Boris Koodrin

Boris Koodrin’s paintings are an exploration of beauty, human consciousness, and the place where the two intersect.

A self-educated artist, screen printer, and sand carver, Boris began painting as a child under the instruction of his grandmother, who encouraged him to look closely at things. That encouragement sparked a passion to investigate and reflect on the world around him. He was raised near San Francisco's storied Cliff House and the gaped-mouthed Egyptian mummies that stood guard above the aging Sutro Skating Rink. On certain nights the sound of roaring lions, howler monkeys and wailing peacocks from the nearby San Francisco Zoo would mingle with the wafting sound of barking of sea lions, fog horns and the gut-wrenching laughter of the famous Laughing Sal at San Francisco’s version of Coney Island--Playland at the Beach. The peculiar cacophony of sight and sound created the visual landscape within him that would someday demand expression.


The desire to get beyond the surface of things ultimately led Boris through a number of interesting studies-- from Eastern and Western mysticism to the skilled art of Apache tracking. He recently served as the director of the Vision Youthz non-profit program at San Francisco's Log Cabin Ranch in La Honda where he helped design a program for incarcerated gang members that focused on nature, self-awareness, and rites of passage.

Boris studied Advertising Art at City College of San Francisco in the late sixties. After graduating he worked as a freelance political cartoonist for Zenger's Magazine at S.F. State, took on commissions as a portrait and landscape artist, and dabbled in set design.

In 1975 he co-founded a commercial t-shirt company in the South of Market district in San Francisco. Today he still owns and operates The Image Company in San Bruno, CA. Having worked as an artist and screen printer since 1971, he has developed many creative and technical skills -- from printing the multi-colored logo on the telephones used at the 1996 Democratic Convention, to producing a sandblasted portrait on glass for one of Joe Montana's MVP awards. Boris has also worked with Eileen Borgeson of Medici Arts in the translation of the John Lennon, Maxfield Parrish, and Erte' collections to deep crystal carvings.

The journey finally led Boris back to his first love of painting. In 2005 he completed his first mural--a historical 40-foot mural commemorating 150 years of Jesuit education at St. Ignatius College Prep in San Francisco. In 2008 he painted the five-piece mural on San Mateo Avenue in San Bruno entitled “A Dreamer’s Song”. Today he is busy painting murals and canvases and is particularly drawn to painting on wooden interior doors as his primary canvas. His painted door collection is known as “Life Thinly Sliced”.

In 2009 Boris stepped into the position of Competitive Fine Arts Director for the San Mateo County Fair and is also teaching art to high school students.

Artwork Feed

Events Feed

Blog Feed