A real San Francisco home has a certain look that reflects the personality of the person(s) who lives there. Never cluttered, but always quirky. We are a city of collectors who treat our homes like museum installations. In apartments, it starts with the old telephone nook near the door. They make for perfect altars. A San Francisco bathroom is an art gallery with plumbing fixtures. Our small kitchens never have an empty wall.
What San Francisco homes are not, in spite of the worst efforts of stagers and flippers, are the gutted Victorians that have been sterilized into white and gray modern lofts. Stainless steel and marble slabs with all the charm of a mortuary. We do not want to live in banal furniture catalogs.
The bookcases and things I paint for my Chaekgeori-inspired series are just a small glimpse into these wonderful San Francisco homes.
My friends have generously shared photos for me to work from. When I asked one friend to send some snapshots, I waited anxiously for their arrival in my inbox. He and his husband have a delightful Hayes Valley apartment that is like living in an actual cabinet of curiosities. It is one of my favorite San Francisco apartments.
The photos he sent, and what I have painted here, are of his office bookcase. Early on, I realized painting bookcases was, in many ways, painting a portrait as much as it is painting a still life. This made me think about a person’s bookcase in a professional office. Many of us wear different personalities to suit the occasion. A downtown office bookcase is going to be different from one at home. Maybe a little more restrained, a little more reserved. This is a professional bookcase.
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