(This is part of our summer intern Lilly’s series on Mission Street Art. To read more, check out her Mission Street Art primer.)
Who run the world? Girls! Well at least that’s what Beyonce preaches in her songs. Women within the last hundred years have been pushing boundaries in a man’s world with careers nowadays that would make our great-grandmothers blush scarlet. But in a world that has drastically transformed, it’s shocking to find that even in the field of street art men are still dominant. Why? My guess is as good as yours; perhaps the late-night scaling sides of buildings and hoisting up materials might take more strength than the average girl can muster, or the fact that women tend to subconsciously avoid mysterious dark allies at night. However, Amanda Lynn, a San Francisco female freelance muralist, designer, and fine artist, may be testing the male dominant form of expression with her own choice of theme.
The 1920s will forever be remembered as a time of female rebellion and enlightenment. The rebellious flappers with their short fringed dresses, stylish bobs, and the risqué crimson stained lips personify the era that we know and love today. Amanda Lynn is known for painting seductive and empowered women, and it’s no surprise that these roaring 20’s gals would be a muse for her murals in San Francisco’s Mission District. In fact, while walking the streets of the Mission (and trying to pretend I wasn’t lost with my face frantically squished to Google maps; a country girl can maneuver a horse but place me in the concrete jungle and I’m as good as a sitting duck) I got lucky and stumbled onto block after block of Lynn’s signature work.
Lynn’s journey began as a small child, when she discovered her artistic abilities and had a supportive family that encouraged her sense of creation. Lynn self-trained until she began studying under Robin Grass, an artist living in Pennsylvania. Grass taught Lynn how to paint and opened her mind to the vast world of possibilities art can create. Lynn’s next step in her artistic career was moving to San Francisco, where she studied at the Academy of Fine Arts and received a Bachelors of Fine Art degree with a major in illustration.
However, Lynn’s street art career didn’t begin until 2001 after meeting and joining the Seventh Letter crew, a group of traditional graffiti style street artists. The time spent learning from this graffiti crew explains why a piece of graffiti appears with every mural Lynn creates. When Lynn isn’t working on murals under the cover of night fall, she spends her days on automotive painting, metal sculpting, and individual studio pieces making her a true jack of all artistic trades. Currently, Amanda Lynn has teamed up with Lady Mags, a fellow San Francisco street artist. Together, they are know as “Lynn-Mags”.
But what would an artist be without a signature motif? Lynn says that her flirtatious muses came to her through her experiences in this one-of-a-kind quirky city (one week here and I could tell that no matter how much you might be odd or eccentric, someone’s got you beat). San Francisco is teeming with inspiration, and as an artist myself, I could see how she would be bombarded with fresh visions every time she walked down the street. If anything, focusing on a certain idea long enough to see it completed would be an impossible task in this city.
Since Lynn-Mags was created, Lynn has said she’s found a much needed artistic relief focusing on collaborative themes with her artistic partner. Now, when left unattended Lynn finds her female characters reflecting the shift she is taking with her art through Lynn-Mags. Today’s risque flapper might give way to tomorrow’s alluring alien. Amanda Lynn is keeping us on our toes.
You can find Amanda Lynn’s murals in and around the Mission on 69 Duboce Ave., 359 Potrero Ave., and Clinton Park between Valencia and Stevenson.
