Thursday Tenderloin Tour
The first Thursday of every month is one of my favorite events in the city—San Francisco First Thursdays art walk. The art walks in the Tenderloin and downtown area have changed a lot over the years, but the current incarnation makes me feel most at home in my neighborhood.
Low Key
For the July round of First Thursdays, I started over at Low Key Skate shop (and art gallery) on 679 Geary Street. I’m constantly telling people about this little gem off Geary and Leavenworth. It’s impossible to miss—all their openings have a great group of people hanging out front and skating. Their show that is up through this month is titled “Friends we made along the way”, and does this show contain some fantastic paintings!
Mary Claire Amable’s “Welcome Home” series are some carefully crafted watercolor paintings. “Welcome Home 2” is a miniature wall menu which hangs in the Tenderloin treasure Saigon Sandwich. (You can’t go wrong with any of their sandwiches, I personally usually get the Combo with extra peppers). The use of color is fantastic, the small blemishes on the sign really pull you into the shop.
A little further down the wall is one of my personal favorites of the night by Streetchilli, who also curated the show at Low Key. The painting is titled “Stressed out”, after Houston pioneer DJ Screw’s tape. (you can listen to it for free here. The red rug flows into the green and purple brick wall, with a portrait of someone pulling the skin off their face to reveal the muscles underneath in a way that reminds me a bit of Edvard Munch. On the coffee table rests the DJ Screw tape in it’s 2019 vinyl release form, and I really love how this was simplified for the painting by Streetchilli. Looks like someone is getting a call from the yellow comic-like exclamation points rising from the cell on the table; my ash tray is never that clean.
Speaking of Hip Hop legends, how about this piece by Misael Marin, “Dice of Life”, a reference to a song by San Francisco native Andre Nickatina on his album Conversation with a Devil. This was one of the first songs and the first albums I had heard from Andre Nickatina. “This for the ones that hate that I'm high, when you see me, it's no surprise, tap your brain and blow your mind.” In a lot of ways this painting, and this song, speaks across the room to the painting by Streetchilli and the music of DJ Screw. “Dice of Life” ends with a sample that says “This life of ours, this is a wonderful life. If you can get through life like this and get away with it, hey that's great, but it's very, unpredictable. There are so many ways you can screw it up.”
Soft Times
Next up and around the corner is Soft Times Gallery. Walk up 2 blocks from Geary and Leavenworth to Sutter and you’re there! 905 Sutter St. “Rare Candy” is the name of the exhibition, and as always Soft Times has put together some really fun sculptural works mixed with paintings. AND THE COLOR!
First up is work by Reniel Del Rosario: ceramic sculptures of glass bottles, cigarettes, lighters, cigars, fingers, blunt wraps, vapes, joints, lighters, and shot glasses, laid out like the aftermath of a party. The bottles have names like “A good Nights Rest”, “Flappy”, “Reliever”, “Renny’s Rasberry Razzle Dazzle”, and “Big Boy”. The painting above by Kyle Dunn is titled “Tailspin" and is a linear barage of color, like a glitched TV abstraction.
Across the room is a mysterious magical painting by Neddie Bakula titled “Casting Spells” featuring descending or ascending figures in a desert divided by a never ending wall, witches with hovering orbs, the moon, the sun peaking off behind the horizon, a beautiful bright pink hue popping up throughout the piece.
At the other end next to the windows is a mixed media on foam piece by Raen Barnsley called “Moss and bits and fluff”, which gives me a very 80’s / 90’s aesthetic mixed with contemporary sculpture practices. The texture of the foam really does look like moss, with an icing like little rectangle with squigglies on top. Next to it is a glowing sunset feeling textile piece by Jessy Lu, “Soft Screen I”.
Moth Belly
Last stop of the night—my favorite gallery in the Tenderloin, a place that feels like my home away from home, Moth Belly Gallery, located at 912 Larkin (Larkin and Geary). If you haven’t been to Moth Belly yet, come on down and say hello! They also run an exceptional publication “Moth Belly Media” that has been doing a lot of interviews recently.
The exhibition this month at Moth Belly is simply titled “7”, featuring 7 artists.
When walking in you’re immediately greeted by some stencil paintings of someone you may recognize if you spend a little time walking through the Tenderloin—Looksnatcher. With another Texas shout out in the center, Luanne from King of the Hill! Next to that is another one of my favorite paintings of the night titled “Papa Cannibal” which feels like both a nod to Bacon’s “Study after Velázquez's Portrait of Pope Innocent X” as well as Goya (and Rubens) “Saturn Devouring His Son”. I would be remiss if I didn’t point out the trippy and wonderful three headed tribute to Dolly Parton. There’s also another great shout out hidden in here, but I’ll let you come to the gallery to learn more about it yourself.
There is some work on scratchboard in the back by Natalie McKean that completely blew me away. If you’re not familiar with scratchboard, while it looks like a drawing on a black background, the image is actually scratched into the surface with sharp tools, carving out the light. The piece “Knowing Your Demons” features a person being watched through a magic orb surrounded by salivating demons that look like a mix between Maurice Sendak’s “Where the Wild Things Are” and “Hellraiser”. The detail is just, I mean, well, look at it!
And that wraps up this Thursday Tenderloin Tour! Thanks for walking with me on such a beautiful night.










