1993 SFMOMA Beaux Arts Ball Mask “Death to Art!” (Stray Dog Cabaret)

The 1993 Beaux Arts Ball was an annual museum benefit organized by the San Francisco Museum of Modern. Forty local designers and architects were invited to create table settings for the event’s guests, including tablecloths, centerpieces, place settings, and masks. I thought it would be amusing to highlight anti-art quotes from Russian Constructivist manifestos, so I ignored the prescribed theme. My table design—for the Stray Dog Cabaret—won first prize.

Regarding my winning entry, juror Michael Manwaring proclaimed, “A short, sharp blast in a roomful of frippery.”

The mask reads, “Death to art! Efficacious existence is the highest beauty.” Texts by Gan, 1922; and Gabo and Pevsner, 1920.

COLLECTIONS

• Letterform Archive, San Francisco

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EDITION: Open (unsigned)

DIMENSIONS: 8 x 14 inches
MEDIA: Screen printed in red, black, and white enamel on painted sheet metal and wood

PRINTING: Screen printing and fabrication of all metalwork by Jeff Wasserman at Wasserman Silk Screen Co. / Santa Monica
DESIGN: © 1993 Mark Fox, BlackDog / San Rafael