Mother Earth

California’s Mother Earth, cradling the golden poppy’s medicine, its gift of calm, a symbol of resilience that blossoms in the midst of hardship. She is visited by California’s ancient sister butterfly, guardian of renewal and strength, reminding us of the transformative power of the spirit.

This butterfly’s extraordinary metamorphosis reflects the journey of a determined heart, forever shaped by the healing force of growth and the courage to thrive, which is what we will need in the next four years.

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Adrian at SFO

Thanks to Winslow & Associates, Inc. for the invitation to paint a temporary mural to honor a wonderful celebration, Dia de los Muertos at San Francisco Airport, SFO, Terminal 2, which will be visible to passersby until November 9th.

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Adrian at The California Museum

It is an honor to have been invited to create two altars at the California Museum in Sacramento, dedicated to Yolanda Lopez and Rene Yanez, two of the most prominent and influential Chicano artists, in addition to having been my friends and mentors. Thank you Lindsey Crawford for the constant support. A big thank you to Amanda Sanchez, Exhibitions Director of the California Museum.

Here is a link to learn more about the exhibition

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CORAZONES / HEARTS. New exhibition at the Red Poppy Art House

Thursday October 3rd, 6:33pm to 9pm

Music by singer songwriter Lalin St. Juste, Special Ceviche-performance by Adrian. RSVP sending an Email: adrian.arias@gmail.com

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Live painting at Freigth & Salvage Bobby McFerrin Circle Songs

Here a collection of images of several sessions painting live

 

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Paintings and poems

Origin of love and water

When elements merge,

water and love weave a dream

blue light births new life.

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Sacred Corn

Roots deep in moist earth,

golden sun in ancient eyes

journey’s light now shines.

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Love can be a blue hot pepper

“River to the Sky”, Turk @ Hyde, SF: HERE

“BLM in Chinatown”, Grant 2 Vinton Ct: HERE

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Live painting at El Rio in SF

with the Left Coast Ensemble as part of the SF International Arts Festival

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Live painting at Yoshi’s with John Santos Sextet

some images by Tom Ehrlich 

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Live painting weekend

On May 2nd at El Rio with Left Coast Chamber Ensemble

On May 3rd at Yoshi’s with John Santos Sextet

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Happy Birthday Billie Holiday

A couple of sketches prior to the execution of the “River to the sky” mural on the corner of Turk and Hyde in San Francisco. Billie Holiday did her last West Coast tour at the Blackhawk Jazz Club, which was located on this corner between the years 1948-1961. More info about the Jazz Club here

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The Ambassador Hotel re-opening with my mural

The re-opening of the Ambassador Hotel in San Francisco is a reality! In the lobby of the Hotel I was commissioned to make a mural in memory of the great Hank Wilson, activist and hero of LGBTQ rights.

Hank founded and co-founded many organizations, including the Gay Teachers Coalition; the Butterfly Brigade, which became the Castro Street Safety Patrol; San Francisco Gay Democratic Club, which became the Harvey Milk Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Democratic Club; the Tenderloin AIDS Network, which became Tenderloin AIDS Resource Center; the PWA Coalition; Mobilization Against AIDS; a film festival that grew into the Frameline Film Festival; the AIDS Candlelight Vigil, which became the International AIDS Candlelight Memorial; the Committee to Monitor Poppers and ACT UP/Golden Gate, which became Survive AIDS

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Solaz get an award at the IZZIE’S

Special Achievement Award for Outstanding Production Honoree

La Tania Baile Flamenco and the Presidio Theatre recognized for the outstanding production of Solaz an immersive flamenco, multimedia performance with choreography by La Tania, artistic direction by La Tania and Adrián Arias (visuals)

Photos and video by Adrian Arias, except when Adrian appears, photo by Julie Mushet. Link to see a SOLAZ 2 minutes video clip HERE

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Remembering Jess Curtis

Dear Jess, we will miss you very much. You looked at the world with special eyes and created your performances with adventure, compassion, pleasure, ceremony and risk. Thank you for the Symmetry Project, one of the most incredible performances I have ever seen in my life. And thank you for Gravity.

Rest in Power querido Jess.

Jess drawing at Counterpulse altar

#adrianariasart

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Upcoming Exhibition of new work

Dear community, my next exhibition of recent works will be in a different, unconventional space, and very connected to my new series of Hearts/Corazones and drawings made after a dream or a vision. It will be at the eleventh house, 7 Bolinas road, Fairfax, California. opening on Saturday March 16 at 7pm. There will be some lately created work live at Freight & Salvage with the legendary Bobby McFerrin Circle Songs.

