Italian Street Painting '04
A little bit of the Rennaissance on the streets of San Rafael.
Kenny and I are patrons of the Arts!
There is this one exhibit that happens at the beginning of summer for the past few years,
which if you live in the Bay Area and you don't know about it, you
probably should.
This is the Youth in Arts Italian Street Painting Festival
held in downtown San Rafael by the mission, on the corner
of 4th and A Street, with good food, music, and Rennaissance paintings colored in chalk all over the street.
What is missing are any admission fees, or those rows of tents with people just selling stuff. There is
none of that, except for a couple of food vendors-- and only Italian food, yeah, you bet that includes pizza.
It makes this one of the few honest, wholesome, and true festivals around.
After a good spring of hard riding, we decided to take it easy for the weekend and see what offerings
they might have this year.
Photos
Click to expand
Walking along fourth street, with plots of different sizes to unleash your creative energy on the street.
Many are sponsored by local businesses, although they set aside many small ones for the school kids.
We've always come on Sunday, but this year Saturday worked out better instead.
On Sunday you get the more complete pictures, but seeing the works in progress
has rewards of its own.
Who needs Europe when you have San Rafael? Hehe, just kidding.
This is the central piece this year, a compilation of some of Da Vinci's better known works.
The woman up there, at the top of the first shot, holding a ferret, was recently
displayed in San Francisco's Legion of Honor museum.
The sign said Leonardo da Vinci only painted about a dozen works in his lifetime, which I found hard to believe.
It doesn't have to be Italian works, they have all kinds of stuff,
from ancient, to very contemporary, to stuff that people just come up with in the moment it seems.
The grand prize, I think, is to get your "painting" on the T-shirt for next year, and for that you need to do a woman's face.
Better than a man's face admittedly, but I asked them why they didn't have the Sistene Chapel on the shirt,
and that was the answer I got. The Mona Lisa is on this year's T-shirt instead,
which leaves me to wonder what they are going to have next time.
A couple works straight out of ancient mythology.
I hope you appreciate that it took me standing there awhile to get this shot of Neptune without people's
shadows running across it!
Elsewhere, many of the works were covered by shadows of the buildings.
Here is the center peice again, later on, a bit more done. By the way, 2004 is the 500th aniversary of the painting
of the Mona Lisa.
Last year the central peice was the entire ceiling of the Sistene Chapel,
which was quite a sight, so this year things seemed a little less energetic,
like everyone was still recovering from last year, but still great nonetheless.
This is just a sampling of the really impressive artwork that was out there.
We've always been there on Sunday when everything is almost nearly done.
Although I believe they close off this area a couple days before the event,
it looks like a lot of people don't get started until today.
It's almost like you should plan to come out on both days, Saturday and Sunday, and I'm sure those who live nearby do.
(b. June 12, 2004)
Wallpapers
Click to expand
Like Leonardo? Here ya go. Never in the Louvre would you get to see a leaf on Mona Lisa's sleave.
The artist here is Cuong Nguyen.
Downloads (davinci):
1280x960,
1024x768,
800x600,
640x480
I titled it such because it looks like the work of a Dutch master.
Then again, I don't have the first clue about art history.
Update (7/8/04): This is a self-portrait of Rembrandt by artist Mark Edwards.
Many thanks to his wife, Sue, for emailing me to clarify the matter.
Downloads (dutchboy):
1280x960,
1024x768,
800x600,
640x480
Looks like Mexico a couple centuries ago to me, with the mission off to the side.
In all fairness, it could be California a couple centuries ago as well.
Downloads (oldmexico):
1280x960,
1024x768,
800x600,
640x480
Here's Neptune erupting from the corner of 4th and A.
Downloads (neptune):
1280x960,
1024x768,
800x600,
640x480
Back to top.
Back home.
Walking along fourth street, with plots of different sizes to unleash your creative energy on the street.
Many are sponsored by local businesses, although they set aside many small ones for the school kids.
We've always come on Sunday, but this year Saturday worked out better instead.
On Sunday you get the more complete pictures, but seeing the works in progress
has rewards of its own.
Who needs Europe when you have San Rafael? Hehe, just kidding.
This is the central piece this year, a compilation of some of Da Vinci's better known works.
The woman up there, at the top of the first shot, holding a ferret, was recently
displayed in San Francisco's Legion of Honor museum.
The sign said Leonardo da Vinci only painted about a dozen works in his lifetime, which I found hard to believe.
It doesn't have to be Italian works, they have all kinds of stuff,
from ancient, to very contemporary, to stuff that people just come up with in the moment it seems.
The grand prize, I think, is to get your "painting" on the T-shirt for next year, and for that you need to do a woman's face.
Better than a man's face admittedly, but I asked them why they didn't have the Sistene Chapel on the shirt,
and that was the answer I got. The Mona Lisa is on this year's T-shirt instead,
which leaves me to wonder what they are going to have next time.
A couple works straight out of ancient mythology.
I hope you appreciate that it took me standing there awhile to get this shot of Neptune without people's
shadows running across it!
Elsewhere, many of the works were covered by shadows of the buildings.
Here is the center peice again, later on, a bit more done. By the way, 2004 is the 500th aniversary of the painting
of the Mona Lisa.
Like Leonardo? Here ya go. Never in the Louvre would you get to see a leaf on Mona Lisa's sleave.
The artist here is Cuong Nguyen.
I titled it such because it looks like the work of a Dutch master.
Then again, I don't have the first clue about art history.
Update (7/8/04): This is a self-portrait of Rembrandt by artist Mark Edwards.
Many thanks to his wife, Sue, for emailing me to clarify the matter.
Looks like Mexico a couple centuries ago to me, with the mission off to the side.
In all fairness, it could be California a couple centuries ago as well.
Here's Neptune erupting from the corner of 4th and A.