David Platzker, an expert in artists’ books and related ephemera, has been appointed curator in the Museum of Modern Art’s department of prints and illustrated books. He joins Christophe Cherix, chief curator in the department, who has been with the museum since 2007.
Platzker will close Specific Object, the New York bookstore/gallery he founded in 2004, before starting at MoMA on May 15. Specific Object collected and exhibited printed material by Pop, Minimal and Conceptual artists, including Robert Barry, Bruce Conner, Dan Graham and Lawrence Weiner.
Earlier in his career, Platzker worked for Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, producing their catalogue raisonée and organizing a traveling exhibition that toured Europe in the mid-’90s. After co-authoring a book about Oldenburg’s prints, posters and ephemera, which was published in 1997, Platzker served as the executive director of the nonprofit bookstore Printed Matter (1998-2004).