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Manifest Differently at Minnesota Project

Live painting for 2 hours at Manifest Differently

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I’m participating in the Manifest Differently exhibition curated by Megan Wilson, Kim Shuck and Trisha Lagaso, at the Minnesota Project, from February 3 to March 16, 2024. With this interactive tree and with these two works related to my feeling as an immigrant, and with a Tree of Life for an interactive experiece with the audience.

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Live painting at John Santos and Bobby McFerrin

In the past few months I have participated in several live painting sessions with great musicians from the Bay Area. Here are images from John Santos’ CD Release and some images from my usual participation in Bobby McFerrin Circle Songs Mondays. Both at Freight & Salvage, Berkeley.

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Hank Wilson mural at the Ambassador hotel in San Francisco.

Ancestral Hummingbird at Mission District in San Francisco

Part of the series of Ancestral Hummingbirds that I have painted in Peru and Mexico, now in San Francisco, on the corner of 24th Street and Osage Street, half a block from Mission Street, in front of the BART station. More murals here

Ancestral Hummingbird at SFO

As part of Day of the Dead organized by the San Francisco International Airport, here images of the great experience at Terminal 2.

Ancestral Hummingbird at the Exploratorium

As part of Day of the Dead organized by Marigold Project.

Día de los Muertos at SOMArts, 2023

Dia de los Muertos exhibition at Somarts, curated by Rio Yañez and Bridgétt Rex. There I have an altar-installation dedicated to the great Harry Belafonte and the sacred Hummingbirds. Open until November 3, 2023 in Somarts, 934 Brannan Street, San Francisco

New solo exhibit at ATA

thanks to Trisha Lagaso, Megan Wilson, Kim Shuck, all Mannifest Differently team, and Rene Yañez Presente! Show open October 8-31, 2023. ATA is located at 992 Valencia Street, San Francisco.

New mural at the corner of 23rd Street @ Folsom

“La mujer Indígena no es invisible”, mural unveiling on Saturday October 7th, Red Poppy Art House, 2698 Folsom St, San Francisco. Thanks to Dina Zarif, Reneé Baldocchi and Finny Balboa for the support, thank you to Jorge Molina and Kim Shuck for the Land Acknowledgment and poetry. And thank you Lindsey Crawford for your help painting this mural.

More Murals by Adrian here

Dia de los Muertos / Marigold ProjectI have the honor of co-curating Dia de los Muertos at the Marigold Project with Rosa de Anda, holding two exhibitions and ceremonies at the Exploratorium on October 19 and at Potrero del Sol Park on November 2. Participating artists are Mara Lea Brown, Susan Matthews, Lila Maes Shah, Danielle Revives, Bryan Dominguez, Fiorella Dominquez and Arturo Mendez

Altar installation for Dia de los Muertos at SOMArts

opening on October 6th, 6-9 pm SOMArts, 934 Brannan St, San Francisco

New Mural at Clarion Alley

Inspired by this drawing, which is part of a dream with my ancestors, I paint this mural in September, as part of the Mannifest Differently event.

New Murals in Mexico & Peru

Ancestral hummingbird at Bundo Cafebreria, Xalapa, Mexico and at Kasa Kambalache, Lima, Peru 

SOLAZ

at the Presidio Theatre in San Francisco

photos byKegan Marling

photo by La Tania

Multidisciplinary Flamenco and visual show, created by La Tania and Adrian Arias, with music by Jose Luis de la Paz, dance by Mizuho Sato, Melissa Cruz and Cristina Hall, cante by Jose Cortes, and musicians Gary Haggerty and Faisal Zedan.
More information about the artists HERE
World Premiere, July 21 at 7pm, Shows also on July 22 at 7pm and July 23 at 4pm. Buy tickets for SOLAZ HERE

New exhibition

SOLAZ Multidisciplinary flamenco show

I am happy to announce my collaboration with La Tania Baile Flamenco, in the creation and co-direction of SOLAZ, which will be presented at the Teatro Presido on July 21, 22 and 23. You can see the complete information and get your tickets HERE.

