Luna Rienne Gallery is pleased to present Mission Lake, a solo exhibition featuring San Francisco artist Anthony Holdsworth.

Mission Lake showcases Holdsworth’s recent series of small-scale plein air paintings depicting San Francisco’s Mission District. The show title is taken from his image of the vacant lot at the corner of 22nd and Mission Streets where, until last year, there was a massive mixed-use building that housed 62 long-term tenants and nearly a dozen small local retail businesses.

A fixture on the San Francisco and Oakland streets since the 1980s, Holdsworth strives to paint things that represent the reality in which we live. In the past five years, he has focused on the Mission because he truly appreciates and wishes to celebrate the neighborhood’s strong sense of community as well as its roots in Latino culture, having painted in Mexico, Nicaragua, and Cuba.

Anthony Holdsworth was born in England and embarked on a painting career while working as Head of Outdoor Restoration for the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy. He continued his studies at the Bournemouth College of Art in England, and then the San Francisco Art Institute. Originally a landscape artist influenced by the Bay Area Figurative Art movement, Holdsworth began painting plein air cityscapes near his Oakland studio. Eventually he made his way to San Francisco’s Mission District, as well as more detailed renderings. He has shown with major galleries through California and has been a recipient of the WESTAF-NEA fellowship. Holdsworth lives in San Francisco, and works both there and in Oakland.

Familiar Places features Tan’s latest body of work, including fine art canvases depicting in San Francisco’s Mission District. Coming from a background in graffiti art and lettering, Tan’s style has grown to include series of cityscapes that document the changes in the city through a native’s perspective. In particular, the postcard image of Thrift Town laments the loss of a long-time retail instititution.

Nathan "Nate1" Tan was born in England and then immigrated to San Francisco as a child. A self-taught artist, he became a local graffiti legend in San Francisco and Daly City while a teenager. After earning a degree in graphic design at San Francisco State University, he worked professionally before starting a kids' hip hop clothing line called New Skool in 2003. Still based in San Francisco, Tan teaches graffiti and mural arts in addition to running New Skool and producing fine art.