- Paperback: 184 pages
- Published: 12/6/16
- IBSN: 9781617754951
- e-IBSN: 9781617755125
- Genre: Art/Music/Pop Culture
Catalog » Browse by Title: N » No One Told Me Not to Do This
“This richly illustrated volume holds a treasure of eclectic images that utter messages for the viewer to interpret. ”
—San Francisco Book Review
One of Indie Rock’s Best Poster Artists (Pitchfork)
“Ryan has been making strange little creatures since the mid-’90s, most often for bands in the Chicago area looking to promote concerts with something splashier than a Xeroxed flyer. His work is unmistakable: Whether it’s a bunch of animals cozied up under the covers or a smashed-up satellite advertising a Hum reunion, there’s nothing else exactly like it (and nothing nearly as charming).”
—The A.V. Club, staff pick
“Whether his subjects are whales, bears, mastodons, astronauts, dinosaurs, or his dilapidated garage, they’re rendered in warm colors, bold lines, and an instantly recognizable, beguiling and cartoonish style. If you lack sufficient wall space for another dozen of Ryan’s posters, get this.”
—The Big Takeover
“The third collection of Ryan’s screen-printed work, covering 2009–2015, includes more than 50 band posters (Andrew Bird, Sonic Youth, St. Vincent) plus several festival posters.”
—Publishers Weekly
“A new select collection of recent poster and commercial work of artist Jay Ryan – someone whose crazy skills really do put the GREAT in ‘greatest hits.’ It’s rock poster art, alt-movie poster art and more.”
—Largehearted Boy, Atomic Books Preview
“An exceptional guide to not just Jay Ryan’s art, but to the process involved in making superior screenprints.”
—Donovan’s Literary Services, A Prime Pick for December 2016
Included in Baltimore Out Loud’s Holiday Gift Guide 2016
“[The book] features Ryan’s colorful and distinctive artwork, most of which are concert posters, including those for shows by queer artists including Bob Mould and St. Vincent.”
— Living Out LI
Praise for Jay Ryan:
“Jay Ryan takes the germ of an idea and makes it uniquely great. His genius is in knowing what matters and what doesn’t.”
—Steve Albini
This third collection of Ryan’s “greatest hits” features prints made between 2009 and 2015, including posters for bands such as Andrew Bird, Shellac, My Morning Jacket, Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr., Hum, St. Vincent, and others, as well as posters featuring Lil BUB, Cards Against Humanity, various bicycle races, film screenings, and pictures of sloths, walruses, and other mammals in states of troubled sleep. With a foreword by master illustrator Aaron Horkey, this volume comprises two hundred screenprints with commentary and original drawings used in the screenprinting process.
Read an interview with Jay Ryan at Pitchfork.
Listen to an interview with Jay Ryan on Vish Khanna’s Kreative Kontrol podcast.
JAY RYAN has been making screenprinted concert posters in Chicago since 1995. He learned to print at the now-legendary Screwball Press, and started his own print shop, The Bird Machine, in the basement of his apartment building in 1999. He served as vice president of the American Poster Institute from 2002–2007. In 2007, Crain’s Chicago Business included Ryan on their prestigious “40 Under 40” list, and the following year, Time Out Chicago named him a “Chicago Cultural Hero.” His books include 100 Posters/134 Squirrels, Animals and Objects In and out of Water, and No One Told Me Not to Do This.