he Smile Face Museum
The Smile Face Museum Button Collection, 1992-2023.
Buttons
On loan from The Smile Face Museum

The Smile Face Museum was founded by Mark Sachs in his Maryland basement in 1992. Curations from the Museum’s collection have been exhibited in Brooklyn, New York, Richmond, Virginia, and at Frieze London in the U.K. Its holdings, which include up to 5,000 objects decorated with the iconic smiley face logo, hint at the boundless possibilities that have come from commercializing the emotion of happiness. The logo is so ubiquitous that it is expected to increase the visibility of whatever it is attached to. These things include cookies, slippers, toilet paper, radio stations, tissue boxes, politicians, whoopee cushions, fiber supplements, flu shots, ice cream, golf balls, floss, orthodontic braces, cameras, shorts, clocks, religion, jewelry, pencils, comic books, fly swatters, video games, coffee, beanies, garbage cans, bands, frisbees, DNA, life insurance, bombing campaigns, palliative care facilities, the National Park Service, and the personal qualities of people. (“I don’t get mad. I get even,” reads one button that is not included in this display.)
(DKS)