Roaming San Francisco
Painting Exhibition at Groundfloor San Francisco
455 Valencia St San Francisco, CA
April 7 - May 31, 2025
MAY 1 opening event
I want to invite you to attend my show, Roaming San Francisco, at Groundfloor on Valencia, on May 1st from 6:00 to 8:00.
I am so excited that my work is showing at Groundfloor. It’s so much more than a space: it’s a community. It was created as an antidote to the epidemic of loneliness. Groundfloor Clubs give members a way to find connection.
I’ve been there a lot recently - setting up, affixing labels, taking photos - and it feels so alive. Every time I visit I end up talking to someone about our city and its unique light, about how color looks so different, maybe because of the water and its reflection.
I hope you come to my show. I hope my work is a reminder of how lucky we are to live in San Francisco. But mostly I hope you come connect. Bring a friend. See someone you have not seen in way too long. Or meet someone new, and swap stories.
— Dan Roam
Artist Statement
We live in the most beautiful city in the world.
Just look at her.
A beam of light. A shot of color. A view across time.
Worried? Blue? Tired? Go for a walk. No matter where you wander, she has a surprise for you.
Happy? Delighted? Excited? Go roam.
Just look at her.
- Dan Roam, April 2025
boots
Acrylic on canvas, 30’x30’
Coyote
Acrylic on canvas, 36’x36’
Magnolia
Acrylic on canvas, 48’x48’
Park
Acrylic on canvas, 30’x30’
Yellow Tree
Acrylic on canvas, 30’x40’
Steps
Acrylic on canvas, 30’x30’
Bamboo
Acrylic on canvas, 30’x30’
Twisty Road
Acrylic on canvas, 16’x20’
Roses
Acrylic on canvas, 30’x24’
Therapy
Acrylic on canvas, 12’x16’
5
Acrylic on canvas, 16’x20’
Picnic
Acrylic on canvas, 20’x20’
how-to
From bottom-to-top, this series shows how I paint a picture.
To help the final colors be the colors they want to be, I lay in lots of other colors underneath.
Go out and look at a tree. Are those leaves really just “green?” I’m always surprised by how much red is hiding in there, especially in the edges and shadows.
Stare at the “blue” sky for a while. Long enough for your eyes to relax and un-focus a bit. See all the other colors behind the blue? Pink, green, mauve; they’re all there. Cyan just talks louder.
And shadows. They complement of the color of the light shining on the object that casts them. Which is why in San Francisco’s uniquely Naples Yellow daylight shadows are so purple.
I don’t paint colors as they are, but as they want to be.
Dan Roam is the San Francisco-based author of six international bestselling books on visual storytelling which have been translated into 31 languages. "The Back of the Napkin: Solving Problems with Pictures" was named by Fast Company, The London Times, and BusinessWeek as 'Creativity Book of the Year.' As a consultant, Dan has helped leaders at Google, Microsoft, Snowflake, Boeing, Gap, IBM, the US Navy, and the White House solve complex problems with simple pictures. Dan and his whiteboard have been guests on CNN, MSNBC, ABC, CBS, Fox, and NPR.