Those passing by Philz Coffee on 24th Street probably can’t help but pause to check out the colorful paintings—the ones that display the Día De Los Muertos-inspired characters wearing San Francisco Giants apparel, and the one that shows a clenched raised fist atop a United Farm Workers flag.
Growing up near the corner of 24th and Capp streets, Greg Carrillo experienced the dawn of the Chicano movement and cultural experience. His paintings recall a time that he can only describe as, “The happiest days and nights of my life.”
Now retired at 59, Carrillo makes monthly visits to the Mission from his Modesto home to catch up with family and friends. And although art has always been a part of his life, it wasn’t until retiring from his city job in San Jose that he started to take his craft more seriously.
After being invited to sell his artwork during a fundraiser for burn victims, Carrillo was offered $80 for a sketch he had done with colored pencils and had framed with a dollar-store frame. He realized he could take his art to the next level.
“I have to tell my story and what I believe in—to pass on history,” Carrillo said.
Carrillo is often invited to speak to as a guest to troubled youth—despite him never even having being arrested.
“Maybe it’s my tattoos,” he said, taking a guess as to what makes him relatable to the youth. But it’s the era of his own youth he recounts most.
Carrillo remembers the Black Panthers marching alongside the Brown Berets during the 1970s. His work consists of many historical events from the Mission, such as the Los Siete de la Raza—the late ‘60s case involving Latino men convicted of murdering a police officer, which raised tensions between the community and the SFPD.
Various works of Carrillo pay tribute to the Chicano movement, such as “United Chicana Riders,” a design piece of Chicana bikers, and “Oh Donna,” a painting of the late Ritchie Valens, the Chicano rockstar who died in a plane crash in 1959.
The use of enamel paint—a medium that’s also used for pinstriping cars—makes the colors of Carrillo’s work vibrant. Before using the enamel he “cuts” it with mineral spirits, then uses a camel-hairbrush to paint.
When asked about his creative process Carrillo says simply: “My brush just takes me on a cruise, on a street called canvas.”