Celebrating copier art
“Artists Holiday,” by Bay Area artist Mary V. Marsh, is part of a new exhibit focusing on Xerox art at two San Francisco venues.
The 1960s gave us more than psychedelic rock, tiedye shirts and lava lamps. It also gave us Xerox art. Also known as copier art and scanography, the form developed as copying machines became ubiquitous in offices and schools, etc., and artistic types realized the machines could produce more than copies of class syllabuses and business proposals. By manipulating the copying process — i.e,, using bulky items, moving objects during the copying process, lifting the cover flap to distort the printing image — artists were able to create a wide variety of effects and images.
The art form gained popularity through the 1970s and '80s and the Bay Area had a particularly active scene, with artists and appreciators gathering at such hubs as the Postcard Palace in North Beach, the San Francisco Art Institute and Mama Bears Bookstore in Oakland.
Now a new exhibit organized by the San Francisco Center for the Book and San Francisco Public Library, “Positively Charged: Copier Art in the Bay Area Since the 1960s,” looks back at the birth and development of the art form and includes plenty of works, including the grainy and surreal “Artists Holiday” by Bay Area artist Mary V. Marsh.
Details: Through March 19 both at San Francisco Center for the Book, 375 Rhode Island St., sfcb.org; and sixth-floor Skylight Gallery at San Francisco Public Library's main branch, 100 Larkin St., sfpl.org. Admission is free at both venues.