After my artistic trip to Paris, a collection of new pieces. More art HERE

MURAL at FREIGHT & SALVAGE

I’m so happy to announce that I was selected to create a mural at the iconic Freight & Salvage in Berkeley

LINK HERE

And FaceBook page for comments here

MARCH-APRIL-MAY PERFORMANCES

Saturday March 25, Grand Opening and Party for the Tarot in Pandemic & Revolution at CAST & 5M Park

LINK HERE

Saturday April 1st, I’m curating MAPP-Illusion show at the Red Poppy Art House

LINK HERE

Sunday April 2nd I will be performing a special poem, as part of John Santos

LINK HERE

Saturday April 15 and Sunday April 16, Adrian will be performing with his group PERFORMANCE L.A.B. at D.I.R.T. Festival, at Dance Mission Theater

LINK HERE

May 20 & 21. Performance LAB presents “Pieces of Time”

More info and Buy tickets HERE

Tarot in Pandemic & Revolution

I am happy to announce that The Tarot in Pandemic and Revolution will have a great public birth on Saturday March 25, 2023 on CAST. Full information here

And you can contact me at  adrian.arias@gmail.com  if you like to buy a deck

Image reclaiming the power of the Indigenous Woman

Indigenous Woman of the Americas is not invisible (3)
Watercolor and ink on Arches paper, 26 x 40 inches

Indigenous Woman of the Americas is not invisible (2)
Watercolor and ink on Arches paper, 26 x 40 inches / Private Collection

New work – Pandemic Art

The New Monolith (1) -negative-. Acrylic on canvas, 30×40 inches

“Flooding in my used covid test cabinet, while a california golden trout streaked across the sky casting ancestral blessings”. Acrylic and watercolor on Arches paper. 26 x 40 inches

“Strange Totem from the 21st century found in an old abandoned house in the desert in a full moon night”. Acrylic, ink and rainwater on Arches paper. 22.5 x 30”. Acrylic and watercolor on Arches paper. 26 x 40 inches

Live painting at the Berkeley Museum

As part of the Full Long Moon celebration, and dedicated to the Tarot in Pandemic & Revolution

Adrian in a news article on KQED, NPR, Click HERE

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New private mural in Lima, Peru

The image represents the birth of a bird when two people meet. The iconography and graphic images are inspired by Mochica-Chimu designs, ancestral cultures of ancient Peru, and in nature.

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Adrian’s new book of poetry

will be presented in Lima on November 29, 2022. Edited under the Peisa publishing house, and with a preface by Mario Bellatin.

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Visual collaboration with “Archipielago”, play created by Begoña Caparrós in Madrid, Spain

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Altar Sound-installation by Adrian will be at the Exploratorium

Opening November 10, closing December 4th.

This altar sound-installation, with music specially composed by Anais Azul, was part of the Day of the Dead organized by the Marigold Project at the Potrero del Sol Park.
More images of Adrian’s Día de los Muertos installations HERE

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Adrian in new book about Artists in San Francisco, 2022
I am very grateful to be a part of this book edited by Shizue Seigel with 16 pages of my multidisciplinary art.

If you want to buy it go to this LINK

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MURALS

“River to the Sky”

A mural on the corner of Turk and Hyde in San Francisco, honoring Miles Davis, Billie Holiday, the Blackhawk Jazz Club, BLM, the sacred water and rivers under the ground, the California Poppies, the Ohlone territory, my ancestral Mochica land.

Thank you Darryl Smith of Luggage Store Gallery and Someland Foundation

Thank you Kasey Rios Asberry and the Tenderloin neighborhood, Caleb, Krissy and Stella for your incredible help.

 

69 second video showing the making of River to the Sky HERE

Images from the process and the finished mural

Complete Statement and meaning of RIVER TO THE SKY HERE

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Mural at GOOGLE

Very proud to have been part of an Art Residency at the new Google facilities, creating a two stories four walls mural dedicated to my grandparents: Love story of Hummingbirds and Ancestors
These hummingbirds tell us a love story that made my grandparents’ hearts beat on their night of love, after which my family grew like a garden, always visited by more hummingbirds. Hummingbirds are sacred messengers between life and death, between what must be transformed to stay alive.

CLICK HERE to read about the 9 selected artists and Adrian’s explanation and images at the end of the article.

Official opening TBD

New Mural @ MAGIC THEATRE in San Francisco

“Indigenous Women are not invisible”

The image of this indigenous woman is based on four native women from the territory that we now call America. Woman of Mochica ancestors in Peru, my culture, mixed with Nukak Woman native to the Colombian Amazon, from which I have been inspired in her face painting. Ohlone woman, who also painted her face with that black line and other parts of her body. And Yuma and Pápago Woman from the border area between what we now call Arizona and Mexico, whose hat I have used, which is a basket, and also features of her face.

