Dan Fontes 1958~2026

     To my total surprise, I just learned two hours ago through social media, that one of my Facebook Friends had suddenly passed. Dan Fontes, an acquaintance of mine, and renowned Oakland and Bay Area muralist, was only sixty seven at the time of his demise. According to early news reports, cancer was the cause.

    Normally, I would always receive his semi-regular Facebook updates, and merely thought the recent lull in posts was because of other art or hobby-related activities momentarily taking up his priorities. I had no idea.

    And now he's gone.

    Dan Fontes and I first met at Cafe Van Kleef (CVK) in Oakland. In need of more steady income, I had just switched over from the Oakland Arts Department to work for Peter Van Kleef at Peter's fledgling art bar. Due to my freelance association with the City of Oakland, I was already aware of Dan's mural work and was more than overjoyed to finally meet him, when in 2003 he accepted Peter's invitation to add four figures to the mural hanging in the cafe (more on that in a bit).

    Dan and I soon struck up a casual friendship, and remained acquaintances over the years. That acquaintanceship extended to Facebook. And as I actually happen to live so very near to one of Dan Fontes' "Animurals", he and I would sometimes run into each other on the street. After my stint at CVK and returning to the Oakland Arts, I would also bump into Dan there, at a public meeting or art event, or his at his studio space, the one or times I dropped in for a visit.

    I always enjoyed our meetings, however fleeting.

    Speaking of one such encounter...

    Below is a series of pictures I took, when I chance to catch Dan restoring one of his "Giraphics" murals beneath the 580. En route on foot to a weekly commitment in Oakland, where I was no longer a resident but still having business (just up Oakland Avenue in fact from where I use to reside) we crossed paths. My commitment it so happened, was smack on the opposite side of that same MacArthur overpass.

    Pleased to see each other, Dan and I chatted for a bit. Leaving his assistant to carry on, he then suggested and volunteered to descend the scaffold to take my photo, kindly obliging me with a photo pose in return before I had to dash off to keep my appointment.

     I had no idea then this would be our last public encounter. The date was Thursday, April 25, 2016.

Dan Fontes, when last we met, and I still had personal commitments in Oakland. Thursday, August 25, 2016.

       This final, in-person meeting happened to coincide with the start of Dan's 2016 'Animural' Restoration Project, slated for completion unbeknownst to me by Earth Day April 22, 2017.

That's not an optical illusion you're witnessing. The scaffold is actually leaning toward the mural. Thursday, August 25, 2016. Dan's assistant is Kristi Holohan.

     And as the target date neared, a flurry of flyers went out inviting one and all to come enjoy the day and Dan's art. Wholly unaware of the announcement was I however, no longer residing, as I mentioned, in Oakland.

The official flyer for the Giraffe Murals' Earth Day, April 22, 2017 opening.

 

  Yet, sure enough, as luck would have it, by pure chance alone, I just happened to take these next two photographs two days prior to Earth Day! Once again, I was on my way to my weekly engagement.

Spot the three giraffes in this panoramic view. Thursday, April 20, 2017

My favorite Dan Fontes’ “Giraphics”. Thursday, April 20, 2017

    Dan's murals are many, but in once particular case, I can truthfully state that I had a hand.

    Back to 2003 and Cafe Van Kleef. 

    Peter Van Kleef, the eponymous proprietor, had this large mural, which had already been reworked by a second artist to populate to the tableau with recognizable personalities. Hence the appearance of Jerry Brown (Peter's then neighbor), Pablo Picasso, Gertrude Stein, Vincent van Gogh, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and Andy Warhol. When in the fall of that year, the cafe officially got underway and was opened to the public, Dan was invited to add a few more notable celebrities.

Cafe Van Kleef Mural  -  Photo by Douglas Zimmerman/SFGATE 2023-05-11

    First came Frida, followed by James Brown. Dan simply overlaid Frida Kahlo, head and shoulders atop a generic guitarist in the bottom left foreground, taking good advantage of the ready-made forearms and instrument 

    James himself, got slotted in bright lemon-lime, to the right of Jerry, perhaps in an bid to brighten up the latter's dour demeanor. ;-)  Or maybe, like twins, Dan just wanted the two Browns together.

Cafe Van Kleef Mural - Photo by Douglas Zimmerman SFGATE 2023-05-11

 

     Then came the fourteenth Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, third on Dan's list. Dan was almost done with the Dalai when suddenly there was a problem and he stopped. Up to this point, for each of the individuals, Dan had been relying on a photographic referent, but for the Dalai Lama, he needed a twist and lacked a guide.

    That's when Dan turned to me as we were chatting, and asked me if I could literally lend my hand. Sticking a bar glass in it, he then pulled out his Polaroid and once he was satisfied of the pose, snapped a picture. A moment later, with the freshly developed print in hand, Dan once again resumed his painting.

