Jeremy Fish’s heart is in San Francisco, his hometown for 25 years. His art embellishes storefronts from his North Beach neighborhood to the Pepsi Fan Deck at Levi’s Stadium, home of the 49ers. He was the first artist in residence at City Hall, working from his studio in a storage closet to produce 100 drawings for the 100th anniversary of the iconic building. He was also the first artist in residence at Coit Tower, around the corner from his studio, working out of the caretaker’s apartment at the top of the tower.
You Don’t Get To Hate It, Sakura archival ink on Strathmore Bristol board, 14 x 14"
His latest series of drawings and paintings of his adopted city will be shown at Hashimoto Contemporary in San Francisco, December 14 through January 4, 2020. The works in The Fog Lovers Club are all in tones of gray celebrating the enveloping fog that rolls in daily from the Pacific.
“It’s an intense time to live in San Francisco,” he explains. “It costs one-third more to live here than in Manhattan. It’s a time to show more love for the city.”
Lillie’s Honor #5, acrylic on birch panel, 30 x 30"Some of his work has been inspired by the positive take on San Francisco by Joe Talbot in his award-winning film, The Last Black Man in San Francisco, 2019, and his father David Talbot’s book, Season of the Witch.
His ink drawing You Don’t Get To Hate It features the home of Jimmie Fails IV, the film’s protagonist and is titled after a scene in which Jimmie tells some girls who are badmouthing the city, “You don’t get to hate it unless you love it.” Beneath the house is an anatomical heart. “I like to draw things that have a push and pull,” Fish says. “The idea of the heart is cute and approachable, but the thing itself is kind of creepy.”
A chapter in David Talbot’s book about the cultural history of the city relates how football, Joe Montana and the 49ers were part of the rebirth of the city. When Fish was commissioned to create art for the Pepsi Fan Deck at Levi’s Stadium he had to admit that he knew nothing about football. He told them he had an idea about football having been “loosely invented during the Gold Rush by these pioneers tossing around a live pig.” The idea caught on and his humorous but reverential figures are part of the deck’s décor.”
49er’s Spirit, acrylic on birch panel, 30 x 30"Working at Coit Tower he learned the story of Lillie Coit who, in her will, left the city a large sum of money “for the purpose of adding to the beauty of said city which I have always loved.” She was also a patron of the volunteer firemen of San Francisco. When Fish heard tour guides telling titillating tales about Lillie and the firemen and that the tower had been designed in the shape of a hose nozzle, he stepped in to refute the tales and to defend her honor.
South of Broadway, acrylic on birch panel, 30 x 30"
Lillie’s Honor #5 continues his defense. In the painting, as well as others in the exhibition, he uses the figure to frame the central image making the subject’s story part of the subject herself.
The symbols and references in his drawings and paintings will drive viewers to look up his references to learn more about The City by the Bay.
Hashimoto Contemporary 804 Sutter Street • San Francisco, CA 94109 • (415) 655-9265 • www.hashimotocontemporary.com
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