News Press Release

SFMOMA MUSEUMSTORE ANNOUNCES NEW SERIES OF ARTIST-DESIGNED PRODUCTS

San Francisco Artist Martin Venezky is Second in Popular Series

Release date: October 26, 2009

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SFMOMA MUSEUMSTORE ANNOUNCES NEW SERIES OF ARTIST-DESIGNED PRODUCTS

Martin Venezky, Low High A's Letterpress Print; 15 x 10 in.; $50

The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) MuseumStore is pleased to feature a special product series designed by local artist Martin Venezky. Venezky kicks off the second series of artist-designed products with an array of items that highlight his intricate and surprising collage, typography, and illustration.

Products include tee shirts, tote bags, journals, mugs, and letterpress prints. The custom limited-edition Moleskine® notebook features an embossed metallic design by Venezky on the cover; acid-free paper; blank and tabbed pages; a San Francisco city map for tracing your itinerary; BART and Muni maps and station index; an expandable inner pocket; and an elastic closure. Also for sale are two limited-edition letterpress prints (100 of each) designed exclusively for SFMOMA, each numbered and signed by Venezky and printed in the Bay Area on 100 percent cotton paper with soy-based inks. The tote bag features a cotton canvas construction, contrast stitching, three internal pockets, and a printed liner, and highlights the artist's unique design style. Also available is It Is Beautiful...Then Gone, a monograph of Venezky's work.

A highlight of the product series is Diaspora, a limited-edition, two-deck set of playing cards designed by Venezky with text by Pulitzer Prize–winning author Michael Cunningham. The cards chart a unique moment of collaboration between the two, who had not met before beginning this project. The decks are housed in a handsome embossed-linen display box and feature the tale of a double movement: humans fleeing the city and animals taking over what remains.

Venezky's work has been collected and honored in magazines and books worldwide, and in 1997 he was listed among I.D. magazine's "ID40" list of influential designers. In 2001 SFMOMA honored the artist with an exhibition of his design work. Since 1997 Venezky has been the mastermind behind San Francisco–based Appetite Engineers, a small, internationally recognized design firm. His work explores intricacy and complexity, and his process allows projects to flow in and out of different media—drawing, collage, photography, sculpture.

Appetite Engineers has worked with such esteemed clients as the Sundance Film Festival, SFMOMA, Reebok, and publishers such as Harry Abrams, Simon & Schuster, Princeton Architectural Press, and Chronicle Books. Venezky was also art director of the late Speak, a magazine of popular culture, literature, music, and art. He received an MFA in design from Cranbrook Academy of Art in 1993 and a BFA in visual studies from Dartmouth College. He currently teaches in the graduate and undergraduate design program at California College of the Arts (CCA) in San Francisco.

Media Contacts

  • Robyn Wise, 415.357.4172,
  • Sandra Farish Sloan, 415.357.4174,

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San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
151 Third Street
San Francisco, CA 94103

Museum hours: Open daily (except Wednesdays): 11 a.m. to 5:45 p.m.; open late Thursdays, until 8:45 p.m. Summer hours (Memorial Day to Labor Day): Open at 10 a.m. Closed Wednesdays and the following public holidays: New Year's Day, Fourth of July, Thanksgiving, Christmas. The Museum is open the Wednesday between Christmas and New Year's Day.

Koret Visitor Education Center: Open daily (except Wednesdays): 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.; open late Thursdays, until 8:30 p.m. Summer hours: Open at 10 a.m.

Admission prices: adults: $18; seniors: $13; students: $11; SFMOMA members and children 12 and under: free. Admission is free the first Tuesday of each month and half-price on Thursdays after 6 p.m.

SFMOMA is easily accessible by Muni, BART, Golden Gate Transit, SamTrans, and Caltrain. Hourly, daily, and monthly parking is available at the SFMOMA Garage at 147 Minna Street. For parking information, call 415.348.0971.

Visit our Web site at www.sfmoma.org or call 415.357.4000 for more information.

SFMOMA is supported by a broad array of contributors committed to helping advance its mission. Major annual support is provided by Grants for the Arts/San Francisco Hotel Tax Fund, the Koret Foundation, and the Evelyn and Walter Haas Jr. Fund. First Tuesdays are always free, thanks to AT&T. KidstART free admission for children 12 and under is made possible by Charles Schwab & Co.

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