No One Told Me Not to Do This: Selected Screenprints, 2009-2015

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."
--Atomic Books Comic Preview, Largehearted Boy

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

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

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.


Author: Jay Ryan
Publisher: Akashic Books
Published: 12/06/2016
Pages: 97
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 1.85lbs
Size: 10.90h x 7.90w x 0.70d
ISBN: 9781617754951

About the Author
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 other books are 100 Posters/134 Squirrels and Animals and Objects In and Out of Water.