Dan Fontes "A Jeff Hull fantasy" 8x10 painting

8x10 painting on wood panel

Dan Fontes is a lifelong Bay Area resident and has practiced mural painting since 1981. He is probably best known for his Giraffe and Zebra murals beneath the 580 freeway at Harrison St. & Broadway in Oakland.

He also painted the tallest mural tribute to senior citizens in the United States, the 100 foot tall Bethany Senior Center, at 21st and Capp Street in San Francisco’s Mission District, originally painted in 1997 and successfully restored in 2018. Dan has worked on over four hundred public art projects mainly in the Western US and collaborated on dozens of projects. He has received commissions from the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, Playland not at the Beach of El Cerrito as well as from the cities of San Francisco, Concord, Alameda and Oakland. He has worked on dozens of commercial projects as well as interior and exterior projects. His murals are also in two of Oakland’s sister cities: Fukuoka, Japan and Dalian, China.

He received the Precita Eyes “Master Muralist” award in 2004. His work has been included in eight different publications pertaining to public art. He was commissioned for twelve murals through Alameda’s Pacific Pinball Museum. In addition, over two hundred articles have appeared in various periodicals discussing his art. Dan has served as teacher, arts consultant, jury panelist and board member for over a dozen arts non-profits at different times. More at: DanFontesMurals.com

The following is a subject guide to many of the projects I’ve created over the years: Environmental activism (giraffes, zebras, sea turtles murals, jellyfish, alphabet animal series) (my work with Greenpeace, Sierra Club etc…), A desire to promote the humanities and showcase diversity (festival murals, Bethany Senior Center, Sister Cities murals) A longstanding concern and appreciation of Oakland (Oakland Gems, JB murals), A lifelong interest in history (Tales of History, Full Steam Ahead, Pacific Pinball Museum, Playland natb, Concord History mural) A specific interest in Bay Area history (Playland not at the Beach, Love not War mural) An interest in promoting arts in the schools (Renaissance of Papermaking murals, Stanley Middle School, Wildwood School etc…), A desire to portray local character and light (Lake Merritt Mural, American Noah, Market and Drumm)

Jeff Hull is a fellow artist and producer from Oakland, California. He is known for creating the Oakland-based fashion line and street art campaign Oaklandish and The Jejune Institute.

The “Jeff Hull” reference is just me being silly about this gentleman who bears a general resemblance who was sitting outside an optometry office sitting in a chair and I liked the way the the light was baking him while he read his phone. When I looked again I realized the subject had taken off his shoe but I couldn’t find the shoe in the scene and therefore the mystery began.

You can’t beat the shadow angles and the balance of hot and cool colors with Northern California daylight. It’s unusual for me to paint so small and therefore more challenging.