by Renée Padgham

You can’t miss him. He stands a foot above everyone, with sandy blonde hair, paint speckled jeans, and a calmness to his demeanor only acquired through years of intense focus. He has piercing eyes, blue with specks of green and brown, that can see through to the heart of anything they’re directed at. For those lucky enough to be in San Francisco, that’s us. Shawn Bullen is taking the insides of our city and putting them up on the walls  — and he's a living, breathing force of opposition to the idea that art ever died here.

You’ve met him. On 24th street. At the Boom Boom Room. The Chicago native has become ours for now  —  re-awakening our communities as Creative Director of Imprint.City and bridging the divide between art and technology with his newest series. Not to be taken for granted, he’s had to leave pieces of himself all across the continent to get here. From almost joining the marines, to being arrested for vandalism, to even being homeless  —his unrelenting passion has sheltered him along the roller-coaster ride that brought him to us.

When Shawn was a child, his father was getting his PhD at the University of Chicago and would bring home large stacks of discarded paper for him and his sister to draw on. The mindset that paper was a canvas perpetuated throughout his life, no matter what those in charge intended it to be for. Homework became illustrations, journal entries were works of art  — all filling up the binder he carried as the hallmark of his identity.

In high school he met a graffiti artist named Chris Gary, with whom he developed IDC Art House, and kicked off the chain of events that shaped him into the talented muralist we have today.

One early piece, on the roof of a produce market, brought him both jail time and his first real gig. After being caught on camera, he convinced the judge to let him clean his work himself instead of paying for it to be cleaned. The owner joked that he could’ve at least done something nice with the delivery truck  — this became one of his first commissions, and he worked on it all summer.

On probation from his recent arrest, Shawn realized he needed to re-align his focus. He decided to take photography classes at Columbia College Chicago, but he slipped into a drawing class last minute. That teacher inspired him, and he again became focused on drawing.

He went to Halifax, Canada to study at NSCAD and spent his days grueling to perfect his craft. While there, he approached a local elementary school to teach a volunteer class, eventually enacting a mural that would cover a 60 ft wall. He also worked with the Halifax Government Mural Program and began doing professional mural work.

That summer Shawn headed back to Chicago, with no way to know the winds of change headed his way. He had worked hard to land a huge mural job in the city which, to him, was a ticket to being taken seriously in the space. Work was scheduled to begin on August 6th with a crew of 12 other artists, including his best friend Chris.

On the night of the 6th, the crew began work on the mural. Chris never showed up, but without his phone and knowing his friend’s tendency to lose track of time, Shawn didn’t think much of it. The next morning, still without phone, he went to see his girlfriend and found her sobbing over the reality of what had happened  — Chris was gone. He had passed the night before in a tragic boating accident.

The world slowed. He was more than a friend. Chris was an inspiration, the source of his beginning, and the soul Shawn had dreamed about his career with. He recalled a recent time they’d spent on the train tracks  — Chris had told him how proud he was of him, and that he wanted him to be a leader in the crew.

While the crew grieved in different ways, Shawn knew the only way he could make sense of everything was to stick to the mission : art.

He returned to Halifax, but ended up dropping out by the end of his sophomore year.

That summer Shawn began a long, winding journey that would take him up and down both coasts and test his ability to survive — all while leaving a trail of art in his wake. It started in New York, where the IDC crew met up to create a memorial mural for Chris. From there he crashed in a myriad of cities as he made his way to Art Basel in Miami, using his art to generate enough money to get him from place to place.

While there he stumbled into several opportunities to get publicity in the scene, but time was running out and his mural wasn’t done. Unable to leave the incomplete work, and with Art Basel over, he struggled to find the equipment he needed to finish and get out of Miami. His crash pad was gone, he was out of money, and he was starving. At the time, the Occupy movement was taking place, and he joined the camp just to have a place to sleep.

In San Francisco, Shawn’s work has always focused on bringing hope and life into the areas he touches. He’s to credit for the work adorning Mother Brown’s, and he worked with APRI to teach kids to paint portraits.

Now he’s taking it to the next level with Imprint.City, co-founded with Tyra Fennell and Andrew Casteel.

The mission? Curate an urban arts festival, bringing together local and international artists to re-awaken the walls of San Francisco.

For Shawn, it’s about more than just getting art up on the walls - all the artists that come will teach. That’s what it really boils down to - kids. The idea that a kid can walk down the streets of their neighborhood and be surrounded by art. That they have the opportunity to become the next great artist, starting by being surrounded by the greats. That they understand that creativity has value. That they have the chance to contribute to something huge — to shake the feeling of being an invisible identity floating around in a large city.

An imposition to the beauty of the world, a failed consideration of how we as humans interact in our city — to Shawn, his work solves the problem of poor architecture. Looking at art, if only a second, can bring happiness into the most hopeless of situations, and he’s multiplying that effect all over the city.

Recently though, his artistic interest has been captured by the ideal of the problem solvers proliferating the valley. With his newest series, he wants to focus his energy on a subject he’s passionate about — the goals, processes, and dreams of innovative, dedicated, and creative entrepreneurs.

With work at both Google and Boost.vc, Shawn is seamlessly merging the two cultures of the city currently portrayed as being at odd’s with each other.

Art’s not dead. It’s a catalyst for reconciliation and resurrection.

A different version of this piece previously appeared on Medium.