“CITY STREETS”
Dreaming of 255, 16” x 21”, oil on canvas by Patricia Araujo
City Streets
Urban Views of the Bay Area
Group Show
May 2nd-20th, 2024
Opening reception: Sunday, May 3rd: 3:00-5:00pm
STUDIO GALLERY
1641 Pacific Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94109
I’m delighted to share that my painting titled “Dreaming of 255” will be exhibited at the forthcoming City Streets Group show at STUDIO Gallery,
in San Francisco.
City Streets showcases the wide-ranging beauty of the Bay Area. From parks and landmarks to sweeping views and everyday scenes of city life, there is something for everyone who loves the region. The show includes work from over 60 artists, and it's wonderful to see the Bay Area through their eyes! This year's show is bit brighter, with an occasional touch of whimsy.
You can see the whole exhibit online here.
If you're out and about, I hope you'll stop by to see the art in person, or join at the opening reception on Sunday, May 5th, 3:00-5:00pm.
“Dreaming of 255”, (16” x 21”, oil on canvas) presents an abstract representation of the building facade located at 255 Golden Gate Avenue, in San Francisco. A one story brick structure; Corinthian order with arches in bays; temple front composition, of Renaissance/Baroque ornamentation. Original owner: Edward McDevitt. Architect: Reid Brothers, 1916.
This building was originally one of several film exchanges built in the Tenderloin after the 1906 earthquake. They were close to the theaters on Market Street and designed to be fireproof, since early film stock was so volatile.
255 Golden Gate Avenue, is a place I'm confronted by and admire every day on route to the neighborhood. It has a clean front and I painted it in pastel tones. Its entrance is adorned by large arched windows and atop enhanced by beautiful motifs. Behind this façade, is a modern residential unit, juxtaposed against this more classical setting. “255” is personal site I enjoy seeing and wish to re-capture painted on canvas!
Patricia Araujo at Studio Gallery, standing next to her painting
“Dreaming of 255”
An excerpt taken from foundsf.org by Mark Ellinger:
”San Francisco has been a center of independent film making, distinguished by innovation in all areas of the film industry. In the early years of the cinema, movie theaters had to buy the films they showed from the studios. A couple of San Franciscans named the Miles Brothers revolutionized film distribution in 1902 by purchasing films from the studios and renting them to theaters, thereby establishing the first centralized film exchange, the equivalent of a lending library for movie theaters.
Many early film exchanges were located in Tenderloin buildings because of their proximity to Market Street cinemas; however, nitrate film† was explosively volatile, so ordinary buildings were dangerous places in which to store movies, especially large quantities of them. Although delayed by political inertia, the ’06 conflagration notwithstanding, by 1911 was born the first of the Tenderloin’s many film exchange buildings—fireproof, reinforced concrete structures specifically designed for storing film.”
For full essay, please visit here