Ramon's Tailor Gallery
628 Jones Street @Geary
The Tenderloin, San Francisco

December 7, 2017 - February 1, 2018

Opening Reception and First Thursdays Art Walk: Thursday Dec 7, 2017, 6 - 10 pm
Closing Reception and First Thursdays Art Walk: Thursday February 1, 2018, 6 - 10 pm


Alhambra S.R.O. is a multidisciplinary art project that consists of a site-specific installation and a gastronomical experience drawn from a local immigrant community of the Tenderloin in San Francisco. This project not only playfully engages with the architectural features of the gallery but also comments upon the cultural and social dynamics of this neighborhood.

Inspired by the landmark “Alhambra Apartments” on Geary St, I call attention to the irony of the cultural appropriation of Arabic architecture in the early 20th century and the contemporary stigmatization of islamic people in what is perhaps the most culturally diverse neighborhood in San Francisco.
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The “Alhambra Apartments” is among several buildings in the Tenderloin that are categorized as a Moorish Revival Style of architecture. This exotic style  flourished after the 1906 earthquake, when the formerly residential neighborhood of single family homes was rebuilt as multistory buildings often with dramatic facades of the Exotic Revival style. Many of these buildings have become S.R.O. (Single Occupancy Room) Hotels.​

Learn more about Tomas Marconi phd here

Daily Slots, the guerrilla art project in collaboration with Eliza Barrios, will be featured at the Luggage Store Gallery's next exhibition. Addressing artist who have to navigate or break the law in order to express themselves, this upcoming show called ILLEGAL opens this coming Friday.

Daily Slots is an ongoing project that reflects the issues that affect our city. Using the newspaper stands located along Market, Montgomery Street and Civic Center Plaza as “vehicles to deliver information”, my collaborator and I send messages through the windows of these structures. Altering the visual landscape of the pedestrian/urban environment, the messages are a mixture of iconography and slogans that call attention to the economy, consumerism and un-sustainability of the capitalistic culture. 

ILLEGAL
The Luggage Store Gallery, San Francisco
Nov 10 - Dec 16, 2017

Opening, Friday Nov 10, 6 - 9pm
(music performance by Tropical City)

Remembrance and Resistance
SOMArts Annual Day of the Dead Exhibition
October 6 - November 9, 2017
SOMArts
934 Brannan St, San Francisco, CA

Tejiendo la Vida de un Maya" ("Threading the Life of a Mayan") is the title of an altar in collaboration with Adriana Camarena and Jose Gongora Pat honoring the life of his brother Luis, killed by the SFPD in 2016. Both Luis and Jose are from a small village in Yucatan, Mexico. Women in their village have carried for generations the tradition of working with embroidery and textiles. Using the dichotomy text/textile, both with same origin, we used hand dyed threads to weave Luis' story, from his origins in Yucatan to his life as an immigrant in San Francisco. This non-traditional altar uses textile as the silent voice, as a metaphor for repressed or untold stories.

Adriana Camarena is a Mission District writer and researcher focused on social justice. More information about her work here

Carpet Diem is the title of a permanent carpet installation I created at the GO! office, downtown San Francisco. Its title points out to a new use of this recycled material. Over the last couple of weeks I hand cut 108 pieces of carpet that, following a geometric pattern, playfully engage with the almost 40' long office wall.

With my labyrinths I look for connection and interaction with the public, inviting them to wander along an alternative journey to the sometimes imposed urban layout. The same as the labyrinth proposes a new sacred territory for meditation and awareness, the geometric pattern of this carpet installation offer the public a powerful meditation tool. Geometric patterns, labyrinths or mandalas have taken me to travel around the world to places where I've witnessed the connection between these intricate constructions and ancient magical rituals.

Carpet Diem
37' x 10'
Carpet Tiles
Permanent Installation at GO!, downtown San Francisco

I am honored to have my work featured at Rebecca Solnit's most recent book, The Mother of All Questions. Six large format charcoal drawings from the series HairScapes are part of this follow-up to her national best seller Men Explain Things to Me. Using a combination of humor and profound insight, Solnit's new book ​offers indispensable commentary on women who refuse to be silenced, misogynistic violence, the fragile masculinity of the literary canon, the gender binary, the recent history of rape jokes, and much more. Feminism and femminity can empower each other and definitely The Mother of All Questions arrives at a crucial moment...

The Mother of All Questions
by Rebecca Solnit
​Published by Haymarket Books

Book Release, March, 2017
​Book available at Green Arcade

www.rebeccasolnit.net

​I see drawing as a form of connection with the space around me. When drawing and architecture coexist there’s no separation between the maker, the object and the viewer; between you and me. When this integration happens I see the world as an extension of who I am. Cavemen lived a fully shamanic experience of art and space, projecting onto the cave walls their own psyche. Drawing repetitive lines allows me to enter my subconscious mind and, like with Ariadne’s Thread, retrieve my most hidden secrets and bring them back to light.This is the game of life, a sutil thread that helps us to find our center in the labyrinths of our consciousness.

Last January 20th women from most of US states and around the world marched together in sisterhood to speak their truth and raise their voices. We walked, danced, sang and drummed! Our voices will be heard!

After a long day of drumming with my Maracatu fellows both in Oakland and San Francisco Women's Maches i met with my long time collaborator, artist Eliza Barrios, to do another guerrilla action in the street of San Francisco. We gather at our temporary office at Phil's Cafe on Market St in the evening. We divided our tasks and went out in the pouring rain to fill the newspaper stands with a message to the entire world: WE ARE POWERFUL. And yes, we are.

The Nomadic Labyrinth was featured at Art Night SF, last September 30th, at UN Plaza in San Francisco. Many people came and walked the labyrinth and it was also the place where world class flamenco dancer "Farruquito" led a flamenco flash mob. What an incredible opportunity I had to celebrate two of my passions, labyrinths and flamenco, at the same time!

Art Night SF is a collaboration between artists, galleries and local institutions to promote the arts in San Francisco and reactivate the Mid Market area. By bringing people together for an outdoor exhibition, Art Night SF hopes to celebrate the impact that cultural contributors are making within the city.

​Learn more about The Nomadic Labyrinth here