Holiday Exhibition Sat-Sun Nov 24-25 1 PM - 6 PM

I will open my studio for a Holiday Exhibition the weekend of November 24 - 25 from I PM - 6 PM. Works of view will include paintings of San Francisco, Oakland, Italy ,Mexico as well as my Garden Series.

I will provide refreshments, and guests will be welcome to explore my storage racks.

“Late Afternoon Lake Merritt”, 22” X 36 “, oil/canvas

This is a study for a painting that was commissioned for the Dublin Courthouse by the Alameda Art Commission. It will be on display at my Holiday Exhibition.

My paintings bear witness, from the street, to a variety of places and cultures. They need to be viewed first hand to be fully appreciated. Small jpegs on a glowing screen are a poor substitute for the real thing. This is why I invite you to visit me in my studio.

If, however, you wish to follow the progress of my work and gain a glimpse of earlier series, you may follow me on Instagram: @holdsworthpaintings

“La Victoria in Light of the Fires” 15 x 20”, oil/panel, 11.9.2018

Within days of the closure of this Mission District icon San Francisco was blanketed in smoke from the wildfire that consumed the city of Paradise. It is part of a series entitled “In Light of the Fires”

For directions to my studio; http://www.anthonyholdsworth.com/visit-studio/

My studio will continue to be open the Last Sunday of every month from 1 PM - 6 PM except for May and June of 2019 when I will be traveling and painting in Italy.

Two Upcoming Exhibitions

  1. Paintings of Nicaragua and Mexico

Alley Cat Gallery, 3036 24th Street

April 2 - April 29,  Reception: April 6,  7 - 9 PM

The Festival of Diriamba, Nicaragua, 1984    Un Rincon de la Plaza Grande, Patzcuaro, Mexico

Paintings created over many years based on travels in Nicaragua and Mexico. Some have never been exhibited before.

Special guests at the reception: Nina Serrano and Francisco Herrera. I will also be screening a short video at 8 PM entitled "Mexico en mi Corazon"       Join us: www.alleycatbookshop.com

2. San Francisco in Transition:

Anthony Holdsworth and Beryl Landau

Luna Rienne Gallery, 3318 22nd St

April 28 - May 28, Reception: April 28 7 - 9 PM

Paintings by Anthony Holdsworth

We have both been painting San Francisco for decades. This is only the second time that we have shown exclusively together. Join us: www.lunarienne.com

Paintings by Beryl Landau

Painters Exploring Italy - Extended 2 weeks

Beryl Landau and Anthony Holdsworth

September 14 to October 27, 2017

Opening Reception, Thurs. Sept. 14, 6:30 - 8:30 PM

Video Presentation: Sept. 28, 6:30 PM

Istituto Italiano di Cultura

601 Van Ness Avenue

Opera Plaza, SF

Gallery Hours M-F 10 AM - 5 PM

View from the Trastevere, Landau                                                                               The Fish Market, Catania, Holdsworth

Background on this exhibition:

My arrival in Italy in the late Sixties utterly changed my life. I reached Florence penniless having hitchhiked from Paris. By chance, I was offered a job helping clean up the churches after the catastrophic flood of Nov 1966. I soon became Head of Outdoor Restoration for the Uffizi. Thus I was able to live for a year and half in a tiny rooftop apartment just a stone's throw from the Palazzo Vecchio at a time when the historic center was still a thriving Italian city. Almost below my 'attico', on Via dei Rustici,  was a tiny butcher shop. The butcher would compose extemporaneous verse to accompany each purchase. Also close by was a trattoria frequented by Florentine transvestites. 

The traditional quality of Florentine life was a revelation to me. I could walk fifteen minutes into the hills beyond the city walls and stand in fields where the 'contadini' were ploughing with oxen. Or I could wander the narrow streets of the Oltrarno where craftsmen still practiced trades initiated in the Renaissance. One of my favorite places to hang out and sketch was the Mercato Centrale which, in those days had a large outdoor market filled with wheeled carts with bright awnings. 

What made the most lasting impression on me, as an artist, was the intimate connection between the art on the walls of the churches and the daily life of Florentines. 

Returning to Italy with Beryl Landau !984 - 2014

Beryl above Taormina                                                      Approaching Stromboli                                       Painting the Fish Market, Catania

I returned to Italy, for the first time, in the mid eighties with Beryl Landau. We enjoyed traveling and painting in the 'Bel Paese' so much that we continued to visit every other year. This exhibition features a small selection of the work we created over these three decades.

                              The Amalfi Coast, Landau                                                                             Piazza Kalsa, Palermo. Holdsworth

                         Roman outlook, Landau                                                        Cinque Terre out my Window, Holdsworth

Video Screening, Thursday, September 28, 6:30 PM

The Istituto would like you to sign up for this event on their Website  

The 38 minute video that we will screen at the Istituto is a visual diary of our last two month painting excursion. Though mostly focused on our travels from Catania, Sicily via the Aeolian Islands, Naples and Rome to Emilia-Romagna, it also makes passing reference to the huge changes that I have witnessed in Italy since the mid Sixties.  It features guitar and mandolin music by Hugo Wainzinger and Al Fabrizio.

After the screening we will answer questions about our travels and our paintings. Join us!

Anthony painting above Naples.                                                                      Leaving Catania.                    Beryl above Castellammare               

Mission Lake an urban legend

I witness a constant drama when I paint in the Mission District. There is a cast of thousands all of whom have riveting stories about themselves and about the locations where I'm painting. They are wonderful stories - though I sometimes doubt if some of them are true. But stories, true or untrue, tell us a lot about the neighborhood.

