Latest posts by Jonathan Curiel

The stickers fit together like a yin-yang drawing — but instead of philosophical symbols, they advertise a pair of simple phrases that ridicule the 45th president’s cerebrum. The first is a statement of opinion that many people would take as an undisputed fact: “Trump Dumber Than W.” The second is a Socratic imploring: “Think About […]

On the June day that “Revelations: Art from the African American South” opened at the de Young Museum, artist Lonnie Holley shared a stage with two actors who are among the most celebrated in their fields (Danny Glover and Delroy Lindo) and with art scholars who are equally esteemed. The introductory discussion was supposed to […]

The young Apache couple who Douglas Miles depicts in his Mission District mural look straight ahead, their eyes open, their mouths closed. There’s no drama and no great pageantry. The Apache man’s spear and dress, and the mountains in the background, hint at the couple’s ethnic origins and the dignity that Miles wanted to convey […]

How often does a gallery exhibit prompt art-goers to say, “What the hell!?” Guy Overfelt’s new exhibit, “Guy Overfelt. A.C.A.B., 1995-2017,” does just that by showcasing kittens, odd paintings, and a police car whose front is totally smashed from a high-speed crash. The car still works — its lights flash on and off for visitors […]

As the sun was setting on the Tenderloin one July evening, BiP — or “Believe in People” — stood on the roof of the Alise Hotel, dressed like the stealth artist he is. He wore hooded painter’s coveralls and a breathing mask that keeps him safe from the spray-paint fumes that arise whenever he works […]

In the recent history of San Francisco art galleries, few exhibits have matched the surrealism of “Ever Wash,” the 2011 show at Ever Gold Gallery that turned the tiny Tenderloin space into a fully functional laundry facility. Conceptual artist Guy Overfelt (aided by curator Tony Labat) orchestrated everything to his liking, including changing the name […]

Men who decide to get involved with the Parisian conceptual artist Sophie Calle — to be her lover, boyfriend, or husband — know they might become part of Calle’s over-the-top artwork. And they get involved anyway. They do so despite a film like No Sex Last Night, the 1992 documentary that’s one of the most […]

For Aldan Mosqueda, the manager of the Helen Hotel, the morning of July 6 was like any other: tending to rooms, checking in visitors, and entertaining a question about the vintage sign that was painted decades ago on the hotel’s outside wall. Like a siren from the vintage past, it advertises the hotel’s previous name […]

Surrounded at an early age by familial deaths from tuberculosis, an ominous fear that he would be “next,” and the worrisome nature of his religiously conservative father, Edvard Munch was on edge through much of his life. This sense of unease infused his work with a psychological and emotional dimension that reached an apotheosis with […]

Rigo 23’s One Tree may be San Francisco’s most iconic street art. Created in 1995, it transforms the image of a simple black-and-white traffic sign into a giant Pop Art piece. When Rigo 23 made the piece on a blue wall, it pointed to a mature tree — an art directional that was funny and […]