San Francisco-based artist Akira Beard is back with some wonderful new work! Akira currently teaches Fine Art Anatomy at the Academy of Art and exhibits his work at a variety of bay area and national galleries.

Robert Xavier Burden recently opened a solo show, Toy Box, at the Shooting Gallery in San Francisco featuring 16 oil paintings both on canvas and on panel of "childhood icons in compositions of reverence and majesty. Watch a time-lapse of of his Optimus Prime painting after the jump... Toy Box will be on display through June 1st.

Needles and Pens is currently having their 10-year anniversary show at the Luggage Store in San Francisco. We stopped by on Friday night for the opening reception of the massive group show, featuring over 70 participating artists, a book release, and live bands! Party! The show will be on display through June 8th so if you are lucky enough to be in the bay area, we recommend you check it out!

One of our favorite institutions and longtime supporters of the local San Francisco art scene, Needles and Pens, have now officially been doing their thing for 10 years aka a decade! Round of applause everyone! In celebration of this awesome accomplishment they are throwing a massive group show with over 70 participating artists, a book release, and live bands at the opening reception. Party! The opening reception goes down tomorrow, May 10, at the Luggage Store in San Francisco and we strongly suggest you come out to this very special event.

This past weekend Mark Mulroney opened his newest solo show "A Fertile Menace" at San Francisco's own Ever Gold Gallery and Juxtapoz was there to catch it. Mulroney expands his wonderful, twisted universe across an impressive range of new paintings, collages and sculptures in which childlike naiveté and vibrant comic elements become both counterpoints to and the vocabulary for scenes of sex, violence and decay...

The Walt Disney Family Museum is pleased to present the exhibition Camille Rose Garcia: Down the Rabbit Hole. On view from May 9 to November 3, 2013, the exhibition features some 40 works by Garcia alongside ten Alice in Wonderland concept paintings by Disney artist Mary Blair from the Museum’s collection. Organized by guest curator Tere Romo, the exhibition celebrates not only Garcia and Blair’s artistry across decades and artistic styles, but also the power of art to draw us into magical worlds that spark engagement and inspiration.

Our friend and wonderful San Francisco-based photographer Travis Jensen is opening a solo exhibition entitled Barbary Coast Now on Thursday, May 9th at Gensler Art in San Francisco. Scouring the streets of San Francisco on a daily basis, Jensen doesn’t just photograph the unique, eclectic characters and environment of the city, he brings his subjects kicking and screaming to life for his legion of fans — exploring the real street life and personalities that few tourists get to see...

We cruised by to check out our January 2013 cover artist Aryz's new mural in the Tenderloin neighborhood of San Francisco this morning. It's coming along great, we can't wait to see the finished piece! We will keep you all up to date with his progress throughout the week! Shout out WallSpaceSF for getting him the wall!  

If you can't wait until summertime on the Golden Gate in San Francisco, Japanese artist Fujiko Nakaya has built one of her famous fog installations at the Exploratorium between Pier 15 and Pier 17. 800 high-pressure nozzles cover a 160-foot bridge in fog/mist that visitors can walk through. We suggest you make a nighttime visit, as the lights add a surreal atmosphere to the installation.

We've been keeping up with our January 2013 cover artist Aryz while he's in San Francisco for his Style Is The Limit exhibition at Fifty24SF. We had stopped by last week while he was setting up and cruised by again yesterday to get a few pictures of the finished exhibition. For those of you who are lucky enough to be in the bay area, the show opened on Friday, April 13th.