On her chest you can read “My Body Not Yours”, and also in Spanish “Mi cuerpo, Mi Alma”. It bears the image of the fallopian tube, as a sign that indigenous women also have reproductive rights. In her right ear she wears a “Chakana” which is an aboriginal symbol of the indigenous peoples, of what was the Tahuantinsuyo (now part of Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile and Argentina) that is more than four thousand years old, and represents a four-sided ladder, connecting the four elements and the four directions. And in her left ear she wears an earring with the inscription “Say Her Name”, which is a social movement that emerged to denounce police brutality against black Women, and in this case, it is also a claim for indigenous Women.

“Dreams and Suitcases” ephemeral mural at The Red Poppy Art House

Adrian Artist in residence at the Red Poppy Art House. Several events and art pieces will be created at the RPAH. Here the link to see Live painting by Adrian on June 18, 2022 LINK

Mini ILLUSION show 10.1 @ Red Poppy Art House

Mini Illusion show 10.1 created by Adrian on June 4, 2022. With special guests Mara Brown, Pancho Peskador, Tongo Eisen Martin, Josiah Alderete, Lucia Lilikoi, The Genie and Monica Maria Fimbrez.

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 TAROT in Pandemic & Revolution

24 visual artists and 43 poets from the Bay Area participating in this unique Tarot deck, whose idea came from a dream of Adrian.

More about this Tarot HERE

You can order your deck HERE

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Adrian in Instagram:

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Dia de los Muertos @ SOMArts

dedicated to five human beings who lost their lives due to police brutality

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Altar for Jack Hirschman

With tremendous pain, I am drawing this life-size portrait of Jack, unstoppable poet, friend, and mentor, who rests in the pantheon of revolutionary poets.

Jack Hirschman, December 13, 1933 – August 22, 2021

Jack and Adrián at the entrance of the Red Poppy Art House in 2004.

My first poetry reading in San Francisco was with Jack at Café Boheme in 1999

Gracias querido poeta

Adrian´s statement here

New Flower series

Anna Halprin, teacher and friend who is always with us. Her wisdom will continue to inspire us, to create artistic spaces that help us reconcile life with the body, humanity with social justice, inner strength with the energy of our senses. Thank you Anna for everything you gave us.

Altar for Anna at MCCLA 

Adrian 15 minutes collaboration online with Darren Johnston in trumpet, Shania Rasmussen in dance and Amy Seiwert as producer. February 2021

“Adrian´s Art in Pandemic & Revolution” a virtual exhibition, at the Red Poppy Art House in San Francisco.

Dance and painting collaboration with Mimi Cezanne Stoll at the Red Poppy exhibit “Adrian´s Art in Pandemic & Revolution”

Another mural at Grand Ave in Oakland, supporting local business

New temporary murals at Lakeshore in Oakland

@ Good Vibrations, first sex-positive and women-friendly store in the United States, founded in 1977 by Joani Blank. In 1992 it became a cooperative of its workers and in January 2012 open its 6th store in Lakeshore Ave. in Oakland, where this temporary mural is located. As part of their recognition as a leader in sex-positive culture and education, GV received a Certificate of Honor from the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.

Last live-performance-painting @ Machina Loci Space in Berkeley

50 seconds time-lapse here

New Mural @ Machina Loci space in Berkeley. Life is a Treasure was a live paint improvisation, for 3 hours while Anais Azul played music on September 27th 2020.
Thanks to Carol Mancke for the commission to create this piece.

You can see 3 hours work in one minute time-lapse HERE

Also here the Adrian Time-lapse collection and more in his VIMEO page

Adrian Arias is an American poet, visual artist and performer. He was born in Peru and has lived in the San Francisco Bay Area since 2000. Adrian reinvents animals, creates dream-based languages and codes, explores the absurd and the surreal visually and creates paintings in action and murals related to the pandemic and the social revolution that we are experiencing.

Adrian use movement as a form of art, as a choreographer and visual poet. Adrian is also a cultural promoter, art teacher and artivist actively working in the community, receiving commissions to create murals in the San Francisco Bay Area and other parts of California.

 Letter A as part of Black Lives Matter on the asphalt of Petaluma Public Library

“8:46” Altar installation for Day of the Dead at SOMARTS San Francisco, 2020

Mural commission in San Francisco’s Chinatown.

