Mission Mission

They’re usually covered up by overly affordable travel gear or something when this Mission Street business is open, but at night I got a peek at some new murals in progress. They’re not nearly done yet, as you can see, but it’s never too early to take some guesses as to the artistic intentions.

Some kind of folk icon? Anti-authoritarian, definitely.

Then you’ve got this next one, got some buildings in there. Looks like maybe a straightened Leaning Tower of Pisa in the middle. But it’s in the clouds? Probably Valhalla.

KayVee.INC caught a snap of some random, senseless vandalism carved into the very sidewalks of our city.

(link to photo)

UPDATE: Ben found a second bit of street art on this slab, this one uses words, and so is easier to understand: What Kimmy said.

In case you missed it, over the weekend in the comments section of a previous Banksy post, it came out that Banksy or “Banksy” paid a special visit to Valencia Street denim wonderland Self Edge. Understandably (?), this news set off a FIRESTORM OF DEBATE.

Photo by nowhere500.

Previously:

Obsessed With Denim

Because the weekend’s not over yet. In Fisherman’s Wharf:

(photo, obviously, by Troy Holden)

UPDATE: Well, whatever this is, it’s been here since before 2010.

I know everyone else has already done all kinds of stuff about Banksy’s apparent PR trip to SF. (Kevmo is the go to guy for all my Bansky needs!) We couldn’t really sit around the Mission Mission offices sipping maté in our sweatpants all day and not join in the action a little.

So, let me ask you this, are these pieces still Banksy pieces if he didn’t put them up himself? If he designed them and maybe even chose the location and then e-mailed a PDF to his assistants who then cut the stencil and put them up, does that still make it a Banksy original? If it’s a unique design, which he doesn’t use anywhere else? This conversation took up most of my night last night and my voice is a little hoarse from all the loud talking, so I wanted to know what all of you thought.

UPDATE: Banksy loves pants!

Frjtz is exploring the possibilities of the new Valencia Street and all its extra space. I’ve never eaten there, and the menu, prices and ambiance don’t entice me. But actually sitting down outside without the fear of Gavin Newsom popping out from behind a safety cone and forcing me onto a one way bus trip to Santa Cruz, that sounds pretty nice. What do you think?

Construction. That’s what’s up.

Shark Toof has been spotted around these parts a bit. This weekend brought a sighting in L.A.

Cameo by our old frenemy, NeckFace.

In a noble (yet likely futile) effort to break the recent worrisome trend of pigeon-biased posts, I bring you street art, Tetris style:

(Taken on Treat & 23rd by rhiannononon.)

The only possible improvement to this would be to color each sidewalk square as a tetris block, visible from Google Maps.

Then again, Mexist took it a step beyond, mapping out 8-bit 1978 onto streets laid out a century earlier.

Viva 8-bit Mission!

Says The Perpetual Cold:

This is a picture I snapped of a kid writing on the bus. I feel like this was my encounter with a mystical snow leopard.

Link.

Previously:

Silly Kids, Tagging is for Adults

In The City We Trust

I found some more street art on Valencia. And just like last time, I helped it out a bit. It’s sort of addicting.

I dunno. What else is it supposed to be?

Speaking of which, Seattle-based illustrator, designer and awesome dad, Gaelan Kelly did a couple versions of the last one: