Jonathan Carver Moore doesn’t believe that the Mid-Market area of San Francisco is dying or stuck in a doom loop. He appreciates the melange of people and mix of old and new businesses on the blocks between Fourth Street and Civic Center. He agrees that it’s gritty and that the area is in a transitional time, but new galleries have always called those parts of big cities home.

“旧金山仍然是一个伟大的艺术空间,“said Moore, founder of the online art journal Artucated and a well-known presence within the city’s art scene since moving to San Francisco in 2016.

As proof, the 37-year-old opened his eponymous gallery on the ground floor of the Line Hotel at Market and Turk streets in March. His goal: to bring a unique and new perspective to the neighborhood “as the only gay Black male-owned gallery in the city.”

“There’s a Black queer lens I bring as far as what I curate and the artists that I’m bringing that’s part of the history of the area,” he said.

At various times over the decades, both the Tenderloin and Mid-Market areas (his gallery straddles both) have been touted as “up and coming.” But in the months since his gallery’s opening, the news for the area has been mostly negative.

An exodus of retailers from Union Square and nearby blocks have led some to speculate about the area’s commercial viability.Nordstrom is closingits location in theWestfield San Francisco Centrein August, and Westfield itself will soon pull out of its lease for the mall, which includes the neighboring Bloomingdale’s andsoon-to-close Cinemark movie theater. Safety concerns and a lack of foot traffic have been cited among the reasons for many of the closures.

On the same block, the killing of Black transgender teenager Banko Brown by a security guard at a Walgreens — and subsequent demonstrations against the district attorney’s decision not to file charges in the death — has brought further unfavorable attention. Although a new IKEA store between Fifth and Sixth streets is seen as abeacon of hope, its opening date has been repeatedly delayed as yet another sign that the area continues to struggle.

Moore, meanwhile, has had no problem attracting clients. In the last five months, he has opened three shows, including the current group exhibition “Sanibonani,” which includes work by South African artists Zanele Muholi, Collen Mfazwe, Sipho Nuse, Lulu Mhlana, Mellisa Mbambo and Nkosi Ngiphile, and has received wide media coverage for the gallery.

“I believe in this neighborhood,” Moore, sitting in his Market Street-facing, 1,200-square-foot gallery on a recent weekday, told The Chronicle as a few pedestrians walked by, one or two taking in the art through the windows before continuing on.

“There’s a part of the Tenderloin people just don’t see stories about,” he continued. “You’re walking distance from the museums, and because this is the first Transgender Cultural District, you see different kinds of people on the streets. When I figured out I was the only openly gay Black man to own a gallery in the city, both of those things became even more important to me.”

The gallery’s inaugural show “The Weight of Souls,” the first solo exhibition in San Francisco for Bay Area artist Kacy Jung, attracted nearly 400 people, creating a line around the block. Within its first week, Jung had sold four pieces, eventually selling seven of the 10 mixed-media works on view before the show ended.

“年代的重量ouls” is now traveling to the Bakersfield Museum of Art, where it is set to open Sept. 28.

“Jonathan works very fast,” said Jung, who met the gallerist in a 2021 show of her work at San Francisco visual arts nonprofit Root Division, where Moore is a board member. “Last year he told me he was planning to open a gallery and very quickly he asked if I would be the first show. I think we clicked because we’re both a little unconventional.”

Moore was born in tiny Gwinn, Mich., in the Upper Peninsula, but his Air Force family moved several times as he was growing up, from Brussels and France to Hawaii and the Philippines. All the while Moore’s mother took him to museums, which he said sparked his love of art.

摩尔在通信在bo非营利组织工作th the D.C. area and San Francisco after earning his master of arts from George Washington University. When Moore moved to San Francisco, he began attending art events and befriending artists, many of whom became professional contacts.

In 2020, he founded Artucated, where he has interviewed artists including Muholi, Mexican photographer Javiera Estrada and the Brooklyn ceramic partnership KleinReid.

“The San Francisco art world can be a challenging community to break into,” said Adam O’Donnell, a board member at Root Division as well as a client of Moore’s. “It’s not about pretension, it’s just made up of a lot of introverts. I think part of what’s made Jonathan so successful is that he has a clear vision and taste for this gallery, and he’s also definitely not an introvert.”

Perhaps most importantly, Moore is successfully selling art, as his first two shows demonstrate. Jung’s popular show, “Black as an Experience, Not as a Color,” which showcased the work of male artists of the African diaspora, sold seven of the 10 works on view; two other pieces by artist Aplerh-Doku Borlabi not on view in the show sold concurrently to Bay Area collectors.

While Moore is quick to point out that he plans to show artists from a variety of backgrounds and identities, he said that highlighting the work of Black male artists in that exhibition allowed him to engage in conversations seldom seen in the art world.

New York artist Steelo, whose painting “Scared of Being Scary” was featured in “Black as an Experience, Not as a Color,” said, “As long as I’ve been in this game on a professional level, most of the rooms that I go into — whether I’m having a show or I’m going to a gallery to meet the owner about having my work in there — the people don’t look like me.” So when Moore initially reached out to him via Instagram about participating in the show, and after a video call, it was a no-brainer to say yes.

“When I heard he was the only Black gay man with a gallery in San Francisco, I thought he was a pioneer. As a Black man, how can I not support that?” Steelo said.

Moore, who has shows scheduled through April, plans to open his next show, “I Am Everyday People,” on Aug. 10, featuring Adana Tillman, whose works bridge traditional quilting and modern art.

“When I made the decision to open the gallery here, it was because I thought the area was coming back,” said Moore. “Now, I’m also thinking, while there are new empty spaces, there’s also room for opportunity in those huge spaces. Ultimately, what I want to do is to show and sell great art from individuals that we don’t often hear from.”

Reach Tony Bravo:tbravo@sfchronicle.com