Because it’s a smaller market, it’s harder to get people to show here, they’d rather show in LA. Other than that it’s been pretty easy because I’m one of the only galleries in San Francisco that’s focused on what I do, so I don’t really have a lot of competition. It’s much easier to operate here than it is in New York or LA, I think.

As a huge purveyor of urban contemporary, street and low-brow art, how do feel about street art becoming mainstream?
I think it’s wonderful. I’m very excited at how street art is being accepted and not just one form of it, but all forms. Street art has broken down so many barriers and opened people’s minds to what art is. People don’t look at is as vandalism anymore, they look at it as street art. One of the most significant shows I’ve ever done was Shepard Fairey’s last solo show in San Francisco in September 2008. We sold it out for 1.2 million dollars. Not only for him, but for a lot of the artists that I show and the genre we work in, that show set a new standard for what street artists can do. It broke open the doors for this kind of artwork to be looked at as fine art, because when you have a show that sells out for that much it’s a marker that goes, ‘okay, this is for real.’

Do you consider yourself a visionary?
If I say yes, do I have to explain why?

No.
Yes I do.