From the Tenderloin Times, October 1987
Demonic Art Possesses the 509
by Preston Brady HI
Art was frightening, so scary that I some passers-by were afraid to enter, ^even in broad daylight. But three neighborhood artists, Mars, Saito, and Sumiko Saulson weren’t about to settle for simply hanging some paintings on the walls. They completely transformed the 509 Cultural Center on Ellis Street into a live museum in the group show, “A Haunting Collection of Art Overshadowed by the Macabre.”
These three Hospitality House art students set the mood for their September 20 exhibition with ghostly music. On a small stage, each artist had designed what resembled an altar. Watched over by a faceless mannequin in a black dress, the altars included candles, incense, brass goblets, and chains. Saito’s altar, entitled “Isabella’s Hair,” even included what appeared to be real human hair.
Saulson’s altar was entitled “The Altar of the Fickle Worshipper,” and Mars’ was called “Past, Present and Future in a Roundabout Way.”
However dramatic the overall presentation of the show, some of the paintings succeeded in their own right. Saito’s “Gates to the Beyond” is a stunning rainbow of pastels blending water, sky and crescent moon in a series of three panels.
My favorite piece was Saito’s “Isabella Sands,” a beautiful, realistic pastel on a par with the work of well known Tenderloin artist Rose Linda. According to Saito, “Isabella Sands was a woman who in 1735 was accused of being a witch, but the truth of that matter was the family was very poor. So in order that their daughter be able to show herself worthy in society, she learned from old manuscripts she had found.”
Other outstanding pieces included “Face,” “Victim,” “Paisley Hell,” and “Jesus in the Infrared Garden,” by Sumiko Saulson, and “Phoenix Enigma,” by Mars.
Sumiko Saulson 