P R E S S    R E L E A S E: 
"HEART OF THE CITY"

The North of Market/Tenderloin Community Benefit District, to celebrate the opening of its new offices at 134 Golden Gate Avenue, is pleased to announce “HEART OF THE CITY”, an exhibition of paintings and drawings by Patricia Araujo and photography by Mark Ellinger. The opening reception will be 21 November 2008, from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. at 134 Golden Gate.  Featuring new work by both artists, the show is a tribute to the beauty and splendor of decaying and abandoned architecture and iconic City landmarks that distinguish the Tenderloin, mid-Market Street and Sixth Street/SoMa.

While living in the South of Market, Patricia Araujo was a witness to many of the changes taking place in this redeveloping neighborhood. Her fascination with domes, towers, sacred and municipal structures began with daily observations of the Golden Gate Theatre at Sixth and Market. Mark Ellinger has lived in San Francisco since 1968, residing on Sixth Street and in the Tenderloin since 2001. He has devoted the past five-and-a-half years to documenting central city SROs, theaters and abandoned architecture. The artists are united by their admiration of such structures as the Golden Gate Theatre, the Furniture & Carpets building (6th and Market), PG&E power plant (6th and Jessie) and the Hibernia Bank building at Jones and Market, a source of controversy for many years. Enchanted by the magnificent presence of these sites, both Patricia and Mark have been galvanized by a desire to preserve the architectural heritage and historical identity of San Francisco’s central city neighborhoods. This exhibit will be the artists’ first joint show and the opening will coincide with the release of Patricia’s book, SOMA SEEN, which features drawings and paintings of South of Market architecture, and Up from the Deep Part Two:Mid-Market Street, the first published volume of Mark’s Hotel Project.

To learn more about the artists and their work, please visit their websites: www.AbstractMetropolis.com (Patricia Araujo) and http://upfromthedeep.wordpress.com (Mark Ellinger).
Due to great Press, this exhibit extended its duration through April 11th, 2009!

VIEW PHOTOS FROM THE OPENING!

TO READ CURRENT PRESS AND REVIEWS ABOUT THE EXHIBIT:

Heart of the City/SOMA SEEN, ARTslant, dated January 28th, 2009, by Wilma Parker
Resuscitating the Heart of San Francisco, by Heather Knight, SF Chronicle, dated December 24, 2008
"Heart of the City": Structures Built to Last, by Reyhan Harmanci, SF Chronicle, dated November 27th, 2008.
Review in ArtBusiness.com, November 21st Issue, "Heart of the City" by Alan Bamberger, 2008
Tenderloin CBD Gets New Office; Art Exhibit Tonight!, by Paul Hogarth, November 21st, 2008 @ Beyondchron.org
SF BAY Guardian Best Weekly, November 21st, 2008, by Michelle Broder Van Dyke

SF BAY GUARDIAN BEST WEEKLY PICK
EVENT/VISUAL ART – November 2008

HEART OF THE CITY
"Patricia Araujo and Mark Ellinger have resided in the areas showcased in their art: SoMa, Sixth Street, mid-Market Street, and uptown Tenderloin District. Araujo paints and draws with a fixation on the tops of buildings, as evidenced by silhouettes of domes, towers, spears, clocks, even the pattern of the cross atop the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. Ellinger began photographing single room occupancy hotels about five years ago with a one-megapixel digital camera rescued from the garbage. His knowledge of photography has grown rapidly since then, but his obsession has remained fixed on these small rooms — their insides and outsides. Both Araujo and Ellinger search for the stories within these places of constant flux that some people want to tear down".
(Michelle Broder Van Dyke)