AS ISSUED celebrates the rare art form of Risograph printing

Harry Diaz / Yumi Sakugawa / David Peña / Shihori Nakayama / Gabe Gonzalez / James Chong / Jesse Fillingham / Rob Brown

As technology advances it leaves behind a trail of innovations that are now a thing of the past. The Risograph was a high-speed and high-volume digital printing/duplicator system that was released in Japan in 1986. Marketed as a cheap quick printer it bridged the gap between offset printing and thermal printing. The Risograph creates a raised stencil of the image to be duplicated, like offset printing, and prints one color and one layer at a time using an interchangeable colored cylindrical drum. The result is a printed image very much alike to the results of screen-printing.

Since 1986 the use of Risograph Printers commercially has declined but the machine has found favor with artists, designers and creatives. In the last decade this rare technology has transitioned into the creative marketplace as an efficient and aesthetically pleasing method of printing with rich bold colors. The artists that will have work on display at As Issued combine their artistic talents with a once innovative printing technology. Melding art with the use of machine.

With the opening of the event there will be a Risograph Printer onsite demonstrating the printing methods while making complimentary posters for attendees.