Brian Barneclo Covers SF

In our November 2006 Design Issue, we featured San Francisco-based artist Brian Barneclo and his then largest project to date—in square footage—a full-circle tableaux of human sustenance on the side of the FoodsCo grocery outlet at 14th & Folsom streets.

Since then, Barneclo has continued blanketing public and private spaces on an increasingly grand scale. Both Nopa and Puccini & Pinetti's restaurants, as well as the occasional East Bay diner or Redwood City pizza joint, host his jazzy indoor murals, each exemplifying their respective neighborhoods. The inside hallways of the Methodist Book Concern at Market and McAllister (now private condominiums) showcase his surfer-gone-beat style. Rye's brick-walled lounge in the TenderNob sports several Barneclo panels that evoke a warmer-than-usual fog city.

Just a portion of the FoodsCo mural at 14th Street. Photo: Cesar Rubio

Barneclo's signature work at Nopa. Photo: Cesar Rubio

His paintings, on every type of surface—from canvas to wood panel, skateboard to surfboard—are a recurring visual at the upstart galleries in the Haight. However, the Mission district's best kept secret art hive, Fabric8, is Barneclo HQ if there ever was one. The walls (and floor) of the shop's gallery area bears the fruit of a pairing with friend and fellow mural-maker, Sirron Norris—both of whom sell original works there. Fabric8 also regularly hosts live painting parties, inviting local luminaries and emerging artists alike to participate in collaborative works. Barneclo's contributions, including an inspired backyard mural titled, "Tree of Plenty," makes him one of the main ties that bind this cozy retail art space to the cool kids' art scene at large.

Back in his studio, he points to a sea of paint cans and proudly notes that he got nearly all of them from the reject bin at Kelly-Moore. The bevvy of enormous panels propped up against the walls—several in progress—are sourced through a friend who works for, let's just say, "a major retailer" that would otherwise send them straight to the landfill. This re-use is a conscious nod to environmentalism, but that it also makes his production costs much cheaper isn't lost on him, "I probably spent $5 on all that paint."

Inside Barneclo's studio. Photo: Ert O'Hara

Live painting; "Man-o-war". Photos: Mary Nite, Brian Barneclo

Having been a sought-after artist for several years, he marvels at where he's at. "This is what I always wanted, and now I have it, but it's weird. I'm not entirely comfortable with being comfortable." Though he no longer has to constantly hustle to get a gig, he maintains the frugality of a starving artist with the forethought of recycling and a grown-up acceptance that being part of the economy doesn't mean you've sold your soul. "I want to keep one foot in the gutter, but keep reaching for the stars," he says in mock earnestness.

Large, private commissions have been making a splash in his schedule and given him the chance to relax a little and look down new avenues. Two possibilities loom large and small on his horizon. He's got his eye on a few big walls around town, some that would be seen by thousands of people every day. For now, he wants to keep the locations on the down low. "I want to approach this very carefully. I'm not sure about getting paid for these," he pauses, "I'd almost pay them to let me paint!"

Another mode he's toying with is starting anew in a different medium and seeing where that leads him. He confides, "My paintings started small, and now they cover entire walls. I've been thinking about doing sculpture, but I'd want to start on a smaller scale, get my bearings, and go from there."

"2nd Hand". Photo: Brian Barneclo

In the here and now, lucky wine lovers might happen upon Barneclo's artwork on the label of a small run of Syrah produced through D.I.Y. boutique vintner Crushpad, and astute artspotters should be on the lookout for a large-scale triptych of his stylings to go up alley-side on the building shared by Kilowatt and Juice Design Studio at 16th and Albion streets.