Paolo is an amazing San Francisco based artist who I had the privilege of meeting up with in a nice little 7th and mission dive bar for some pretzels and beers on a busy Friday SF afternoon. With Rappin 4 Tay bumpin in the background it was amazing I was able to get his nose out of the grind stone long enough to conduct an interview. Paolo is an extremely dedicated artist who moved to the East Bay when he was a toddler by way of Baguio city in the Philippines. He can now be found scouring all corners of San Francisco soaking up what the city’s people have to offer and spewing it into oil based perceptions of reality.
“I like to make paintings that investigates peoples desires, not everyone has the same desire and to some people desire can be a negative thing like a vice. A lot of people’s desires control who they are, whether good or bad. What I’m interested in is people with really weird or obscure desires and giving a funny aspect to it. Like I know I have a painting where there is a guy in a trench coat who flashes a cop, there’s people who like to show their body and that’s their desire.”
Nobody is safe, from Tranny’s to Manny Pacquiao all is included in the name of Paolo and art. It’s all “open ended”
“I like to do something different every time. I consider myself really sensitive to my surroundings, i like expressing what I see and how people really work in society. People are so different and that’s what keeps me interested.”
Paolo is not a one medium kind of artist he reaches beyond oil on canvas, he is currently experimenting with different types of media on 3 foot by 5 foot rolls of paper including markers, pastels, india ink, and spray paint. Basically anything he can get his hands on. He has come a long way from his coloring book origins and drawing pictures of his friends as a kid. Paolo studied art at San Francisco State and claims he’s still just experimenting.
“Where I’m at as an artist, I’m still not committed to one specific concept, so a lot of times i experiment. You might catch me doing something abstract, something that makes no sense but I just want to paint. I’m totally experimenting I don’t want to pigion myself into one thing I mean I’m still learning.”
Not to mention as skilled with the saw as he is with the brush as you can see from the “As Madeline Sleeps” fence piece. Looks like it should be something adorning a front yard in the mission district it was actually a commission piece in the Glenn Park neighborhood in San Francisco. You can also find public murals in San Francisco by Paolo in the USA hostels on Post and Jones and also at Sutter and Taylor. Recently Paolo and fellow artist Jenn Farmer Collaborated on a piece for “Artopia” an SF weekly party dubbed as a night of Bay Area music, art, film, fashion and culture.
“Yeah it was a collaboration piece with Jenn and with the community at Project One Gallery. We left polka dots all over the place so that people could paint in (live) at the party. I was actually surprised at the amount of people who wanted to paint on it, majority of the party”.
Though Paolo’s living in the city I had to rip him about being an A’s fan and commend him for still drinking 40’s in the park.
“Man I’ll always be an A’s fan I like the Giants but A’s fan for sure………Yeah I still drink 40’s in the park you know it, Forty Fridays!!!”
Well it sounds like it’s back to the grindstone for Paolo
“I just made like a hundred canvas’s so i wanna do like 30 paintings in like 2 months or so. I’m getting loaded off reloading.”
Sounds like he’s got his work cut out and I wouldn’t doubt this man for a second!!! We’ll be checking back with you in two months peace P
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