Mission Lake # 1 - This work will be part of my exhibition at Luna Rienne Gallery July 8 - Aug 7

When a fire ripped through the enormous, three story corner building at 22nd and Mission Streets on January 28th, 2015 it had a huge impact on the community. The building was home to a number of businesses including the New Mission Market as well as sixty-two tenants, one of whom died in the conflagration. Coinciding closely with the release of locally filmed " The Other Barrio"  a " neo-noir " which dealt with the issues of gentrification and landlord sponsored arson, the Mission was rife with anger and speculation. 

 The abandoned building experienced two more fires before it was bulldozed early in 2016 leaving an adjacent, fire scarred building standing forlornly above a gaping hole. This scene was, I observed to my painter friend John Paul Marcelo, an excellent illustration of the gentrification that was ravaging the Mission District. He promptly painted a small canvas that beautifully conveyed this sentiment.

Oil painting by John Paul Marcelo

Though always in the back of my mind, it took me much longer to get around to painting the scene.  I noticed, In the intervening months, the imposing black iron fence that rose around the abandoned site, but I hadn't stopped to gaze through it. When I did I was amazed. The gaping hole had become a calm reflecting pool surrounded by clumps of flowers. And large scale graffiti had blossomed on the side of the forlorn building above the pond.

Immediately I started painting, people were asking me if I'd heard the frogs.

 "Frogs!" I exclaimed " In the middle of the Mission?" 

"Yes, you can hear them at night." a young man responded.

 His friend indicated an official sign posted further down the black fence titled "The Mission Memorial Frog Sanctuary".  I was in a hurry to return to my painting so I scanned the notice until I reached the key paragraph "After 235 years, the hibernating Mission Frogs finally emerged from the foundation of the fallen framework, producing a profound presence in the present pasture and pond."

I was astonished. That evening I pondered the possibility that frogs could hibernate for 235 years. The next evening my wife, Beryl Landau, and I walked to the Alamo Drafthouse Movie Theater to pick up a DVD. On our way back we stopped at the pond. We heard no frogs, but we took a closer look at the sign. It's purple prose as well as the dedication, 'Donated to the community by the Haus of GWERT', was a giveaway that this was an elaborate prank. Going online I found cell phone recordings of the "Frogs"  except to me they sounded like one solitary bullfrog.

So, some joker introduced a bull frog into a muddy hole and another put up a sign and now the whole neighborhood was buzzing about the renewal of nature at "Mission Lake". Of course, since I was painting this "miracle" I got swept up in the story . My painting and I were popping up on social media.

Chewy Marzolo. owner of Escape from New York Pizza, posted the photo to the left.

 Did the rapid growth of this urban legend alarm the property owner? Did he fear a mass movement to dedicate Mission Lake as a public park?

Whatever the reason, the Mission Memorial Frog Sanctuary sign disappeared from the fence, and I arrived, one day towards the end of my second painting, to discover the the "Lake" dry.  A woman informed me that it hadn't evaporated as I initially supposed. It had been pumped dry. A worker in a red shirt was busily painting over the graffiti on the house. Of the "miracle", only the flowers remained. Flowers that I realized, early on, where not wildflowers.

 "You're right about that." a tall man observed who turned out to be Chewy Marzolo, proprietor of Escape from New York Pizza.

 " The cat is out of the bag, so I can confess. I scattered seeds from the roof when it was wet and rainy. I think that it really improved the site."

Mission Lake # 2  This painting will be part of my exhibition at Luna Rienne Gallery July 8 - Aug 7

The Rise of Fascism In America

In 2003 I was painting at 8th and Jefferson in West Oakland when our forces invaded Iraq. As I followed the reports of our illegal aggression and the wholesale slaughter of innocent civilians, I found myself imagining Oakland invaded by Abrams Tanks firing, willy-nilly at all perceived threats. Below is a detail from my painting titled "Regime Change Comes to Oakland"

At the time, this painting was intended as a metaphor, a way of arousing empathy for the unfortunate people of Iraq, but it began to acquire a surreal prescience during Occupy when I witnessed the Alameda County Sheriff riding around the streets of Oakland in an armored vehicle identical to the ones being used in Iraq.

I recalled my brother in law, Saul Landau, observing some years ago that Democracy and Empire were incompatible. I witnessed Homeland Security directing the use of overwhelming force and agent provocateurs against peaceful protesters. It was clear to me that we were sliding towards Fascism.

What was fairly obvious to activists in 2011 has become crystal clear to millions of Americans with the accession of Trump. The fact that this sociopath did not win the popular vote and probably stole the swing states with the help of Republican operatives, only makes matters worse, because it throws into doubt the continued viability of our political system.

This image may be be downloaded and printed as a 13.5" X 15.75"" poster or as 7.5" X 8.5" print . Download poster.         Download print.

A General Strike

Donald Trump has already demonstrated his utter contempt for our democratic institutions. He has begun by attacking the most vulnerable among us - immigrants. It is clear that without organized opposition he will go on to cripple the judiciary, assail the fourth estate and dismantle essential social programs that the majority of Americans need to survive.

No effective opposition can be mounted from within the government alone. After all, the Republicans control all branches of government, and, so far,  are gleefully advancing his agenda.

Demonstrations, and e-mails alone will not halt the consolidation of power by Trump and his cabal. We must demonstrate our greater power unequivocally by shutting down the economic engine of this nation. A General Strike, perhaps a series of them, will send a clear message to Trump and will also weaken support for him within the Republican Party. It is the most effective tool the people have. We need to use it soon!

Occupy the Port of Oakland, 2011( My good friend John Paul Marcelo is painting the same event on the far left. To view a video of many of the Occupy paintings that we painted along with Jessica Joy Jirsa, scroll down to "Anarcho-Syndicalism. Camille Pissaro and the Occupy Movement" )