Missed former SF locals / Chris Johanson

Once upon a time, a San Francisco resident strolling around these chilly city streets could brush by Chris Johanson pretty often. Even before I knew who he was, I’d seen him around the Mission a lot; when I finally connected the dots, I realized that he was the guy who had drawn little signs and bits that I’d been loving for years. As I recall, he drew a little guy above the urinal at the Uptown (or somewhere I peed a lot); either way, his simple figures and their cryptically expressed thoughts would be burned into my brain for hours after I saw them. He moved to Portland a while ago, and San Francisco has been a little less visually exciting ever since. For one thing, his beard is an inspiration to any aspiring beardo, and his leadership in this regard will be sorely missed.

More: A cool profile of Chris from Spark, a local PBS art show.