This is the former site of the much-beloved and much-mourned downtown independent bookstore Stacy's. It's stood empty for a year or more. So, walking by the other night, I was at first not terribly surprised to see a great big ad for Patron Tequila splashed all over the front windows--this has become a common recession-era practice in recent years, a way for landlords to squeeze a bit of money out of all their standing-vacant primo downtown retail properties--I was not surprised, that is, until I spotted the unusual set-up in the lower left-hand window. What was it?
Yes, that's right! It's a real live artist working in a tiny artist habitat. No doubt, like panda bears, it is exceedingly difficult to get artists to perform in captivity, but this Tequila manufacturer has pulled it off. How exceedingly strange.
Perusal of the signage revealed that they have, not just this one San Francisco artist, but artists behind glass in major cities all across America. It did not explain to my satisfaction, however, what an artist making art had to do with bottles of booze for Christmas (unless that is perhaps self-explanatory) or their taglines "Simply Perfect" and "Eliminate Regifting." Perhaps it's: Eliminate regifting--give the simply perfect gift of a live artist clutching an empty bottle! Just don't forget to punch some air holes in the box.
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