The project that put artists Mark Evans and Charley Brown on the map is in downtown San Francisco. For the landmark 1906 Monadnock Building, they created a series of energetic, colorful murals echoing the styles of 16th century Venice but depicting rich local history. Within a few years of that project’s completion, Evans & Brown became the go-to source for architects and designers seeking one-of-a-kind statements to distinguish grand public (or, occasionally, intimately private) spaces. Mark and Charley, married in 2011 but partnered long before, first got the idea of working together in business on a European trip. “Our happiest hours have always been spent looking at paintings,” Mark recalls. “As soon as we’d hit Paris, we’d head to the Louvre. We began to think about European traditions of decoration – murals, painted ceilings, trompe l’oeil effects – and how they weren’t really part of any American vernacular. “Italians in particular have a history of amazingly painted rooms that goes back centuries – think about Pompeii!” he says. “There’s such a richness and such a history that even the most frivolous imagery in the world can still make for a profound experience.” They came home from that trip and started experimenting with their own house, painting rooms in classical motifs, grounded in the work of Veronese and Tiepolo. “A designer friend of ours named Paul Wiseman saw it and just loved it,” Mark says. “All of a sudden we were the go-to guys in the Bay Area for mural work. With the Monadnock building we realized we could do the designs, hire more assistants and work at a much bigger scale.”