Blog Introduction

Paul Mahder Gallery

3778 Sacramento (at Walnut)

San Francisco, California 94109

(415) 474-7707

Welcome to the new blog for the Paul Mahder Gallery in San Francisco. The gallery offers some of the finest original international, regional and local contemporary painting and sculpture available anywhere. Our custom framing is acclaimed across the Bay Area, and the gallery is also available as a venue for corporate events, screenings, charity events, meetings, engagement parties, and of course, weddings.

Open for two years we host art openings, receptions, food tastings (so far: wine, salt, caviar, chocolate, oysters etc.) - even sit-down dinners for 50 (complete with musicians and singers). Visit us and you will find a warm and easy atmosphere - Belgian chocolates, coffee, conversation and fine art, and assistance if you wish.

Visit us at the gallery

or try the virtual tour

Click on any blog photo for a better view

Our posts will keep you up to date on our goings-on at the gallery, our artists, our staff and our services. We will also be discussing favorite artists, living and gone, the art scene in San Francisco and the art of framing, with lots of photos and information, and of course, whatever we feel like airing.

Three of us operate the gallery. Paul Mahder, for whom the gallery is named, is a photographer himself, whose uncanny talent for photographing a true portrait comes from years of experience. Paul expresses himself in portrait, landscape and nude photography, employing a dramatic 5x5 camera exposure overlay process yielding textures as backgrounds and sometimes foregrounds, here is one of my favorites called "Held by Love."

Paul's professionalism is a magnet for other innovative artists the best of which end up at our gallery. The gallery is a haven for collectors of original art looking for an art investment worth having. Forget Dow Jones, invest in art. Our artists appear in collections worldwide. See more of Paul's photography here.

Rich P, our designer, assists customers with frames and mats for purchased or personal art. You always know if Rich thought up the design and color scheme - the mats and frames perfectly complement the artwork and the environment in which it hangs. The gallery has an in-home framing service too, just call.

I'm Jonathan, our custom framer. I work with the finest precision tools, and with Rich's designs; I take the time and have the skill and experience to transform your artwork into a work of art. Our specialties include multiple mat designs, conservation and archival framing, and conservation or museum glass. I am also the primary writer of the blog and I welcome commentary on the wide selection of features and topics I have planned. Read my recent movie reviews.

Just for starters, today's topic, I love a good mystery, is the Voynich Manuscript -

Written in unrecognizable script describing unknown plants, people and astronomical symbols, the manuscript has been traded by emperors and kings for 500 years, yet no one has any idea what it actually says. What do you know about it? Click here to take a closer look - send me a translation OK? - I know you're out there somewhere.

More soon.