#sfgraffiti — Public Fediverse posts

Peet Lum wasn’t necessarily a famous artist, but if you lived in the Mission around 2005–2006, there’s a good chance you have one of his paintings hanging somewhere in your home.
https://docpop.org/2026/05/the-city-is-my-sweetheart-remembering-the-art-of-peet-lum/ #SFGraffiti #SanFrancisco

Peet Lum wasn’t necessarily a famous artist, but if you lived in the Mission around 2005–2006, there’s a good chance you have one of his paintings hanging somewhere in your home.
https://docpop.org/2026/05/the-city-is-my-sweetheart-remembering-the-art-of-peet-lum/ #SFGraffiti #SanFrancisco

“The City Is My Sweetheart”: Remembering the Art of Peet Lum

As another big move comes to an end, it’s time to figure out where all the art goes. I’ve collected a lot of small paintings and sculptures over the years, so this process always fills me with nostalgia for the San Francisco artists I’ve met along the way. None hit me harder than these two paintings by Pete “Peet” Lum.

I think this is the fifth home where I’ve hung these two paintings over the past twenty years. Every time I unpack them, I end up thinking about Peet and that era of San Francisco all over again.

Peet was a fixture of the San Francisco art scene in the mid-2000s. He played drums with the Human Beans, painted graffiti as “Goonies”, and could regularly be found selling his paintings on sidewalks around the Mission District. His paintings often featured cassette tapes, clouds, telephone poles, and whimsical phrases like “The city is my sweetheart” or “We never sleep”. He frequently used found objects, like 2x4s and chunks of wood from construction sites, and kept his palette limited to 3 colors at a time.

His pieces were incredibly cheap, probably ranging from $5-$50, which was perfect for broke-ass artists like myself who loved his work but didn’t have much to offer for it. Peet Lum wasn’t necessarily a famous artist, but if you lived in the Mission around 2005–2006, there’s a very good chance you have one of his paintings hanging somewhere in your home.

When he wasn’t selling paintings, Peet was tagging the city with two recurring characters: a Pac-Man-style ghost with spiraled eyes and a melancholy little bear with a fang hanging out and a heart on its chest. His graffiti name was “Goonies,” though he rarely needed to write it. The characters, along with short phrases lifted from his paintings, were recognizable enough on their own.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve described Peet’s work to friends only to hear, “Oh yeah, I had one of his paintings. Whatever happened to that guy?” Sadly, Peet passed away on May 25th, 2006.

Peet’s art had a huge influence on me, but I didn’t know him personally. Our bands played a few shows together, and I’d chat with him whenever I ran into him on the street, but we never really hung out beyond that. I loved his characters, his phrases, and the clean, crisp lines in his work, but mostly I loved how much Peet cared about this city.

San Francisco’s art scene in the 2000s felt so full of energy and possibility. There was amazing art and music everywhere, and the city still felt affordable enough for weird little scenes like this to thrive.

Whenever I see Peet’s work, I’m immediately transported back to my early days in this city and how exciting it all was.

If you have a story about Peet, or photos you think I should include in this post, you can leave a comment below or email me at [email protected]. And if you have any of Peet’s old work laying around, I’d love to add it to my collection. I’m still broke, but maybe we could trade stories or yo-yos 🙂

Gemini: A new kind of hell from Google.

(a modified Google ad spotted this morning) #SFGraffiti #SanFrancisco

Gemini: A new kind of hell from Google.

(a modified Google ad spotted this morning) #SFGraffiti #SanFrancisco

New posters in San Francisco calling out Google and OpenAI over their business with the Department of War and ICE.

The group behind them, We Will Not Be Divided, say they’re current employees worried their work could be used “for domestic mass surveillance and autonomously killing people”. #sanfrancisco #SFGraffiti

New posters in San Francisco calling out Google and OpenAI over their business with the Department of War and ICE.

The group behind them, We Will Not Be Divided, say they’re current employees worried their work could be used “for domestic mass surveillance and autonomously killing people”. #sanfrancisco #SFGraffiti

@[email protected] For over 20 years, the wall outside the old police station on Valencia Street has been a space for art, fliers, and political statements. Here’s an old SF Chronicle piece from 2005 about someone who helped keep it going: https://www.sfgate.com/opinion/article/police-station-turns-into-wall-of-free-speech-2624814.php #SFGraffiti #MissionDistrict #SanFrancisco

@[email protected] For over 20 years, the wall outside the old police station on Valencia Street has been a space for art, fliers, and political statements. Here’s an old SF Chronicle piece from 2005 about someone who helped keep it going: https://www.sfgate.com/opinion/article/police-station-turns-into-wall-of-free-speech-2624814.php #SFGraffiti #MissionDistrict #SanFrancisco

“Elon empowers Pedos”

Posters stating “Grok creates AI child porn” and “Elon empowers pedos” are appearing all around the Mission District in San Francisco. There’s no information on who is behind these posters, but there is a link to this recent Wired.com story about the huge amount of child sexual abuse material that Grok is making on a daily basis.

Although the posters are clearly targeting X / Twitter / Grok, the poster design is clearly referencing Facebook’s classic “Move fast and break things” era typography. These new posters are using a darker shade of orange, probably for higher contrast, but it sure has that same feel to it.

I used that same exact color/font combo when designing my “Move purposefully and fix things” stickers in 2018.

Posters claiming “Grok creates AI childporn” are showing up around the #MissionDistrict. No clue who’s posting them, but they point to this Wired piece: https://www.wired.com/story/grok-is-generating-sexual-content-far-more-graphic-than-whats-on-x/ #SFGraffiti #Graffiti #SanFrancisco

Posters claiming “Grok creates AI childporn” are showing up around the #MissionDistrict. No clue who’s posting them, but they point to this Wired piece: https://www.wired.com/story/grok-is-generating-sexual-content-far-more-graphic-than-whats-on-x/ #SFGraffiti #Graffiti #SanFrancisco