Inner Richmond's 'Tantrum' Hosting Art Show For Singer-Songwriter Christopher Owens

Inner Richmond's 'Tantrum' Hosting Art Show For Singer-Songwriter Christopher OwensChristopher Owens at work. | Photo: Brett Walker
Camden Avery
Published on February 07, 2018

Christopher Owens, lead singer and songwriter for indie rock band Girls, is making his first foray into the visual arts tomorrow in the Inner Richmond.

Tantrum (248 Clement St.), the children's toy and gift shop that expanded from Cole Valley into the Inner Richmond two years ago, is hosting a solo show for Owens's work, kicking it off with a reception tomorrow at 6pm.

Photo: Christopher Owens/Twitter

Owner Amanda Weld said she became friends with Owens through her Cole Valley store. Owens, who lives nearby, stopped in regularly for rubber stamps and ink, and Weld would run into him next door at Wooden Café, where he'd work on his art.

"I wasn't familiar with who he was or even the band Girls," Weld told Hoodline. "I became friends with him, and it was probably a month or so before he gifted me a couple of his albums. It was cool."

Photo: Christopher Owens/Twitter

Weld, who later saw Owens perform in his current ensemble, Curls, at Café Du Nord, describes his artwork as "amazing."

In a 2012 interview, Owens, who traveled the world as a child as a member of the Children of God religious cult, said he moved to San Francisco to become "a famous painter." 

PHOTO: CHRISTOPHER OWENS/TWITTER

"We've done some art shows at our Cole Valley store," Weld said, "and last year the Inner Richmond had an art show featuring women artists called 'Our Story.'" 

But the Tantrum show, open through the end of February, will be Owens's first. Weld said that the opening this week will feature some live music by one of Owens's friends, Scott Foster.