With the help of Google’s machine learning (A.I.) to blur out the surrounding imagery, yep, that’s me in the mural: the fourteenth Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso’s right hand man, er, um, uh… right hand!

    Not that anyone knows or cares - few do - but that's how I ended up literally having a hand in one of Dan's artworks and the story behind my brief stint as his hand model.

    A fourth figure was begun, but did not see completion. Craggy Keith Richards started to take his place at the extreme opposite end of the mural, but Peter and Dan had a falling out. Peter reneged on paying Dan the money he was due, and Keith was left uncompleted as a result.

    Fortunately, Dan and I remained friends. I only learned the reason for the parting much later. From Dan own lips. Sadly, knowing that one side of Peter, his spottiness with regards to monies due, I'm not surprised. Even I went unpaid. Were it not for Peter's wife, Cindy Reeves, who saw to it I eventually got paid everything in full, I would have been out on the streets.  

    But enough with the bummers and the prior puns already. All joking and some regrets aside, having had the honor to be of help to Dan is indeed, a memory I fondly treasure, and it's nice nevertheless to find a part of me unexpectedly immortalized. No big deal to Dan, but I have been more than well-rewarded.

Lake Merritt Mural Project (1988) Dan Fontes

     For all his kindness, his artistry, and decency, I am so saddened by Dan Fontes' sudden departure. I can barely believe it, and cannot even begin to imagine the heartbreak and anguish his long time, loving partner, Julie Lucchesi must be enduring. She was so very dear to him. Indispensable..

    Dan was a pleasure to have known and interact with, and I will miss him.

    To quote the recent remark of an admirer of his: "Rest In Paint".

-    -FIN-

PVK, Ten Years Out

Low resolution copy of one of my favorite, Peter Van Kleef images. Photo credit pending.

    Today marks the ten year anniversary of Peter Van Kleef's passing. He was an extraordinary man, whom I almost did not meet. Were it not for the concerted efforts of another good friend of mine Di Anne Love, Peter and I would likely have slipped past each other in life."There's this person you just gotta meet, whose place you're just gonna love!" 

    She was right.

    Needless to say, I am ever grateful to her for having coaxed me to step out of my shyness and into the enchantment that was Peter and Cafe Van Kleef.* 

    I remember the particulars well..

     For months Di Anne Love, my employer at The City of Oakland Crafts and Cultural Arts Gallery, was doing all she could to introduce me to this amazing guy who she told me had some kind of fascinating art space., she was certain I would really love. Albeit, reticent as I was to meet people unknown to me or to enter unfamiliar territory, I simply hemmed and hawed, putting it off.

    Luckily Di Anne never gave up trying. She merely had to wait for the opportune moment and propitious of circumstances. In reality however, she didn't have that many chances available to her. This was because Peter's accessibility at the time. His schedule didn't exactly make it easy.

     For in 2001, Cafe Van Kleef, was still largely an on again - off again affair, its doors were literally sometimes open for business and not as the budding business underwent a couple of trial incarnations from bistro to bar. In the meantime, Di Anne would simply have to bide her time.

    That opportunity finally presented itself one afternoon, when on the occasion of returning to the art gallery from lunch, we chance to drive pass CVK** with its front gate momentarily up, although the nascent was currently in its "closed" phase.

     Catching sight of the open gate and acting fast, Di Anne immediately parked the car, and asked me to follow her inside,the establishment on the sudden pretext that she had something to hand its proprietor. This, she later confessed, was merely a ruse to get a diffident me "in the door". Suspecting nothing, I obliged her, completely unaware this, in fact, was that very place and person to which she had been trying, and almost in vain, to introduce to me! 

    Once she succeeded however, I was simply agog at the artistry confronting us. The sheer eclecticism, wall to wall; floor to ceiling; front to back as far as the eye could see was astounding!

     Seconds later, Peter stepped under the gate behind us with some items retrieved from the basement. When he saw me my awe and staring moments later at the "flying aquarium" mounted high in the wall overhead, he mused "I bet you're wonderin' how I feed them?!" (Indeed, there were live fish in the tank!) "I do it with this!" 

    Standing beneath a huge, parabolic mirror, mounted on a tripod he himself had cobbled, Peter winked. Then coming around to the back side of the bar, he extended his hand. After that, a drink followed.    

   When Cafe Van Kleef permanently opened to the public, I was there at his side as his employee on that first business day. Peter, myself, and his nephew, Lance Cardenas. We three. Peter had won me over, although Di Anne was probably not expecting the degree to which he did. To her credit, she graciously let me go, as the position Peter extended to me was full time. My work for the Crafts and Cultural Arts Gallery was only for two weeks every other month.                                                                                                                                                             

    Peter the man I came to know, work for, and remember, was the living living embodiment of one my favorite quotes from the 1964 comedy 'What a Way to Go!' - the first half of the maxim in particular: "Art erupts!" His prodigious creativity was nothing short of volcanic.