“Adrian Arias, the ever brilliantly inventive poet of the gesturing Word” Jack Hirschman, poet and activist, San Francisco Poet Laureate.

Here you can see his new series of painting in pandemic

Here my 2019 paintings

Here PANDEMIC CREATIONS in collaboration

Here my STORE with small paintings

Adrian lives and works in Oakland, California.

On Saturday, November 23, 2019 at 4:14 pm, my most recent creation, DREAM # 8, will be presented, thanks to FLACC, Festival of Latin American Contemporary Choreographers, which this year invited me to be part, with a performance in the Berkeley Museum, BAMPFA.

DREAM # 8 started at my art residence in BENAMIL, Spain, after receiving the news that a father and his daughter had died while trying to cross the border, I began to have a series of dreams that gradually became This performance.

DREAM # 8 has the participation of members of Anna Halprin Scoring Lab: Amy Cranch, Sue Heinemann, Darcie Luce, Marguerite Etemad, Carol Naber and Craig Amos. Production Assistant Mara Hernandez.

From July 1st to 21st, Adrian will be creating art in BenAmil, an art space in the nature of the Sierra Valenciana in Spain

Day 1, 2 and 3

Paintings dedicated to Oscar and Valeria, father and daughter who drowned trying to cross the US border

Visual poems by Adrian @ 2007

Dream # 7 will be presented in version in progress at the MAPP, at the Poppy Art House in San Francisco, on Saturday, December 1st, 2018 at 7:07 p.m.

I thank FLACC for being part of a festival that grows with strength and beauty in San Francisco. Thanks to my collaborators at DREAM # 6, Kenya Moses in the voice and Mara Hernandez performing.
DREAM # 6 is a dream where a person is plasticized while listening to strange explanations about who the people of America are. After being completely covered in plastic, the body hears a voice and initiates the liberation ritual, until it can leave space.
This piece was conceived in the Young Museum in 2010, as part of my artistic residency in the museum, where I created 5 pieces related to the use and abuse of plastic.

Dance Mission Theatre, November 9, 10 and 11, 2018

In collaboration with Mara Hernandez, we created two installations for “Dia de los Muertos 2018”.

At the Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts is a video-installation altar in memory of Mariee, the 18-month-old girl who died after leaving the ICE facility where she was detained and was not medically treated.

At SOMARTS an Alley-altar dedicated to our teacher, mentor and friend Rene Yañez, the Chicano artist who brought Dia de los Muertos to San Francisco more than 40 years ago, and who was always willing to help emerging artists, creating opportunities in the Arts.

Blanck Placard (1970) and Parades and Changes: Dressing / Undressing and Paper Dance (1965) are two of the most iconic creations of Anna Halprin, and will be happening in the Young Museum this Saturday 20 and Sunday 21, and it is an honor to participate in them.

Parades and Changes (1965–67 and revivals)

Parades and Changes is always evolving; it is never performed in the same way. Although it includes distinct scores, which specify activities over time in space with people, these are not fixed; they simply tell people what to do, not how to do it. Certain scores may be dropped or new ones added to fit the demands of a particular performance environment or social situation. One of the best-known scores involves dressing and undressing, revealing how an ordinary task can become a dance when it is done with awareness by the performer. When the piece premiered in Sweden in 1965, this revolutionary use of nudity onstage was seen as a “ceremony of trust,” but two years later, in New York City, it led to a warrant for Anna’s arrest.

Blank Placard Dance (1970 and revivals)

At a time of multiple protests against the Vietnam War and social injustices, Anna invited people on the street to voice their concerns. A group of white-clad performers marched down city streets carrying blank placards, and taking care to keep 10 feet apart to avoid the need for a permit. When asked, “What are you protesting?” the performers inquired, “What do you want to protest?” and collected the answers. After writing the responses on the placards, they walked back, bearing the spectators’ messages. This piece has been reenacted several times, including the  performance What Matters to Us in 2015 in San Francisco’s diverse Mission District, home to many colorful murals addressing cultural and sociopolitical issues.

Sunday September 2nd, was a beautiful afternoon at the Red Poppy Art House, where we shared stories of my paintings, my theory of dreams, I painted live, with the guitar accompaniment of my dear friend Genie, and we took pisco sours with friends. Thank you Renee Baldocchi for all the curatorial work and the great help to carry out this art adventure.

as part of Sea Ranch Anna Halprin Lab. Adrian created a score to honor the ocean of Shell Beach, with inspiration in the sculptures of Camille Claudel and Rodin

more images HERE