RISTOGRAPHOMANIA

List of Artists: Safdar Ahmed Rachel Ang Suzannah Babicci Stuart Bailey Edith Rewa Barrett Josh Bayer Neil Binnie Lauren Jaye Carter Laura Castell Regi Cherini Pey Chi Freda Chiu Benjamin Constantine Carolyn Craig Adam Cusack Xanthe Dobbie Rob Douma Christopher Doyle Leah Emery Christian Flynn Donna Foley Tallulah Fontaine Ghostpatrol Stacy Gougoulis Miles Hall Michael Hawkins Carolyn Hawkins Visaya Hoffie Drew Connor Holland Sandi Hook

Ruby Hoppen Andrea Huelin Steph Hughes Jordan Kay Talitha Kennedy Haein Kim Annabelle Kingston Sheree Kinlyside Vivienne La Jo Lankester Ginette Lapalme Holly Leonardson Anne Lord Janelle Low Ed Luce Glenn Manders Carla McRae Marlo Mogensen Paul Mumme Hannah Murray Wendy Murray Shingo Nakamura Thom Nguyen Ipeh Nur Jill O’Sullivan Marisol Ortega Janet Parker Smith Rhonda Payne April Phillips Kenny Pittock

Nic Plowman Jonathon Powell Jamie Preisz Ashley Ronning Camila Rosa Josh Rufford Pip Ryan Shae San Sim Anneke Silver Josh Simpson Arryn Snowball Christopher Sperandio Freak Street Rhonda Stevens Akdov Telmig Rebecca ter Borg Billie Justice Thomson Jonathan and Tiarna Tse Miho Unoh Qieer Wang Charlotte Watson Daisy Watt Jamie Wdziekonski Jean Wei Lale Westvind Natasha Wills Ross Woodrow Sandra Wright Luke You

Townsville City Council acknowledges the Wulgurukaba of Gurambilbarra and Yunbenun, Bindal, Gugu Badhun and Nywaigi as the Traditional Owners of this land. We pay our respects to their cultures, their ancestors and their Elders – past and present – and all future generations.

Andrea Huelin, You said you were bringing it, 2021. Risograph on paper, 42 x 29.7 cm. Edition of 25. Courtesy of Ashley Ronning.

Perc Tucker Regional Gallery

(07) 4727 9011

Cnr Denham and Flinders St,

galleries@townsville.qld.gov.au

Townsville, QLD 4810

whatson.townsville.qld.gov.a

Tue – Fri: 10am – 5pm

Townsville City Galleries

Sat – Sun: 10am – 1pm

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Image on front: Josh Simpson No Other, 2020 Risograph on paper, 42 x 29.7 cm Edition of 25 Courtesy of Ashley Ronning.

Perc Tucker Regional Gallery 19 February – 10 April 2022

Sheree Kinlyside, Idea Bank, 2020. Risograph on paper, 42 x 29.7 cm. Edition of 25. Courtesy of Ashley Ronning.

Risographomania Curator Introduction Risographomania was an idea that grew from us working together on risograph prints in 2017 and 2018 for other exhibitions.

We thought that a large-scale risograph exhibition could be a fun way of introducing printmakers (Townsville has plenty of these) to the process, see some dynamic work from riso veterans (Melbourne has a very active risograph scene) and get a bunch of artists into an important regional art collection which specialises in printmaking.

We decided to each invite forty-five artists to participate from a wide array of artistic backgrounds, including design, ceramics, textiles, illustration, comics, photography, zine-making and collage. Each artist was invited because we were excited to see how their work would translate through this strange yet versatile medium.

Risograph made its way into the world in the 1980s, invented in Japan by Noboru Hayama, who set out to design a printer for office-based high volume duplication using methods similar to mimeography. As his company, Riso-Kagaku, grew, risograph print technology found homes in schools, churches and small political party offices, that valued the low-cost duplication method.

