PERFECTLY ACCEPTABLE
/PERFECTLY ACCEPTABLE
September 13 - November 18, 2023, Fenwick Gallery
Detail from Lale Westvind’s “GRIP”
PERFECTLY ACCEPTABLE is a retrospective exhibition of the Chicago-based small press publisher Perfectly Acceptable Press. This exhibit explores the contemporary landscape of Risograph printing and art books, presented through a broad review of the Press’s archive and an in-depth exploration of one work: the award-winning comic Grip by Lale Westvind.
PERFECTLY ACCEPTABLE also examines the relationship between printers, designers, artists, and materials in the creation of a finished art book, a reminder that creative works are not always solitary acts but often the result of negotiation, collaboration, and experimentation.
PERFECTLY ACCEPTABLE will be on view from September 13-November 18 at Fenwick Gallery in Fenwick Library.
Join us on Wednesday, September 13 for an opening reception and talk with Matt Davis, the owner and operator of Perfectly Acceptable Press, followed by a Risograph demonstration. More programming will follow through October and November.
Special thanks to our exhibit sponsors: Mason Libraries, Mason Exhibitions, and University Life.
Events
Wednesday, 9/13: Opening Reception & Risograph Demo
Registration is free but required to save your place!1:00PM: Reception and meet & greet in Fenwick Gallery
1:30-2:30PM: Artist talk with Matt Davis, owner and operator of Perfectly Acceptable Press (Fenwick Library Main Reading Room)
3:00-4:15PM: Risograph demonstration and mini workshop with Matt Davis and Prof. Christopher Kardambikis (Mason School of Art Printmaking & Book Arts Studio, Room 1009)
Tuesday, 10/31, 12-3PM: HALLOWZINES
A zines workshop with Mason Libraries and Special Collections Research Center. Details forthcoming!
Thursday, 11/16, 11AM-1:30PM: Comics for Breakfast: Alumni Artist Talk + Comics Jam
Join us for donuts and dialogue with alumni from Mason’s School of Art! Speakers include Lee Strawberry (BFA ‘19), Ash Smith (BA ‘22), and Sylvia Rossi (BFA ‘23). Following a live comics reading and discussion, Sylvia Rossi will lead a short comics workshop and risograph printing demonstration. Registration free but required - sign up here!
About Perfectly Acceptable Press
Matt Davis, artist and founder of Perfectly Acceptable Press
Photo credit: Chester Alamo-Costello
Perfectly Acceptable Press, founded by Matt Davis in 2013(ish) and located in Chicago, publishes short-run narrative artist books ("comics"), as well as offering for-hire Risograph printing services. As a publisher, Perfectly Acceptable aims to create objects that push the boundaries of 'zine' without sacrificing accessibility, synergizing content, craft, and form. From 2020 to 2022, Perfectly Acceptable also ran Pumpkin's Remote Residency, an annual residency giving lesser-known artists from around the world an opportunity to work with Perfectly Acceptable on producing a Risograph comic, to be published by Perfectly Acceptable, from the comfort/safety of their homes.
Alongside Perfectly Acceptable, Matt also co-directs (with George Wietor of Issue Press) the North American Risograph Conference, a biennial meeting of Risographers in Chicago; co-administers (with George, again) the 'Risography' Discord, a chatroom & support forum for all things Risograph and publishing; and co-hosts Zine Not Dead (with Brad Rohloff of Bred Press), a quarterly experimental comics reading series.
What is Risograph Printing?
Risograph is an alternative printing technology that can feel like a cross between a copy machine and an automatic screen-printing process. It uses inexpensive and more environmentally friendly inks than traditional toner, producing vibrant colors and unusual surface textures that make it an appealing and affordable format for artists and independent publishers.
The Risograph printing process is akin to screen printing, as each color layer must be printed separately. To start, the artist places an original drawing on the Riso scanner and inserts a drum of color ink into the machine. The Riso generates a stencil (or "master”) of the image. As each sheet is printed, the Riso pushes ink through the stencil onto the paper. To add another color or print a different part of the image, the artist inserts a different color drum and creates a new stencil, which is printed over the first color layer.
Students in Mason’s School of Art and in the Dynamic Publishing minor use Risograph printing to produce comics, poetry broadsides, prints, photobooks, zines, and more. They work alongside faculty and visiting artists to gain hands-on experience with publishing, but also have the space for conceptual and aesthetic experimentation and to develop their own working processes.