Mission Mission

Having a Pooh party!

[via Quonky]

It’s old news that Mission businesses would rather pay a muralist to put up an original piece, or in this case branded content, than have to keep buffing tags every morning. It also happens to seem like a good idea to me. As a customer of both Calumet (CF cards and grip rentals) and Sirron Norris (t-shirts) I’m pretty into this design.

(click the image to see it full size)

Norris explains on his blog:

I’m happy to announce a new project I will be starting July 16th 2012. This mural will be located at 2001 Bryant and 18th street in the Mission district.

This mural will be funded by Calumet and will be a collaboration with Precita Eyes and the 3.9 art collective.

My hope with this project, is to reach out to other artists and arts organizations in my community through collaboration. I also want to inspire my interns and give them one of the biggest challenges in their artistic life. On a personal note: this will be one for the books and will push my talent and experience to it’s fullest. I know the team I have at the gallery and the invaluable experience Precita eyes has, will help accomplish this massive undertaking. Keep posted for updates as we move closer to starting.

This is a pretty dense piece, but that’s pretty much what he does best. Norris’s characters are well done, but not really my style, but his building textures are my favorite.

For those of you who feel like the neighborhood gets oversaturated by the same artists (Norris, Reyes, Schoultz, etc.), yeah, that does tend to happen, but in time other things take their place. And I like that Norris is really committed to involving other inspiring street artists, who he probably hopes will one day put their own stamp on their hood.

Update: Our buddy Doc reminded us that today is National Camera Day! I must be operating on some kind of useless ESP! Awesome! Go take a picture of something! But seriously, cameras are rad.

Apparently, Mission signage is quite the font of inspiration these days (pun entirely intended). Previously, there were two typeface projects, and even before that, our lovely sidebar headers.

Artist Pablo Medina is working on a series of paintings that combines the hand-drawn aesthetic of Mission signage with very personal lines from his journal. I’m especially fond of the Whiz Burger one above, and I can’t help but agree with this one:

Here’s what Pablo had to say about our ‘hood:

I arrived in the Mission District from the airport on a Friday night, and the neighborhood had just the perfect balance of a lot happening and nothing happening. A couple of bars were buzzing, some kids were fixing their bikes, and some local Mexicanos were sitting on their stoops listening to reggaeton. My kind of place. Hand-painted signage was everywhere.

Read the full story over at Imprint.

This world exists in the mind of local painter David Enos, who has a show up at Four Barrel through the end of July:

A bunch of recent paintings, still a couple up for sale.

Read on for more info and a few more paintings.

It was so hot in the neighborhood this Saturday. How hot was it? Well, I sat in a window booth at a bar and tried to capture it by drawing various hot feeling guys as they walked by. It’s possible I embellished a bit for effect.

Here’s how, if you’re our pal Abby, you explain to a non-English-speaking acquaintance the finer points of how to have an awesome time in Dolores Park:

And if you’re not already following The Fog Bender religiously, get on it.

Southern Exposure’s annual Monster Drawing Rally, a live drawing event and fundraiser, returns to the Verdi Club tomorrow night, 6-11pm.

An anecdote: The first time I went to a Monster Drawing Rally, I walked into the Verdi Club with the kind of shit-eating grin of someone who’s about to go watch a room full of people draw monsters! What could be better? (Okay, a lot of things, but hey, I like monsters.) As I pushed through the crowd, I began noticing all of the in-progress drawings: trees, birds, geometric patterns, girls… but no monsters. Not in the traditional sense, anyway. I turned to my friend, who happens to be an artist; she replied, “Maybe it’s a very broad interpretation of monster?”

Then it hit us. It was a MONSTER(OUSLY-SIZED) DRAWING-RALLY, not a MONSTER-DRAWING RALLY. Oops.

That said, the Monster Drawing Rally is a pretty incredible event in its own right, monsters or none. Here’s a blurb from the website:

Demystifying a process that usually takes place in the privacy of the studio, the Monster Drawing Rally allows spectators to observe artists in the act of creation in the public domain. In keeping with Southern Exposure’s mission to provide an environment accessible to art and artists, the Monster Drawing Rally sets the stage for extraordinary interaction, providing a unique opportunity to watch a drawing come to life, and to purchase a work of art minutes after its completion.

Read on for more information and a massive list of participating artists.

Our pal Claire spotted this “sculpture” this morning and wants to know:

So is this street art?

While it might not quite be on par with the Thinker or David, this is pretty much as good as it gets around here.

[via any128]