On the corner of Mission and Rolph streets, Tim Hon and Eric Nodora are quickly spray-painting on the black-primed side of Billiard Palacade, a cavernous pool hall on the southern edge of the Excelsior District.
Just as quickly as the men discuss potential black outlines and shading, billiard balls appear, with incredible scale and vibrance, incoming from the shadowy player’s stick.
Hon and Nodora, who make up half of the Illuminaries collective, are Bay Area-based graffiti artists, muralists and designers who have been using graffiti art to uplift public space for decades.
Although most residents associate graffiti with gang violence or taggers making their mark across the city, the Illuminaries have taken the medium and made art that prevents taggings. Professionals like Hon and Nodora work with building owners, get commissioned and most times paid.
“It’s all give and take. He gave us the wall, let’s give him a pool player,” said Hon while adding “514” to the neon balls.
This project in the Excelsior is the first for the group in the district.
Although you may not know the Illuminaries, you’d probably know their work on the other side of the Bay: A giant sea turtle soaring over Interstate 880 in Oakland, a Downtown Oakland 100-foot A’s elephant, Stephen and Ayesha Curry’s “Eat Learn Play” bus, and middle school murals. The collective has come a long way since its beginnings tagging freeway overpasses.
“It’s an art that started with the youth. But they don’t stay at it for very long,” said Peng, a veteran graffiti artist and curator of Lilac Alley near 24th and Mission streets. “We’re not doing the hit-and-run type of stuff. It’s a whole other world to a graffiti artist.”
The Illuminaries mural in the Excelsior is a collaboration with other established artists, including Peng and Cheph, who have painted the wall in a succession of various murals and artworks since 2007. The most recent change of ownership, welcomed the opportunity for a work of art that reflects their business.
“If we were in a rush, this could probably take us three hours,” Hon said, looking at the 20-foot outline. “But we’ll be here for as long as it takes,” which was estimated to be until the sun set, a total of about seven hours under the afternoon sun.
As a family stops on an evening walk to watch them paint, Hon offers to have their young son write his name on the mural. The boy is too shy, and runs back into the arms of his mother, but the Illuminaries smile. They can’t help but try to encourage the next generation of Bay Area graffiti artists.
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