Clarion Alley Mural Cuba x Estria x Ceyba

Here's a two day production I did with the legendary Cuba in San Francisco's famous Clarion Alley. It runs between Mission St. and Valencia St. between 17th and 18th Streets.

We painted this freestyle jam a week after the Estria Invitational Graffiti Battle in October. It was a huge honor for me to finally paint with one of the first graffiti artists on the west coast. Cuba started painting in '79 in Baltimore and got serious in SF in '83. It was also an historic moment for me as it was my first mural in Clarion.



Cuba's health is not good, yet no complaints. He just got up on the ladder and did his thing. You got to admire that. Such a cool, humble cat. Doesn't call himself a king despite a long list of firsts under his belt. The man just loves to paint, and you can't help but feel that around him. It's contagious.



Clarion is well known as a mural alley. Whereas SF's first mural alley, Balmy Alley is known for political murals, Clarion is known for being open to subject matter. Yes it does include some hipster stuff.





Thanks to Ceyba for video taping and interviewing Cuba. (We'll post later.) Thank you also for bringing the family and homies and making it a great day to be alive in la Mission.



Photos courtesy Mike Bam Tyau

Cekis of Chile

Cekis is a very humble guy. He doesn't toot his own horn at all, and is very approachable.

Santiago, Chile 1998. Cekis opened a graffiti store called Otra Vida. It moved twice, but with business partner, Grin, it found a permanent location, and significantly helped make the mural/graffiti movement larger. Larger as in one of the graffiti capitals of South America. Otra Vida gave young writers access to books and styles they could not find in their country. It became a gathering place for writers; an important role for an art form that depends on oral storytelling.

He was one of the 1st generation of writers of Chile. He bombed hard and painted many large-scale murals, earning him the respect as one of THE kings of Chile. He had a huge impact on the succeeding generation of writers. During Cekis' painting career he has seen Chile shift from a dictatorship with very few murals to a democracy with entire neighborhoods painted. Some would say Cekis helped shift the social consciousness of Santiago to accepting murals as part of the culture.

Since moving to NYC in '04 Cekis has been focusing on his career as an artist, without a care for becoming a king. Pretty humble for a guy who impacted an entire nation of writers.

Visit his art website ymicrew.com and see more of his work at flickr.com/photos/cekis

Check out Cekis' artwork in our EIGB-MTN art show at 1:AM SF Gallery.

Opening reception Friday, 9/11, 7-10pm.
Show runs until October 9.

1:AM SF Gallery
1000 Howard St., San Francisco, CA 94127
www.1amsf.com
www.twitter.com/1AM_SF
(415) 861-5089

Click on this first image to see it bigger:








“I chose to do mural art as my way of communication because the intention of my work has always been to interact in an active way with my environment and community. Looking for places (walls) where people can feel united, represented or relate to each other and therefore establish free dialogues between art and life”.