2025 Art on Market Street Poster Series Highlights San Francisco’s Creative Spirit Through “Things”

SAN FRANCISCO, September 8, 2025 – The San Francisco Arts Commission (SFAC) is excited to present the third and final installment of the 2025 Art on Market Street Poster Series, Overlapping Histories: Art on Market Street Poster Series, 1992–Present, a retrospective showcase commemorating more than three decades of artistic commissions. 

Now on view through December 2025, ten unique posters reflecting the theme of “Things” will be displayed along Market Street between 7th and Steuart streets at 15 SFMTA transit shelters.  

The curated works highlight the physical objects, visual motifs, and cultural symbols that have shaped San Francisco’s identity over the years. The 2025 poster series was presented in three thematic groupings: “People,” “Places,” and “Things.”  

The series reflect historical events, notable individuals, everyday scenes, art, and architecture significant to the city’s evolving cultural and physical landscape. The series also aligns with SFAC’s Shaping Legacy program, which calls attention to underrepresented communities and overlooked histories. 

“This final installment of the 2025 Art on Market Street Poster Series invites the public to consider all the things that make San Francisco so special, highlighting several unique poster designs from over the past 30 years of this incredible public art program,” said Ralph Remington, Director of Cultural Affairs. “From iconic landmarks to the objects we encounter every day, the artwork and things showcased in these posters help visualize who we are as a city.” 

The 2025 “Things” series features the following posters and artists: 

• “Why are there so many Pigeons?” from the 1997 series titled What are Pigeons For? by Anne Veraldi, Tomas Nakada, and Clancy Cavnar. The posters series dispelled myths and answered frequently asked questions regarding pigeons.* 
• “#529” from the 1999 series by Amy Berk and Hope Cox. All the posters from this series were of a single solid color. The artists' thought it important to render the color field as smoothly and as vibrant as possible and much consideration was put into the type of paper and printing method for the original installation.  
• “Cerrado” from the 1999 series by Margaret Kilgallen. The poster series featured images of people shopping, waiting for the bus, and engaging in other routine activity that reflected Kilgallen’s personal observations of end-of-the-century Market Street. One of the more popular poster series in Art on Market Street history. Kilgallen's posters were famously swiped from the kiosks they were installed in by her loyal and devoted fans.    
• “2020 Market Street” from the 2001 series Weeds by Jon Rubin. The six posters in this series spotlighted six weeds growing in different locations along Market Street and celebrated the determination of nature to survive in a concrete environment.* 
• “Demon of Market Street” from the 2002 series titled The Crabtrees of Old San Francisco by JRR Blevins. Blevin's six original poster designs recounted mythical narratives inspired by Lotta Crabtree, a famous San Franciscan performer, who's also known for commissioning Lotta’s Fountain in 1875 as a gift to the City.* 
• “Untitled” from the 2003 series titled Aerial by Robert Gutierrez. The images from this series are of abstract urban islands showing a mixture of architectural, natural, and other references to life on Market Street.* 
• “Long ago – 1880” from the 2011 series titled Once Upon a Time by Elishiva Biernhoff, which focused on various eras and phases the city has gone through and how the landscape changed over the years. 
• “Expand” from the 2012 series titled Transform, Reveal, Challenge, Expand, Imagine, Celebrate by Julie Chang. Using the language of pattern, each poster was layered with images and icons that were abstracted or hidden in order to create an experience of discovery.  
• “Occupy” from the 2013 series by Sanaz Mazinani. This series was inspired by the rich lineage of social activism in San Francisco.  
• “Noah and His Ark” from the 2015 series The City as Museum: Highlighting Works in the Civic Art Collection by Anthony Discenza. The artist created 36 unique posters and wrote descriptive text on works in San Francisco’s Civic Art Collection. This poster highlights the frescos created in 1938 by Helen Forbes and Dorothy Wagner Puccinelli located in the Mother's Building at the San Francisco Zoo.    
• “Invasion” from the 2015 titled Iconic City Hall by Kelly Inouye. The 2015 Art on Market Street poster series celebrated the centennial of San Francisco’s City Hall and Inouye’s posters referenced several movies that have scenes within and around City Hall, such as Dirty Harry, The Times of Harvey Milk, and Invasion of the Body Snatchers. 
• “Transcendent” from the 2016 series titled Best Seller by Tracey Snelling, addressing utopian ideas of a future Market Street, using the trope of pulp fiction book covers.* 
• “1967: Artistic Paths that Crossed” from the 2017 series titled In Circulation by Sarah Hotchkiss. The poster shows all arts-related material, all printed in 1967 and taken from Bay Area publications, including the Black Panther Newsletter, San Francisco Chronicle, and the lesbian monthly The Ladder. 
• “Guatemala Folsom” from the 2018 series titled Entretejido (Interwoven) by Miguel Arzabe. For this series, Arzabe paid homage to La Raza Screenprint Center and Mission Gráfica, sourcing historical posters from their archives to reflect the City’s inclusivity. After reproducing the images, he cut them into strips and wove them together by hand. 
• “First Pride, 1970” from the 2020 series titled Marching Toward Pride by Justin Hall. For this series, graphically depicted pivotal moments in San Francisco LGBTQ history during the 15 years leading up to (and including) the City’s first Pride Parade. 

The previous two installment of the series, “People,” ran from March through June 2025, followed by “Places” from June through August 2025. 

The 2026 Art on Market Poster Series, titled Now & Then: Living Memories, will focus on previously unrecorded, newly unearthed & unconventional San Francisco histories, will debut in early January 2026 and will feature poster designs by the following artists: Adrian Arias, Amir Khadar, Colin Kimzey, and Vida Kuang. 

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About the Art on Market Street Poster Series 
The San Francisco Arts Commission has commissioned new artworks from artists on an annual basis since 1992 in partnership with the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) and Clear Channel. Now in its 33rd year, the program has partnered with over 130 artists since its inception, commissioning over $1.2 million worth of art, showcasing a wide breadth of artistic styles, themes and topics centered around San Francisco. Up to four artists are commissioned annually by the Arts Commission to create a series of at least six unique works of art that responds to a theme specific to San Francisco. To learn more, visit sfartscommission.org/artonmarketstreet 

About the San Francisco Arts Commission  
The San Francisco Arts Commission is the City agency that champions the arts as essential to daily life by investing in a vibrant arts community, enlivening the urban environment and shaping innovative cultural policy. Our programs include: Civic Art Collection, Civic Design Review, Community Investments, Public Art, SFAC Galleries, and Art Vendor Licensing. To learn more, visit sfartscommission.org.