SF Print Collective

Last summer as I walked down Valencia Street, I found myself being “greeted” to the Mission District by a huge poster affixed to the overpass at Duboce Street that read, “Come Enjoy The Mission … Cleaner, Brighter, Whiter … Tablecloths.” The text was accompanied by a close-up image in comic book style of a young WASPy-looking, twenty-something couple dining. I was impressed by the sophisticated nature of this guerrilla display – six-colors, hand-printed (as a former printmaker, I'm very aware of the labor that goes into such efforts). I also found myself giggling at the mocking message, directed at the recent facelift that has transformed several blocks of the Mission into what appears to be a nightly fraternity kegger. In the following weeks, I began noticing other posters with similar messages wheat pasted throughout the Mission. The bills have included: an image of a streetsign post at Mission and 24 th Streets infested by flies with the headline “The Dot Com Plague: Appropriation Culture/La Cultura de la Apropiacion;” a “Wanted” poster, offering no reward for Joe Donoghue and his “crimes against the people” and more recently an endorsement for propositions L, H and N because you … “Love your Home and your Neighborhood.” I've since learned that these clever, labor-intensive works of public art have been produced by the San Francisco Print Collective (SFPC), a loosely organized group of 22 screen printers from the Mission Cultural Center. An exhibition of their work is currently on display at Artists' Television Access (ATA). The show invites viewers to see the full range of the groups' efforts in a great venue that's often overlooked for its gallery exhibitions.

Artists' Television Access (ATA)
992 Valencia Street, San Francisco
Tues. – Sat. 10 a.m. – 10 p.m. (call first)
(415) 824-3890 (Megan Wilson)