Almost 300 artists lease studio areas in San Francisco’s iconic Hunters Level Shipyard, the U.S.-naval-base-turned-art-community within the Bayview. Amongst them is Malik Seneferu, longtime occupant of studio #2511, native San Franciscan and focus of “Malik Seneferu: A Retrospective” on the San Francisco Predominant Library.
“Even during my early practice, I understood that art was really my purpose for being here on this planet, and so I always took it very seriously. It’s saved me on so many levels, and allowed me to flourish in my own personal life,” says Seneferu, who will lead a walk-through of the present at a gap reception on Thursday.
Now a number of a long time faraway from that preliminary consciousness of his raison d’être, Seneferu has amassed a physique of labor that features hundreds of items, together with work, sculptures and assemblages.
“A Retrospective,” pulling from that huge repository, is on view Jan. 16 to April 20 as a part of the library’s “More Than a Month” celebration of Black historical past and cultures. This system kicks off on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, runs by February for Black Historical past Month, and continues, as steered in its title. Performances, hands-on actions, creator readings, displays and reveals that align with this 12 months’s nationwide BHM theme of “African Americans and Labor” are amongst occasions within the lineup.
Curators say that Afro-centric work by San Francisco’s Malik Seneferu “will capture your heart and wake up your artistic sensibilities.” (Courtesy Malik Seneferu)
Thomas R. Simpson, founder and inventive director of the AfroSolo Arts Pageant, and Peter Fitzsimmons, an actor, documentarian and the founding government director of the Jazz Heritage Heart (previously within the Fillmore District), collaborated on creating Seneferu’s retrospective.
“They both have been following my artwork over the past 25 to 30 years, so they really wanted to highlight the work that I’ve been doing,” says Seneferu.
The exhibition, offered by AfroSolo and curated by Fitzsimmons, options “explosions in color; a legacy series [honoring] elders, sculptural works; an assemblage series; and reproductions of original artworks,” in accordance with library web site.
“A huge part [of the exhibition] was Thomas and Peter thinking of work that they knew me for. It also gave me the opportunity to present work that folks may not know of me creating,” he provides.
Fitzsimmons says, “Malik Seneferu will capture your heart and wake up your artistic sensibilities while sharing his universal themes of love, redemption and hope as seen in his Afro-American centric body of art. …Do not miss this gateway into Malik’s ongoing creative path!”
“Retrospective” contains “From the Hill and Beyond,” a collection initially exhibited within the Bayview Opera Home, the place Seneferu early in his profession was an artist-in-residence and the primary artist to show work within the historic venue. The collection contains colourful, summary acrylic work of figures in homage to Black historical past and ancestors comparable to his grandmother.
The collection title refers to Hunters Level, the place Seneferu was born. “My mom, my grandmother, grew up there, and every time they would talk about it, I never heard them say ‘Bayview’ or ‘Hunters Point’; they would just say ‘the hill,’” he says.
Malik Seneferu’s “From the Hill and Beyond, #6” is a part of a collection that includes pictures of the neighborhood the place he grew up. (Courtesy San Francisco Public Library)
Different items within the exhibition, comparable to “Brothas Untitled,” “Black Fist,” “Angela Davis” and “Maya’s Revenge” are a nod to Seneferu’s social justice curiosity and activism.
His work, he explains, corresponds with points of himself and his private experiences, together with these involving household.
“I was born in Hunters Point and raised in San Francisco—that’s how I like to put it, because we moved around a lot in the city when I was a kid. I went to several different elementary schools, moving from neighborhood to neighborhood with my mom, my little sister, and then later I had two younger brothers,” he says.
Tragedy befell one in every of his brothers, having an early, and lasting, influence on Seneferu, who says, “One of them, unfortunately, was taken away in Hunters Point by gunfire. … [D]ealing with that circumstance of reality kind of sculpted who I would become in my personal life.”
His preliminary curiosity in changing into an artist took form when he was younger: “I started to draw whatever I saw on TV from Saturday morning cartoons—the WBs [Warner Bros.] and Disneys and all of that stuff,” he says.
Invoice Cosby’s “Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids,” which ran from 1975-1985, grabbed his consideration. It impressed him to create sketches of somebody vital in his life with whom he had spent restricted time: his dad.
“My first try at really drawing someone was trying to draw my father, because I always wanted to see him when I was a kid. But there were some complications between him and my mom. They were youngsters in their 20s, trying to figure out life in California. My dad realized that he wasn’t going to financially make it, so he moved to Peoria, Illinois, and that was the last I heard of him. I was maybe 2 years old,” he says.
His father’s absence left room for creativeness when it comes to how Seneferu depicted him.
“I would draw pictures of my father, thinking that maybe he had some things going on, that he had his own business, or something like that. My mom, at the time, was a bank teller at Wells Fargo. She took me downtown, and I saw all the men walking around with suitcases. So I would draw pictures of my dad with a suitcase, maybe walking down the street. And you can see some of that in a lot of my works that I’ve done in the past 35 to 40 years,” Seneferu says.
Different influences embody artist Dewey Crumpler, who Seneferu first encountered when visiting his grandmother at her Bayview barber store on Third Road.
“I was 5 years old, and across the street, I saw a guy working on a mural, and I told my grandma, ‘That’s what I want to do. I want to do that.’ And it turns out it happened to be Dewey Crumpler,” he says.
Seneferu cites artist JoeSam., the previous director of San Francisco’s Head Begin artwork program (by which Seneferu took half) as one other one who’s had an affect on his observe. JoeSam. additionally began the Shipyard Belief for the Arts (STAR) Artist in Residence Program in 1996. Seneferu was the primary artist chosen for the year-long program.
Seneferu was grateful to have spent a while together with his mentor and buddy earlier than he died in June 2024. He says, “When he passed away, that was a really big deal for me, because he really kind of helped me solidify myself as a professional artist.”
Seneferu’s a few years of creating artwork —and a profession out of it — prompted his improvement of the motto “Remain creative,” which he options on social media.
“You can create something that is rarely seen. It’s almost akin to a plant growing from the ground, or to a child being born. … My hope is that we can get more into the relationship of creating, that we can have a better relationship with the creative side [of things],” he says.
“A Retrospective” is indicative that Seneferu leads by instance.
“Malik Seneferu: A Retrospective” opens with a 5:30 p.m. reception on Jan. 16 and runs by April 20 within the African American Heart Exhibit House, third flooring, San Francisco Predominant Library, 100 Larkin St., San Francisco. For details about the reception, go to sfpl.org/occasions/2025/. For particulars in regards to the exhibition, go to sfpl.org/reveals.