The Commissionswith author Paul Madonna in conversation with Gary Kamiya
Channel: Mechanics' Institute
Date: 2023-11-03

Join artist and author Paul Madonna in conversation with author, journalist, and historian Gary Kamiya on Madonna's new novel from the Emit Hopper series, The Commissions.

Amsterdam, 2019—following the conclusion of Come to Light. Former rock star-turned-artist Emit Hopper’s life has taken yet another strange turn. His old friend, the legendary San Francisco private detective Ronnie Gilbert, is dead, and his killer has just been acquitted. But when a disheveled acquaintance from Ronnie’s past walks into Emit’s shop, a puzzling mystery resurfaces, twenty years cold.

We’re transported back to San Francisco, 1999, when Emit and Ronnie first met. Emit has returned to taking commissions drawing people’s houses, only to be strong-armed by a shady police lieutenant into acting as her off-the-books spy. On top of that, a strange young woman claiming to be his daughter refuses to leave him alone. From there unfolds an intricate tale of corruption and murder that leads to an explosive scandal, with consequences that, two decades hence, are finally revealed.

From the world of the Emit Hopper Mystery series, The Commissions kicks off the origin story of what promises to be an unforgettable new eccentric detective, Ronnie Gilbert. In a mystery filled with suspense and surprises around every corner, Paul Madonna brings to life the last days of San Francisco before the turn of the millennium with dozens of his signature pen-and-ink drawings.

Paul Madonna is an award-winning artist and best-selling author whose unique blend of drawing and storytelling has been heralded as an “all new art form.” His series All Over Coffee ran in the San Francisco Chronicle for twelve years (2003–2015), and his book Everything Is Its Own Reward won the 2011 NCBA Award for best book. Paul’s work ranges from novels to cartoons to large-scale public murals and can be found internationally in print as well as in galleries and museums. Paul was a founding editor for therumpus.net. He has taught drawing at the University of San Francisco and frequently lectures on creative practice. He holds a BFA from Carnegie Mellon University and was the first (ever!) Art Intern at MAD magazine. Paul resides in San Francisco and does in fact take commissions, traveling the world to draw and write.

Gary Kamiya is an author, journalist, and historian of San Francisco. His 2013 book Cool Gray City of Love: 49 Views of San Francisco was a runaway bestseller and won the 2013 Northern California Book Award for creative nonfiction. His latest book with artist Paul Madonna, published in 2020, is Spirits of San Francisco: Voyages Through the Unknown City. It features 16 of Paul’s superb drawings of the wildly eclectic sites that Paul and Gary chose together and that Gary writes about. His award-winning history column "Portals of the Past" appeared for more than 10 years in the San Francisco Chronicle and the San Francisco Examiner.

Gary has hosted and been featured prominently as an expert on-camera source in many documentaries, including such critically-acclaimed works as "Citizen Hearst," a 2-part, 4-hour PBS documentary about William Randolph Hearst, "Moving San Francisco," about the history of transportation in San Francisco, and "Water From The Wilderness," about the epic creation of the Hetch Hetchy water system. Gary is available as a speaker and gives unique San Francisco walking tours by reservation.

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