    To me, Peter's personality was larger than life, and I was fortunate, thanks to Di Anne, not only to have made his acquaintance, but experience the fleeting wonder of it.

 

 

 

 

*Sadly, Di Anne preceded Peter's death by about a year. Di Anne, by the way, was the one also responsible for introducing me to Trish Keefer, a remarkable person in her own right. Trish is still my best female buddy to this day.

 

**CVK (Cafe Van Kleef) is now CRVK (Cindy Reeves Van Kleef). Cindy, all along, the true owner of the business, was Peter then wife.

 

 

Every Which Way But…

‘The Flintstones’ (1960 season one open) Hanna-Barbera Productions

     Now, the fun er, horror begins!

     On way way home, the first time driving from Cafe Van Kleef, Google Maps tries to misdirect me through Oakland, then succeeds in providing me with the wrong instructions once I get to the freeway entrance that was closest all along.

    Next I am repeatedly urged to remain in the rightmost lanes coming to a fork in the road, when at the very last second, Google s changes it’s mind and says “take the left fork”. By then that is impossible without my crashing headlong into the divider. And as I see Highway 24 veering away from me, I am now heading towards San Francisco, west and not east!

    Ignoring Google’s inexplicable prompts, I instead put myself, with no time to lose, onto the nearest off-ramp, and am now Berkeley bound. I don’t know what the heck Google Maps is calling out, but I am plainly on my own and in unfamiliar driving territory. However, when I spy an exit sign for 13, I take it but miss the sharp right turn leading from the ramp.

    Lost!

    Great, now where on the surface streets of Berkeley do I go?

    Finally, Google Maps gets its bearings and leads me through the industrial district back to the freeway. It fortuitously proves to be northbound Highway 80! Thank Heaven!

    Electing later not take the interconnecting Highway 4 to 680 (besides, I’m boxed-in at the moment and can’t make the turnoff even if I wanted) I just stay the Hell on 80 and come in the side route via Vallejo to Fairfield from the north and west. Having to overshoot home, I nevertheless manage to eventually return to my domicile, safe and sound, albeit bewildered!

    That Google Maps! The one time I really needed to make the crucial move, and it failed me utterly! This sadly, isn’t the first time but that has happened, but in the freeway maze that is downtown Oakland, I was reluctant to trust my judgment. 

    Boy, was that a mistake!

    This time it proved to my detriment.

Julia Rose Vigil

    Today I learned the sad news from a mutual friend, Andrea Barros, of Julia Rose Vigil's sudden passing.

    I met Julia in the early 2000's while working for Peter Van Kleef at his eponymously named establishment: Cafe Van Kleef. The "cafe" was a local watering hole for artists. Hangin' out, with her violin sometimes in tow, was Julia. She had  very dry wit, and I thought, perhaps I'd be too conventional for her. But Julia was a very accepting person and soon we'd be shootin' the breeze. She was one of the few this shy person would seek out, whenever she arrived.

    Julia also had a love for spiders.

    I once sent her a birthday card highlighting her arachnophilia and as you can see from her personal photos that I wasn't very far off.

    That’s what I liked about her: her difference.

     Julia was taken from us too soon.

     May she ever repose in our hearts.

 

From Julia Rose Vigil's personal photographs.

 

 

 

 

One of my spider themed birthday cards sent to Julia

Life imitates art.

 

 

 

 

 

Dream a Dream

In Memory of a Man...

Peter Johannes van Kleef and Cynthia Reeves
Photo by Ali.

Peter Van Kleef (July 12, 1950 ~ September 8, 2015) pictured here with his adoring wife and business partner, Cindy Reeves.  Tribe photo by Ali.

Person(s) in Common

From my Facebook page:
 In 2003 I happened on two artists in Oakland, actually make that three, whose works I've really ejoyed. Here is the craft of Marco Cochrane and Peter Van Kleef at a particular nexus in Uptown Oakland. Dan Fontes also lent his talents, but I've got to capture a better shot of the mural he graced.

'Let Flames Describe'

Overhead lighting Cafe Van Kleef (modified). Photo by antaresrichard

Peter and Cindy, Cindy and Peter

I stopped by Cafe Van Kleef the other day when both Peter and Cindy happened to be there, so I let my little camera run to catch the two of them together behind the bar. The crowds were coming in, so Peter and Cindy were much too preoccupied to notice my recording or concern themselves. I know my video might read like a plug (I was trying to think up copy for the crawl) but hey, I use to work at the Cafe. I can't help it. And besides, it's true: Peter, Cindy, and the Cafe were there first with the vision for the Uptown district!

Here's a photo taken earlier in the shift depicting a hard working Cindy in the shot. Peter and she had just arrived with fresh grapefruit for the Greyhounds.

Cafe Van Kleef. Photo by antaresrichard