Why LA artist Francisco Palomares peddles paintings on a fruit cart
LOS ANGELES – From a distance, Francisco Palomares’ fruit cart looks like all the other ones that dot Los Angeles, complete with a multicolored patio umbrella to shield him from the sun.
But step closer.
Instead of a man expertly slicing through mangoes or watermelon, you’ll find an artist leaning before a tiny easel, a brush and palette in his hands. Palomares’ work sells for thousands of dollars in galleries, but on the corner of 3rd Street and Traction Avenue in downtown L.A., he pumps out still lifes for $39.99 a pop.
It’s all part of “Francisco’s Fresh Paintings,” an art installation and mobile gallery/studio through which
Palomares aims to disrupt the customary distance between art maker and art buyer, mediated by a dealer. Every 30 minutes, he completes an affordable oil painting, transforming the process of creating and selling art into a type of performance.
The idea for the project, he says, was born out of desperation a few years ago, back when he worked as a gallery attendant at the Museum of Contemporary Art.
Clad from head to toe in black, Palomares would stand in a corner and warn visitors not to get too close to the art. To pass the time, he’d walk up to visitors and ask what they thought about a particular piece. They often scurried away. With time, he grew comfortable with rejection.
Still, he did the job for two years and loved it, he says, “but the pay just wasn’t there.” He was struggling as an artist, and he wasn’t making ends meet. Forgoing an apartment, he would leave work and head back to his Boyle Heights art studio to sleep. Along the way, he would often see vendors selling oranges by the freeway. “Maybe that’s what I need to do to make a sale,” he’d think.
Tired of living paycheck to paycheck, he got a job at a school in South Gate, teaching children about art. Time passed. He had a few shows. Just before the pandemic hit, Palomares traveled to Thailand, thinking he’d come back feeling refreshed. But when he got home, he felt more lost than before.
On the verge of despair, he mentioned the fruit cart idea to friend Ángel Carela.
“What do you need to get started?” Carela asked.
“Well, for one thing, money for the cart,” was Palomares’ answer.
“Go on Craigslist,” Carela said. “Find your cart. I’ll give you the money.”
It was the push he needed.
Last summer Palomares began setting up his push cart at Joel Bloom Square in the Arts District. Rents there have skyrocketed,
pushing out the residents who gave the district its name. Palomares secured his studio through Art Share L.A., which provides emerging artists with lofts at below-market prices in an effort to preserve the
community.
Out on the street, passersby these days timidly pause to take a peek at his cart. When they do, Palomares greets each potential client, inviting them to sift
through prints of other work.
“How’s it goin,’ guys?” he says. “Feel free to browse, ask any questions. I have some stuff back here that you’re welcome to check out as well.”