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SF Arts Commission Publishes Catalogue of Posters from the 2008 Art on Market Street Public Art Program

Catalogue features original work by Bay Area Artists Owen Smith, Jenifer K Wofford, Briana Miller and Thien Pham

By Seán Martinfield
Sentinel Editor and Publisher
Photo by Lynn Imanaka

Luis R. Cancel, Director of Cultural Affairs for the San Francisco Arts Commission, announced the publication of a new catalogue celebrating the 2008 Art on Market Street Program. Since 1992, the Arts Commission (SFAC) has commissioned original artworks on an annual basis by Bay Area artists or artist teams for temporary display as posters in 24 of the triangular advertising kiosks located along the sidewalks on Market Street between Van Ness and the Embarcadero. The Program provides round-the-clock access to contemporary art for thousands of pedestrians who constitute a broad cross-section of residents, tourists, workers, commuters and shoppers, many of whom may not visit traditional art venues. The Art on Market Street: 2008 Program catalogue includes such recent poster series as Owen Smith’s Dashiell Hammett’s San Francisco, Jenifer K Wofford’s Flor de Manila y San Francisco and Briana Miller and Thien Pham’s Golden City Comics. Catalogues are available free of charge at the SFAC offices located at 25 Van Ness, Suite 240 and the SFAC Gallery located at 401 Van Ness Avenue on the ground floor of the Veterans Building.

“For over 17 years the Art on Market Street Program has made art a part of daily life for San Francisco residents, workers, shoppers and visitors by transforming Market Street into a destination for contemporary art,” stated Luis R. Cancel. “This catalogue is a wonderful souvenir of our 2008 exhibition season, which showcased the diverse creativity of some of the Bay Area’s leading artists.”

OWEN SMITH – Characters from The Maltese Falcon

Currently, for the Poster Projects, three artists or artist teams are commissioned on an annual basis to create six original artworks, based on a theme, that together form a cohesive series. The curatorial premise for the 2008 Program was narratives, a theme which lends itself nicely to a display method that provides pedestrians with an opportunity to view each poster in sequential order as they walk down Market Street. The artists and artist team were selected based on their past artwork, which demonstrated their capability of creating narrative works that reference an existing or original story.

Nationally recognized for his expressive figurative painting style, Owen Smith has created artworks for such publications as The New Yorker and Rolling Stone as well as numerous book covers, including Maureen Dowd’s Are Men Necessary? When Sexes Collide. The artist kicked off the 2008 Program with Dashiell Hammett’s San Francisco, a series of posters inspired by the classic San Francisco hard-boiled detective novel, The Maltese Falcon. The series includes a painted portrait of Dashiell Hammett featuring a close-up of his hands typing the name of the novel; the Maltese falcon sitting atop a map of the City with a key of sites specific to the novel; and four scenes from the novel with lines spoken by its famed characters: Detective Sam Spade, Caspar Gutman, Joel Cairo and Brigid O’Shaughnessy. As Sonoma State University Professor Jonah Raskin points out in his catalogue essay, Smith, a pulp fiction and film noir enthusiast, drew inspiration from Hammett’s literary device of assigning colors to his characters. Working in oils and paints on birch plywood, the artist brings these characters to life with a rich color palette that captures the style and feeling of the novel.

By Jenifer K Wofford

The next series, Flor de Manila y San Francisco, by artist Filipina-American Jenifer K Wofford, told the story of a young nurse, Flor Villanueva. The posters follow the protagonist as she emigrates from Manila to San Francisco and as she adjusts to life in the Bay Area over a six year period beginning with her arrival in 1973 through 1978. This graphic novel includes drawings of Flor in a variety of settings, both in San Francisco and Manila, with captions of her thoughts about both personal and political developments. Catherine Ceniza Choy, associate professor of Ethnic Studies at the University of California at Berkeley, provides a sociological and historical framework for the series. According to Choy, Wofford provides the viewer with a “contemplative and multifaceted backstory” to Flor Villanueva whose journey represents the international migration of Filipino nurses in the early 1970s.

By Jenifer K Wofford

“Golden City Comics” poster series by artists Briana Miller and Thien Pham

The annual program ended with Golden City Comics, a romantic comic book fantasy created by the artist team Briana Miller and Thien Pham. Both artists work in comics, illustration and design, and both teach computer arts and drawing at Bishop O’Dowd High School in Oakland. Their romantic comic book was readable in two directions, so that pedestrians could experience a different version of the story depending on the direction they were walking on Market Street. Both the first and the sixth posters were designed as comic book covers, each with a different title: the first poster begins a story titled Love’s Unsung Hero and the sixth poster starts a story titled The Mighty Defender. The stories, which included a hero, a sweet romance and an encounter with dastardly villains, both unfold in San Francisco with images of the Golden Gate and the Bay Bridges, the Ferry Building and The Mint. Award-winning webcartoonist and Managing Editor for Viz Meida Shaenon K. Garrity’s catalogue essay explains how the artists were able to construct two cohesive narratives with the same art and includes a mini-history lesson on the Golden Age of comic books, which was the high point for romance and superhero comics.

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Celebrating its 40th Anniversary, the Arts Commission’s Public Art Program was established by the City Arts Enrichment Ordinance in 1969, as one of the first of its kind in the country. The Public Art Program seeks to promote a diverse and stimulating cultural environment to enrich the lives of the City’s residents, visitors and employees. The Program encourages the creative interaction of artists, designers, city staff, officials and community members during the design of City projects in order to develop public art that is specific to the site and meaningful to the community.

Are Men Necessary? When Sexes Collide. Cover artwork, Owen Smith.