Even if he were neither a FOBB&B since high school days nor one of the cooler people you'll meet, though he is both, Jay Ryan would deserve mad props for his insane poster-making skills. A leader of Chicago's thriving screen-printing community, Jay is as talented an ink man as he is a brilliant freehand artist, plus he knows his way around the indie music scene as a bass player for Dianogah.
Rock musicians play music with him, they like him, and they want to hire him to make a cool poster for their band. Or they never even meet him, but they see or hear about his work, then they really want to hire him to make a cool poster for their band.
Then they get their posters from Jay, love them and tell their friends. Meanwhile their fans go nuts over the posters and clamor to buy them. This raises Jay's profile, more work comes in and the whole cycle continues. Thus are posters, and poster-making careers, made.
Add it all up and you've got a singular national talent who's created original poster art for untold hundreds of concerts and events, and in so doing helped keep his art form alive and thriving. He also does his part to bring along the next generation of poster makers by speaking to art students around the country.
Jay has written a new book collecting his recent efforts, entitled Animals and Objects In and Out of Water. He'll be appearing at Quimby's Bookstore at 7pm tomorrow evening (Wed. 11|11) to sign copies and discuss his work. This event is as recommended as Jay's work is collectible, i.e., highly.
My Flavorpill preview is here.
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