FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media contact:
Kate Patterson, San Francisco Arts Commission
Tel: (415) 252-4638 Email: kate.patterson@sfgov.org
Photos available online at http://www.sfartscommission.org/primages/burstein/
New Art on Market Street Kiosk Poster Series Celebrates the Vibrant Social and Visual Environment of one of San Francisco’s most Iconic Boulevards
Artist Jonathan Burstein’s collage portraits reflect the color and cacophony of urban life.
"Messanger" by Jonathan Burstein, 2009.
On View January 4-April 1, 2010
SAN FRANCISCO, December 11, 2009 – Director of Cultural Affairs for the San Francisco Arts Commission Luis R. Cancel is pleased to announce a new Art on Market Street Kiosk Poster series by artist Jonathan Burstein. Meet Market: Portraits of the Street features six original collage portraits that investigate the visual environment of Market Street and the intersection of San Francisco’s social, cultural and economic strata. Based on photographs of individuals (and one pigeon) Burstein encountered on the street, the portraits were pieced together by hand out of hundreds of images taken by the artist of the material texture of Market Street. Neon signs, graffiti, manhole covers, traffic signs, vegetation and architectural details all combine to create portraits that metaphorically reflect the influence on urban dwellers of the shared social and visual space of this iconic boulevard. On view January 4 to April 1, 2010, the posters include a street artist, a bike messenger, a cab driver, a tattoo artist and a visitor.
According to Luis R. Cancel, “Jonathan Burstein’s intricate collages bring Market Street’s many diverse and contradictory elements into clear focus and encourage viewers on the street to consider and experience their surroundings with a fresh perspective. I am very pleased that his participation in the poster series continues the program’s long tradition of featuring up-and-coming San Francisco talent.”
“A walk down Market Street is a trip through a demographic microcosm of the City,” said Jonathan Burstein. “For the Art on Market Street Kiosk Poster Program, I wanted to investigate two aspects of the diversity of Market Street, the animate and the inanimate, with a series of collage portraits of the people who are there to live, work, shop, play or just pass through.”
Born in Los Angeles, Jonathan Burstein received a BA from UC Berkeley and an MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute. His work has been shown nationally and internationally, including recent exhibitions at Patricia Sweetow Gallery, Year ‘06 in London, Scope Miami, Boston University and the San Francisco Center for the Book.
Burstein is the recipient of a recent San Francisco Arts Commission Cultural Equity Grant, and has been artist-in-residence at the Djerassi Foundation in Woodside, CA, the de Young Museum in San Francisco and the Hambidge Center in Georgia. His work has appeared in New American Paintings, the San Francisco Bay Guardian and KQED’s “Gallery Crawl” Program. His other recent public art projects include an underwater vision of Market Street for the San Francisco Arts Commission’s Art in Storefronts Program, and an installation on Baker Beach for the annual Balsa Man event. He currently resides in San Francisco and is represented by the Patricia Sweetow Gallery.
The last kiosk poster series for the Art on Market Street 2009/10 Program is a series by artist Bihn Danh, called The Wonderful Life of Gardening, which will be installed from April 5 to July 1, 2010. This series incorporates photographic collaborations with San Francisco gardeners, including some of those who tend garden plots under the San Francisco Recreation and Parks Department’s Community Garden Program.
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