C Bain
ClaireBain Warfield 6ed
“The Warfield Passages” ©1999 exterior wall mural, acrylic paint, photo and silkscreen collage on concrete,12 panels with a total length of 90 feet by eight feet tall. 28 Taylor Street; stage door and side exit of The Warfield Theater, side wall of the Warfield Building at 988 Market Street. Funded by the City of San Francisco’s Neighborhood Beautification Fund; Sponsored by the Mural Resource Center
This mural was designed and painted to be experienced while in motion, particularly as viewed by pedestrians. It is specific to its site because it reflects (figuratively and historically) the immediate area. The design is anchored by the theme of the history of the Warfield Theater, which opened in 1922 as a movie palace and went on to become a Vaudeville theater, and currently is a concert hall for contemporary music. Reading from left to right, the panels follow a time line, starting with a reference to the first moving images of a person (made by Edweard Muybridge, who was commissioned by Leland Stanford of Palo Alto), and moving through other cultural historical references to movies and performers from the era or who appeared at the Warfield. Most of the panels contain portraits of local people who posed for the mural. One of the panels is the view up Taylor Street, as it is seen from that point, imagined as it may have appeared in the early 20’s when the building was constructed. Near the right end of the mural another panel is painted from the viewer’s perspective, showing the intersection of Taylor, Golden Gate and Market as it looks today. Local legend has it that there was a speakeasy in the basement; one panel is painted as a tribute to that, using actual Art Deco imagery copied from photos I took of the basement walls.
ClaireBain Warfield 6ed
“The Warfield Passages” ©1999 exterior wall mural, acrylic paint, photo and silkscreen collage on concrete,12 panels with a total length of 90 feet by eight feet tall. 28 Taylor Street; stage door and side exit of The Warfield Theater, side wall of the Warfield Building at 988 Market Street. Funded by the City of San Francisco’s Neighborhood Beautification Fund; Sponsored by the Mural Resource Center
This mural was designed and painted to be experienced while in motion, particularly as viewed by pedestrians. It is specific to its site because it reflects (figuratively and historically) the immediate area. The design is anchored by the theme of the history of the Warfield Theater, which opened in 1922 as a movie palace and went on to become a Vaudeville theater, and currently is a concert hall for contemporary music. Reading from left to right, the panels follow a time line, starting with a reference to the first moving images of a person (made by Edweard Muybridge, who was commissioned by Leland Stanford of Palo Alto), and moving through other cultural historical references to movies and performers from the era or who appeared at the Warfield. Most of the panels contain portraits of local people who posed for the mural. One of the panels is the view up Taylor Street, as it is seen from that point, imagined as it may have appeared in the early 20’s when the building was constructed. Near the right end of the mural another panel is painted from the viewer’s perspective, showing the intersection of Taylor, Golden Gate and Market as it looks today. Local legend has it that there was a speakeasy in the basement; one panel is painted as a tribute to that, using actual Art Deco imagery copied from photos I took of the basement walls.