Last word on government

San Francisco Board of Supervisors President Matt Gonzalez, who has thumbed his nose at the establishment before, let a graffiti artist spray paint his City Hall office walls with the bright orange message: "SMASH THE STATE."

There is irony. There is art appreciation. There are raised eyebrows.

Gonzalez, who has hosted monthly art installations in his office by unknown and known artists for the last four years, offered up this graffiti for one of his last exhibits before he exits City Hall on Jan. 8. Gonzalez did not seek re-election.

The timing and placement of the artwork are interesting, seeing how City Hall is a registered historical landmark, and you need approval just to hang a bulletin board -- and seeing how Mayor Gavin Newsom, Gonzalez's rival in the mayor's race last year, has been issuing strict edicts about the city's and public's responsibility to clean up graffiti vandalism.

The artist's message in traffic-cone orange that appears behind Gonzalez's desk was painted by Barry McGee, an internationally known San Francisco artist whose work first appeared anonymously in the 1980s on outdoor walls and tunnels.

McGee, whose City Hall wall work was unveiled last Friday, included some of his trademark cartoonish faces of sad sack characters, including a man with bulging eyes. A second element includes painted blocks of wood, arranged in a way that is reminiscent of parquet.

When Gonzalez unveiled McGee's work, some attendees of the show added their own messages to the wall: "Wacky-doo-wacky-doo wacky-doo"; "Write on that wall!"; "Matt, may peace and love follow you in all your endeavors."

As part of this installation, graffitist Josh Lazcano used another wall in Gonzalez's office to hang five televisions, each showing a different video of young Latinos showing off their tattoos. Above each television hangs a well- worn jacket on a white plastic hanger.

The words and images are sure to be short-lived because the walls are scheduled to be repainted after Gonzalez moves out.

After a concerned building manager peeked at the installation Thursday, Gonzalez said he and his staff would use their own paint and time to return the walls to their original ecru color. McGee's collectors might consider this a great shame in light of the growing acclaim and value of his works. The artist couldn't be reached for comment.

Gonzalez, an avid collector who has hung traditional, abstract and provocative pieces in his office, has made a point to invite the people who don't usually feel welcomed by the government to hang their artwork in City Hall.

Gonzalez reads two possible meanings in McGee's message "Smash the state."

"This is a sentiment I think all of us have had. You have to rally and find ways of opposing what you don't like," Gonzalez said. "But (the message) also has too much despair to be effective."

Gonzalez himself tried to change government from the inside. He's a Green Party member who became a new leader of San Francisco's political left as a supervisor and candidate for mayor, a bid that he lost to Newsom in a runoff 12 months ago.

Gonzalez also mused that perhaps McGee's message is about how the artist is coming to terms with his own success with the high art crowd. He doesn't just anonymously tag construction sites anymore -- he can take his paint inside the white-marbled, golden-domed City Hall.

"I think (McGee) enjoys the irony of where his art might end up and how it might be read," said Ed Gilbert, director of the Gallery Paule Anglim in San Francisco, the primary gallery that shows McGee's art.

P.J. Johnston, president of the city's Art Commission, had a mixed reaction to news of the graffiti in Gonzalez's office. Although not shocked or appalled, Johnston said, "You've got to respect the building."

Gonzalez's private office is part of a public building, and anyone can enter to see the artwork, and he invites them to come. However, the Board of Supervisors president wouldn't allow a Chronicle photographer to take a photo of his walls, citing his concern the newspaper would sensationalize the graffiti angle and not give proper respect to the artist.