Beautifying the San Francisco Tenderloin with Meaningful Art

Art and culture can play a significant role in San Francisco as it rebuilds in the coming months and years from the effects of the pandemic. You can see in neighborhoods like the Tenderloin where the evidence of the urban struggle is prominent that artwork can be uplifting. Recently, three new murals, with the promise of one more, have graced the walls of some of the neighborhood’s most centrally located apartment buildings. Murals are important because they can tell a community's story and illustrate its history, engage residents, support local artists, and beautify the neighborhood.

The new murals were installed on the walls of Mosser buildings in the Tenderloin. Mosser is a major housing provider in the Tenderloin with some of the most prominent apartment buildings in the area. As part of this project that is in partnership with other local businesses, they have provided their buildings to use as the canvas for artists with local ties to the neighborhood.

A series of four Mosser murals were commissioned by 509 Cultural Center/Luggage Store Gallery, whose mission is to build community through organizing multidisciplinary arts programming and events that are accessible and reflective of the Bay Area's communities. They play an essential role in the history of San Francisco and the Bay Area as an innovator and incubator of the arts and have led and anchored the arts community in the area for many years. The project was funded by the Someland Foundation, a 501(c)3 non-profit based in the Bay Area.

Mural #1: A Space Odyssey

The first of the four murals was completed in 2019 by artist Tauba Auerbach, a San Francisco native and Stanford University graduate. It was installed on the east-facing wall of the Mosser Towers building on 455 Eddy Street at Leavenworth in San Francisco. The mural stands approximately 60 feet by 18 stories high and was inspired by Auerbach’s response to the simple black monolith that that famously appears in his favorite movie, “A Space Odyssey.” This image has been interpreted in a thousand different ways, and without rest, which fascinated Auerbach.

In planning the mural, Auerbach called on the art history of San Francisco and referenced the monolith’s trompe-l’oile technique for her work, as he felt this lasting quality of the art would most impact residents. Auerbach remains involved with the San Francisco arts community, and in April 2020 the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art hosted one of his exhibitions.

Mural #2: Tat2—A Tribute to Carlos Villa

This past summer, Mosser supported the second of four mural installations—this one on Mosser Towers at 350 Turk Street. The mural, installed by artist Mario Ayala, is a tribute to Carlos Villa, a legendary artist who was born in the Tenderloin and went on to have a successful international visual arts career. Villa also taught at the San Francisco Arts Institute, where he mentored hundreds of young artists, including Mario. The mural displays an original piece by Villa entitled Tat2 that was created in 1971. Villa created the design using a fine tip marker on a photo portrait of himself taken by John Bertucci, a student at the San Francisco Arts Institute.

“[The mural] is beautifully rendered by the team led by Mario Ayala and the art that it reproduced is brilliant,” remarked Mark Dean Johnson, a professor of art at San Francisco State University. “Thank you [Mosser] for your support that enables this incredible public work of art that builds on our city’s art history to enable a more positive future for San Francisco.”

Mural #3: Re-double La Force

Later this summer, Mosser supported a third mural installation on Mosser Towers at 455 Eddy Street. This mural, Re-double La Force, was painted by Erlin-Adones Geffrard, professor of fine arts at Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and at the School of Design at the University of Pennsylvania. Geffrard studied painting and design at San Francisco Art Institute before earning an M.F.A. at the University of Pennsylvania.

Geffrard’s mural is intended as a call to action to reinforce the internal strength and power we all possess. Of Haitian descent, he was inspired by his immigrant parents’ sage words, “re-double la force” to their six children as they encouraged them to use life’s difficulties as inspiration for growth and building their character.

Mural #4: 2022

The fourth mural installation is planned for 2022. Mosser continues to collaborate with the 509 Cultural Center/Luggage Store Gallery and the Someland Foundation to highlight and support other local artists with murals on its buildings.

These murals—and adding beauty to the Tenderloin—is one way that the companies that do business in the area can make a meaningful contribution to the communities they call home. As the city rebuilds, it is worth calling out these projects that add to the revitalization and restoration of these culturally rich communities. This is certainly true of this mural project that enhances beauty and vibrancy and improves residents’ living experience.