Beautiful murals overtake SF's boarded-up storefronts. Here's who did them.
Hayes Valley's Gazette boutique delivers fashion via Prius + more style news
Bay Area Store Front Murals, featuring Duser in Hayes Valley, San Francisco #heartsofgratitude #building180 #paintthevoidproject
Bay Area Store Front Murals, featuring Duser in Hayes Valley, San Francisco #heartsofgratitude #building180 #paintthevoidproject
By Jonathan Curiel Wednesday, Jun 17 2015
The barbed wire that skirts the top of this street art sends a strong message to passers-by: Stay out. The art itself sends a different message: Stay strong amid trying circumstances. A boy in shorts and red shoes dangles from a balloon line that's flying over a large room. He's barely hanging on, hovering over a space with an overturned piano that's cracked at its core. On the far right is a skeletal ghost with colorful, feather-ish loops for a head. The scene is tense, striking, and surreal — as if drawn decades ago by Alfred Hitchcock during a visit to San Francisco.
Artists Krystal Lauk and Ryan Stubbs (who goes by the name Duser) drew the scene in late 2011, and it captures "urban decay and renewal," Lauk says.
The boy, she says, represents "hope," even though he seems to have an anguished look on his face. While the only quoted word on the art is "dekay," and the objects in view — including an old mattress and an old can — suggest the inside of a tenement, Lauk says that she and Stubbs "really wanted it to be open to reinterpretation."
A nightclub and gallery space next to 1112 Howard invited Lauk and Stubbs to do the work. That space, symbolic of the changing life cycle that Lauk and Stubbs depict, has since disappeared. An independent illustrator and designer, Lauk lived in the Haight at the time the artwork was made. Now she lives a few blocks from it, in the middle of a block that gets much more auto traffic than foot traffic. Still, "People discover it all the time," Lauk says, adding, "I never expected when I created it that I'd see it all the time, too." JC
The Bahamas International Film Festival recently unveiled its 2014 promotional poster designed by artist “Duser”. The festival is set for December 4th through 14th and will take place first in Nassau and then in Harbour Island.
“Street Art or Graffiti Art is part of global culture, publicly displaying expressions of humanity. Similarly, through films, BIFF entertains, provides intrigue and titillates audiences from all walks of life. Like street art, the films at the 2014 BIFF will stop you in your tracks and touch your soul,” says Leslie Vanderpool, Founder & Executive Director of Bahamas International Film Festival (BIFF).
"Visual art has been a long standing passion for Stubbs. His distinct style is heavily influenced and rooted in street art, illustration and graphic design. While active in the graffiti world, he attended Whittier College on an art scholarship, followed by a MA program at NYU and a Post Baccalaureate program at the San Francisco Art Institute. Upon completion at SFAI, Stubbs realized the true beauty of San Francisco. He set up a home base and studio where he continues to work. His work can be seen in many major cities through out the US, Canada, Mexico and Europe. From outdoor murals to cafes, restaurants, nightclubs, galleries and the odd museum appearance." - Duser