For the last 5 months I’ve been painting a series of oil portraits of mug shots. The subjects are from mug books found at SF Public Library’s History Center on the 6th floor. The arrestees are “muzzlers” and prostitutes from 1919 and 1932. There are some amazing faces to work with. The photos are black and white so I am creating my own color palette. The hair and eye color, as well as height, weight, age and offense is noted with each photo and supply clues to their true appearance. I’ve spent some time researching each individual (when possible) and found whole, sometimes tragic, life stories. On the wooden edge of each panel are the names, ages and penal code burned in with my handy woodburning kit.
I will try to post some of the stories I’ve unearthed. In the meantime, here’s a link to a timelapse video up on FB:
