art school today. he was talented. he was nice. He was selfless. he was tortured. He was loved. He loved. He had many friends. He is missed.

♥ friend of Sol #1

Ninja Turtle battles gentrification

June 26th, 2012

Anti-gentrificaiton TMNT

This new mini-piece on Clarion Alley shows Raphael of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles complaining about gentrification to a man with a rather unusual tongue condition.

Gentrification, according to this mural, is embodied by ice cream, condos, and “another boutique.” Who knew that food, shelter, and retail were to blame? Apparently can battle gentrification by starving ourselves and sleeping on the street — it’s that simple!

Of course, Raphael has more reason to complain than the rest of us; the city has been busily ripping out his home (i.e. the sewers) and replacing them with newer sewers, which one assumes are not protected by rent control.