Title of the work: "Jeff". This is a painting over a 35mm Film photo I took. so technically is a multi-media artwork. This piece "Jeff" is named after the Jefferson airplane because this is the Jefferson airplane house. 

Other paintings submitted:
"OG"
"Alex"
"Elon"

I made this because… you know when you tell someone not from SF that you live in SF. you get that look of like:

"Oof really" or they respond with some off remark like, "Oh its a shame what they're doing to that city" or "I used to love San Francisco" or "hmmm, so what do you think of SF" its always implying the city is dying. and in my opinion, SF is not dying. it's thriving.

BUT. I also think SF has this contrast from its past that is unique and I think a lot of people don’t want to talk about it
(FULL DISCLOSURE IM NOT AN SF NATIVE ONLY BEEN IN THE BAY 6 YEARS). SF from the history is one thing: the counter counter-culture movement, the summer of love, hippies, Drugs, Radicals, etc. Now SF is the major city at the center of the world economy, at least I think,  I mean we’ve all heard the stat that California alone is the 5th largest economy in the world. The Bay Area is the center of that at least from a business POV.

So you have this history of counterculture and radicalism, and now it's like the Institutional hub. Definitely not a counterculture staple. But then again. Walk around. There are hippies and radicals everywhere, and normal people too, and weirdos and musicians, and baristas… There are also tech bros and CEO billionaires,  So in a way it is a shame what they’ve done to this city. I just don’t think it's the “they” my conservative SF-hating adults who don’t live in SF are talking about, but then again. I LOVE SF the tech bros are cool and get a lot of hate but I like em. This city is evolving and growing and it's still a major cultural counterculture hub. But not in the way it was in the 70s. It's gone corporate and mainstream. But that's probably a major reason I now live here; I was late to the party.

Anyway why did I paint this: I was exploring the relationship between sf’s history and where it is now. (and I'm still exploring that relationship I don't yet have an answer) And I think the architecture is a perfect way to do that. These houses were built long before the counter-culture, long before the stereotypes of a dying city. And the personality is there. I wanted to show the world the SF I see. The goofiness, the tech bros, the artists, the people who actually lived here in the 70s and still live here. The rich Pac Heights CEO. All of the very much alive culture can be seen through the houses and the personalities who occupy them. So I set out to paint them. To paint them all. To sum up the city the way I see it.

I was always drawn to SF because of the counterculture. The art from the era inspires me. The Music is fire. SF had that allure of counterculture. So “JEFF” was the first house I wanted to show. Because it was a reality check for me. so far I’ve done 7 or 8 of these house paintings but I plan to do at least 30.

Creative Inspiration: Olivar Charland, Will Bryant, Jocelyn Tsaih, Matisse

To find more:

Instagram - @litoffstudios

Website - https://www.litoffstudios.com/