Painting The Void: How Art Transformed the San Francisco Bay Area During a Global Pandemic
by Paint The Void & Broke But Grand LLC dba BUILDING 180
published by Paint the Void
2024
Once the safety precautions were loosened and we could wander around outside, we were faced with countless boarded up buildings, a sense of emptiness, and finally – art and color.
This is a lovely photo book depicting the art organization that stepped in to brighten SF’s closed businesses with large scale art, and the many local artists who stepped up to the challenge and created bright, hopeful murals throughout the City.
Delighted by the murals as I reoriented myself to the City on foot, I ordered this book ages ago, and am delighted that it was finally released and shipped to me this year! It includes essays on the effort, discussions of how it was received, experiences the artists had as people interacted with them as they worked, adjustments the organizers made to include artists who hadn’t previously worked on murals, and more.
If you’d like a sense of the murals it includes, you can enjoy the Paint The Void mural gallery below:
Great book, great project, highly recommended especially for local public art and mural fans.