Suzannah Babicci, As the love continues, 2020. Risograph on paper, 42 x 29.7 cm. Edition of 25. Courtesy of Ashley Ronning.

Of course, as long as risograph printers have been around, there have been artists experimenting with the process!

Print studios such as Knust Extrapool in the Netherlands, took on risograph as an extension to their existing printmaking tools, although risograph largely remained out of reach for artists due to the cost of the printer. However, as many of these machines were replaced by photocopiers

and outsourced printing, risograph printers made their way to second-hand markets and began to find a new life in the hands of artists. The risograph printers at curator Ashley’s studio, Helio Press, (Myrtle the RP3700 and Meryl the MZ770) have previously belonged to the Australian Defense Force and University of Technology Sydney. Artists took this strange office-based technology and ran with it, pushing the limits of the medium to new and exciting places. This riso-renaissance began around 2010 and continues today as over 600 risograph studios have sprung up all over the world, producing publications, zines, posters, art prints, stationery, and countless other items of print ephemera.

Risography is a fascinating mechanical print making process hidden inside a photocopier shell. The print process starts by sending an artwork file from a computer to the printer, which then makes a stencil by burning tiny pixel-sized holes into a baking-paper type material with a thermal print head. This stencil is automatically wrapped around a cylindrical ink drum. Ink is then pushed through the mesh on the outside of the ink drum and through the holes in the stencil.

The ink drum rotates while the paper moves flat underneath, creating an impression.

However, only one colour can be applied at a time, so multiple colour artworks require additional passes through the printer.

The risograph process is a lot of fun for many reasons, but perhaps the most notable is its beauty and unpredictability.

The gorgeous but limited set of ink colours, the textured appearance of the

impression, the way semi-transparent riso inks can layer over each other to create new colours, the way the layers can shift and become misregistered (on purpose or not!) and the element of chance involved in every print run. At first glance, a risograph print may look like a screenprint, a photocopy or a lithograph print.

There are few artistic media in which the term ‘happy accident’ is such a vital part. Perhaps you are about to add a second layer of colour to a print – but you’ve put the wrong colour ink drum into the machine! Perhaps you’re surprised by how much you love this happy mistake – you see how nicely the colours are blending and you decide to keep this unintended colour scheme.

The printer itself can be a stubborn beast – it is fairly simple to use on a normal day, but with a bit of bad luck there’s a lot that can go wrong. Risograph printmakers often find themselves in tricky situations – broken parts, cryptic error codes and spoilt ink are common occurrences. In Australia technicians aren’t available in every city, and parts are hard to find or they are simply not made anymore. You pull up your sleeves, do some googling, 3D print missing parts, swap tips with riso friends, and eventually produce a run of magical prints.

Co-curating this exhibition has of course had some unfortunate and unforeseen surprises, not the least of which was the pandemic and subsequent lockdowns.

Many of the participating artists (and one of the curators) are based in Melbourne,

which has copped the brunt of the lockdowns in Australia. There are also a number of international artists involved in Risographomania who have done it tough, and as we write this, are still doing it tough. We appreciate your ongoing commitment to this exhibition, and are honoured that you managed the project, despite some significant hardships.

We’ve also seen how an unforeseen disaster such as a worldwide pandemic has pushed artists to stretch their minds, break through obstacles, let themselves experiment, push boundaries in their practice, exhibit in new and exciting ways, and support each other through it all. It has been an incredibly difficult time for so many people.

Of course, the most gratifying part of curating this exhibition has been seeing the designs coming in one by one and being introduced to dozens of new artists. The level of work and the huge breadth of style has been incredible to witness and an absolute joy to print.

Thank you to the artists for your participation and experimentation, we’ve made an utterly unique exhibition together.

Ashley Ronning and Jonathan McBurnie Co-curators, Risographomania

For more information, visit Council’s website townsville.qld.gov.au

Anneke Silver, Love the old Queenslander!, 2020. Risograph on paper, 42 x 29.7 cm. Edition of 25. Courtesy of Ashley Ronning.