This Just In
A whacked-out, cut-out world, brought to you by Allan Winkler
By ELISABETH KIRSCH
Special to The Star
It’s Allan Winkler’s planet, and the rest of us are just living on it. Fortunately, it’s a whacked-out, fun place to be, and often quite rewarding.
San Franciscans found that out in the 1970s, when Winkler received an Art in Public Places grant to transform the display windows of an abandoned building at Market Street and Fifth.
What was to be a three-week installation on one of the busiest streets in San Francisco turned into a three-year phenomenon, as Winkler’s hand-painted landscapes, giant papier-mâché animals and plants, and life-sized ceramic people and monsters gradually took over an entire city block. He got lots of newspaper coverage, while passersby contributed gifts and letters (including one signed “Madonna”).
