Have you been waiting with bated breath to see the winning design of the Haight Fillmore Whole Foods mural contest?
Wait no further:
The winning artist is Sylvester "Sly" Guard Jr., a Tenderloin-based muralist who mostly works with private clients. Sly is part of a collective known as Sugabus Media, a group that has regular showings at the Art Attack gallery near Ghirardelli Square. This will be one of his first pieces of public art.
In winning the mural contest, Sly will not only get a prominent and very public canvas for his work, he'll also get a nice chunk of change—$2,500, to be exact.
"Whenever I have a mural done, I like to pay the artist," the building's owner, Christopher George, told us.
"Some muralists can’t believe it, because most property owners want a mural done for free, plus the cost of materials. To me that has always seemed demeaning to the artist and an insult to the art. There are dozens of hungry artists around, who would have done this mural for free—just for the exposure on a good corner like Haight and Fillmore."
George says he got about three dozen entries.
"Most of them were quite good. About a half dozen were really, really good. I will probably call on one or more of these artists for some future work I’ve got simmering on the back burner. The winning entry is better than I hoped for."
That winning entry has design elements inspired by the city and the neighborhood, with a Giants-inspired panda, a Muni bus in honor of the hot transportation corner, and Victorians and a glimpse of the Golden Gate Bridge, just in case you forget where you are. "I just happened to see [Muni] transfers on the ground," Sly told us of his design inspiration. "I just got a foodie feel for the neighborhood, so that's what the hot dog is for."
Sylvester says he wanted to stick with the color palette of the building's existing art, and the visual personality of the neighborhood, which he describes as "kind of cartoony, with Zerofriends and Upper Playground."
Work on the mural likely won't begin until January, Sly said. That's because the building is set to undergo some renovations to expose a corner column and other original details. We'll keep an eye on it, and will post an update when the mural is complete.
