For the last few years I have noticed a flourish-ing art form on the
streets and sidewalks of San Francisco: mostly stencils, but also
drip drawings and paintings of various sizes, mostly small, none more
than a couple of feet in size, and easy to miss if you don't, as I
often do, walk with your head down in a brooding tilt. I saw them
in many neighborhoods across the city, but for the most part in the
"artsy" ones of the Mission, along Valencia Street; in North Beach
and Hayes Valley; and downtown, with its many art students from around
the world.
In the fall of 2006, I began taking photographs of these little artworks.
Now I have several score of them in my photo folder. From that growing
archive I have selected a few to display here on Caveat Lector's
website. |
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Unfortunately,
these artworks are almost entirely anonymous; in a few cases, there
are references to "Claire," although whether to the artist or to the
imaginary figure depicted (or both!), I don't know; in another case,
a stencil is accompanied with a graffiti tag that looks like it might
read "McCoy." Who is McCoy? Who is Claire? Who are these sidewalk
artists who literally do their work on the sidewalk? I know no more
than you do -- unless you are one of the artists!
-- Christopher Bernard
[gallery on following pages]
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