Rad Dad Collective: Hang Out...San Francisco

Wednesday, 13 July 2011

Hang Out...San Francisco

Artist Talk with D Young V

White Walls is pleased to present Make An Effort, a grouping of new mixed media pieces by San Francisco’s own wheat-paste artist, D Young V (David Young). This is Young’s first solo project with White Walls, after a successful solo show at sister space Gallery 3 in late 2010. The exhibition opened July 9th and will run through July 30th.

We invite you to join us this Thursday, July 14th, at 8 p.m., for an artist talk with David, followed by a short Q+A. The talk is being given in conjunction with the inaugural run of the LoPo (Lower Polk) Art Walk, which runs from 6-10 p.m. the same evening. David is a Tenderloin native, and he is thrilled to be able to participate in an event that supports the community he loves. Both White Walls and Shooting Gallery will be holding extended hours, and we hope that you can join us to view the works from both Make an Effort, and Anthony Sneed’s Grand Illusion next door.

LoPo Art Walk Development and Mission:

"Lower Polk Neighbors, working in collaboration with MOEWD initially focused on establishing a positive street identity, supporting the arts and the artistic revitalization of the the area between Bush and Geary off Polk Street. Now, to celebrate the opening of these new galleries and murals, will be the first quarterly Lower Polk Art Walk to be held on Thursday, July 14th from 6-10pm. This event will include the edgy Whitewall, Shooting and 941 Galleries, the long standing Polk Street Space and LoPo gallery, the French Alliance Francaise gallery and new comers Popular Workshop and 1044 Larkin Gallery.

This collaborative effort also includes neighborhood interns from Larkin Street Youth who worked on the murals, an LSY artist in residence program and the creation of a gallery space at Larkin Street in which the youth can show their work. Local building also owners pitched in by contributing locations through the grant and the Wall Space program. The future of this quarterly event will then turn its focus to engaging the district alleys for art, film and performance events. I see these alleys between Van Ness and Polk and Larkin and Polk as future non traditional green spaces which the neighborhood sorely lacks. With the upcoming CPMC development going in on Geary, these alleys are ripe to create community events, vertical gardens and public displays of art with some financing coming from the project.

Lower Polk, a microhood that has long been a neglected and dangerous neighborhood has all of the elements with which to create a dynamic arts driven district by engaging the galleries, merchants and residents alike while maintaining a cultural and socioeconmic diversity rarely found in other San Francisco Neighborhoods. Drey, one of the featured muralists who painted "Windows on Polk" -is a 70ft long mural that depicts scenes that a local would see when "looking out the window" over the last 10 decades on Polk Street, this mural conveys all of the gritty and colorful history of the area while showing the positive changes and a very bright future yet to come."

Download the Art Walk Map here

Hope to see you all there!

Cheers