Random Art In San Francisco

Since its earliest beginnings San Francisco has been a center for artistic expression.  The city was barley 20 years old when its first great art school (and one of the oldest in the United States) the San Francisco Art Institute opened in 1871. 

Great artists like Maxfield Parish and Diego Rivera found San Francisco an exciting canvas from which they could create.  Yet art is not just for museums, and over the years both famous and local artists have left their mark in small and wonderous ways.

In the days when San Francisco was a destination for artists, activist and dreamers, it was not beyond the realm of reason that one could happen upon a drum circle in the park or a painter capturing the image of a great landmark.  Today it is still possible to walk down the street and serendipitously, randomly happen upon some kind of memorable creative expression. 

Sometimes they are a series of murals created by a group of artists.  Sometimes it is only one piece, and sometimes they are just randomly created in a guerrilla-like manner, Banksy style.

If you walk south from the Ferry Building along the Embarcadero, you will happen upon a one-hundred-foot art piece resembling a bow and arrow.  Noted sculptor Claes Oldenburg, who is famous for making large pieces of public art, created Cupid's Span for the promenade along the waterfront.  You would have to go out of your way to miss it.

Sometimes a group of artists collectively share their talent and commandeer an alley or street, and the buildings there become their canvas.  Probably the most famous back alley for art is Balmy Alley in the Mission District.  Back in the 1970s muralist took a back alley that was run down and embarked on painting murals on the buildings lining the entire street. 

Controversial for its time, today it is such a popular tourist attraction that the Precita Eyes Muralists Collaborative was established in 1977 to promote muralist's' art and offer a space for artists to work.  They also offer walking tours of the murals in the Mission District, especially Balmy Alley.  In fact, peppered throughout the entire Mission District are hundreds of murals.  Some cover entire buildings, though many you won't know exist until you stumble upon them.  Clarion Alley is another back alley in the Mission District covered in murals, and worth seeing.  

However, my favorite back alley lined with art is one that is not in the guidebooks and in an area, tourists don't usually venture.  During the Afghanistan/Iraq War in the first decade of this century, Shannon Alley in the Tenderloin became the backdrop for artists sharing their feelings on America’s longest war.  Some of the murals criticize the war, some honor a specific veteran who served his country but didn’t make it home.

 The Murals Along Shannon Alley

If you walk along Mission Street Between 8th. And 9th. Streets and look to the north, you may catch a glimpse of the largest statue in the city no one knows about. The condominium complex it anchors is called Trinity Plaza and once again, the majority of people who find this hundred-plus-foot art work mostly do so by accident.

 The Trinity Plaza Statue

Sometimes the random street art you find is state-sanctioned.  The city’s Arts Council contracts with artists to create works which compliment usually drab civic buildings.  Since 2023 San Francisco added three new subway stations and each one has its own theme.

 Civic Art Outside Of A MUNI Subway Station

Of course, the best kind of art is the kind you find that has no commission of contract and wasn’t sanctioned or planned.  It’s just there.

Here is a random sampling of artistic expression I just happened upon. 

It’s these kinds of (what I like to call) self-motivated, guerrilla urban beautification projects that still make San Francisco a magical place to live.