My calendar at work has Friday mornings blocked off until 12:30pm to prevent Mountain View dwellers from harshing my weekly hangover after Thursday’s bender with early meetings. Remarkably chipper, I awoke at nine and decided to zig zag through the alleys near the Mission pick-up.
The neighborhood is peppered with murals. What I found along Ames between 21st and 22nd was entirely different: a long fence covered with small pieces of art. There were canvases of various sizes and styles, all without frames, and sprinkled with newspaper clippings any hippie would love. There were oils, water colors, pencils and lithographs. An alien doll dressed in wizard robes and a conic hat stood out from the group. Thrusting out both arms straight and feet sewn together, his posture seemed to say, “I’m dying for your sins!” But his vacant stare and saucer eyes, typical of any Hollywood Martian, said, “mee mee boo boo bee boo.”
I squinted at the signatures for a few minutes, looking for a pattern in the squiggles, and eventually decided these come from many artists. After another half block, I exited the alley without seeing any cars or foot traffic, which left me thinking: what an odd place for an art show.