Connecting the Dots

Gerard Buulong was born in Vietnam and spent 18 years in France, where he studied art, fashion (eventually creating a line of ready-to-wear clothing for Yves Saint Laurent), and cooking (at Cordon Bleu).

"Each of these was a different way that I could explore and express my creativity," he says of those years.

In 1985 he moved to the United States, where he opened a French restaurant and jazz club in San Jose before moving to San Francisco. There, he opened Peasant Pies, a bakery that is now in its 25th year.

He has been studying painting and drawing in San Francisco for the past 12 years at University of California Berkeley Extension and San Francisco City College.

He cites his major influences as aboriginal dot painting and pointillism. He creates works in acrylic and pastel on canvas, and uses various media on top of original photos.