PVLF 2025

San Francisco Art Book Fair features an incredible selection of books from throughout the globe

on Jul 14, 2022

The San Francisco Art Book Fair, which allows visitors to flip through the pages of an astounding number of artists' books, monographs, and zines from all over the world, is back this weekend for its most ambitious edition yet after a two-year absence.

Co-presented by Minnesota Street Project, Colpa Press, and the neighbourhood art gallery and bookstore Park Life, the fair debuted in 2016 to coincide with the opening of Minnesota Street Project. The New York and Los Angeles Art Book Fairs, organised by Printed Matter, the hub for zine and art book publishing in New York, served as the inspiration for the first edition, which took only approximately three months to design. The SF Art Book Fair has progressively expanded since then to become the third-largest art book fair in the nation.

However, the size of this year's edition was initially uncertain.

Because of the epidemic, "we thought it might be a more regional iteration of the event," said Jamie Alexander, co-owner of Park Life. However, this year has seen a record number of overseas exhibitors, which was a welcome surprise for us.

Publishers, antiquarian book dealers, artists, and galleries from Canada, French Polynesia, Japan, Mexico, Argentina, France, Belgium, Greece, and the Netherlands are among the over 130 exhibitors who have been confirmed, nearly twice as many as in 2019. There is also a strong regional focus on the Bay Area.

According to Minnesota Street Project's director of programming and public engagement, Lindsay Albert, this surge in interest in the fair is both a benefit of the pandemic and a result of the organisation's decision to pivot during the recession.

The epidemic allowed us to concentrate more on internet content and reach our current global audience, she said.

One of these initiatives was the establishment of the SFABF Publishing Grant, which gave nine $1,000 grants to a variety of local and international publishers. Many of these publishers will be present at this year's fair, including those from the Bay Area, such as Sming Sming Books, Sun Night Editions, and Unity Press.

The fair also highlights the local art scene by hiring regional artists to create limited edition prints for the show's benefit. In the past, prominent figures including Sadie Barnette, Barry McGee, and Alicia McCarthy have been featured artists. Along with painter and textile artist Jeffry Sincich, who recently had an exhibition at Park Life, McCarthy, a painter and founding member of the Mission School art movement, comes back this year to contribute.

The book fair features exhibitors as well as a diverse schedule of programming from Friday through Sunday. David Senior, the director of the SFMOMA library archives, selected the events for this year's schedule, which included book signings, speeches, and panels. The following events stand out: Senior in conversation with renowned San Francisco artist Lynn Hershman Leeson, whose work is currently on display at the Venice Biennale; Dana Beard in conversation with local curator Jordan Stein, whose book "Rip Tales: Jay DeFeo's Estocada & Other Pieces" presents an eclectic view of San Francisco art history centred on its title subject; and a screening of animated films put on by Telematic Media Arts.

The opening night party for the fair, which features food trucks and live DJs, takes place on Thursday evening. For anyone interested in viewing some art, the galleries inside Minnesota Street Project are also open for the weekend.

In reference to the reception to earlier editions of the fair, Alexander said, "I've never seen this much energy of this nature in a building in San Francisco, ever."

The opportunity to curl up with a nice book, or perhaps a dozen of them, comes after all the commotion has died down, even though this year's fair promises to be even more exhilarating than in the past.