An artist who uses animal caricatures to promote rock concerts is speaking in Rapid City this week.
Jay Ryan has been making small batches of screen printed posters to promote entertainment events for over 20 years. He’s based in Chicago where he runs the a print shop named "The Bird Machine."
Ryan’s work has promoted mainstream bands from Pearl Jam to the Flaming Lips along with lesser known underground bands like Fugazi.
“When I started making posters I was coming into a field the work that was being made was often based on imagery of hot rods and monsters and naked women and drug use. And for my own band and for my friends band I didn’t feel like that was necessarily speaking the language we associated with our music. So I tried to communicate the same sort of process but instead of using hot rods and monsters I was trying to use raccoons and toasters.” says Ryan.
A documentary film featuring Ryan’s work titled Just Like Being There is showing at the Dahl Arts Center on Tuesday April 21st. Both the artist Jay Ryan and Filmmaker Scott Simpson are scheduled to attend.