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Posted by Jason Urban on April 23rd, 2009 | Apparently there’s no shortage of ways to cross-pollinate two of the world’s greatest inventions: the bicycle and the printing press. At this rate, we might have to start a sister site. Hmmm… bicycleresting? Not very catchy.
Contrail is designed by Studio Gelardi as a biking community tool. The idea is that your tires “print” a trail of chalk as you ride. This trail functions as a guide for other cyclists as well as a signal to motorists. Over time, the trail grows more colorful and more clear so cyclists who are new to a given street know where to ride… like a path in the woods. The results are functional and attractive.
Here’s some concept art to illustrate how the mechanism works…
Posted by Jason Urban on April 22nd, 2009 | We’d be remiss if we let Earth Day pass without a post on green printing…. PB Copy is an owner-operated digital print shop in Surrey, British Columbia. You might be imagining 44″ Epson printers and photopolymer plates, but I should clarify. PB Copy isn’t a fine art printshop; it’s a full-fledged commercial printshop- the kind that makes copies of paperwork for local businesses.
So why should Printeresting care about a commercial printshop? Well, the interesting thing about PB Copy is their commitment to eco-friendly printing. They make thier copies with a RISO printer powered by bicycle and solar panels. We’ve talked about bicycle-powered printing before but never when put to such practical application.
Here’s a link to a story about PB Copy in the Vancouver Sun:
In the last few months Shane Fortune and Kevin LaHay have spent hours on a bicycle generating juice for a printer at their Surrey store.
Ten minutes of riding the bike “at a reasonable pace” — often in slacks and a dress shirt — generates enough power to print 100 copies “off the grid,” Fortune estimated.
Combine this eco-exercise regimen with two solar panels and 100-per-cent post-consumer recycled paper made using renewable energy, and 90 per cent of PB Copy’s print jobs — the exception being colour, cover or glossy paper — are a stone’s throw away from being carbon neutral.
Fine art printmaking has taken a cue from industry in the past so it couldn’t hurt to look there for green printing tips, too. The guys at PB Copy are swamped with work at the moment (which is great for them) but when things slow down a bit, they’re going to send us a report on eco-friendly printing in the commercial sector.
Posted by RL Tillman on February 3rd, 2009 | You know that Printeresting favors “forward-looking print work that addresses current art concerns.” But let’s face the cold hard truth: At root, printmaking is about the past. And so we turn a watchful eye to a bygone era, in search of pure printmaking awesome:
The Museum of RetroTechnology explains:
This extraordinary tricycle appeared in 1895. The solid rubber wheels are fitted with printing blocks that were continuously inked to leave printing on a hard road surface. The machinery at the rear is not an engine, but includes two inking rollers and a tank for gravity-feed ink supply…the idea seems to have sunk without trace, and the world is not the poorer.
Has it all been done before? Here are the nominees for the 2009 Printeresting Back to the Drawing Board Award:
Joshua Kinsberg
Arya Pandjalu
Abner Preis
Calle Enström and Johan Undén
…Really, it’s an honor just to be nominated. We love you all!
Posted by amze on January 9th, 2009 | 
Serigraphy Cinqunquatre is a full service art/design shop founded and run by Alice Jarry (that’s her print above) and Jason Cantoro (that’s his print below). You can see great examples of their own work as well as band/event posters and clothing at their website here.
In addition to combining nostalgia-ladden photographic references with strong print graphics and hand-made marks, their content seems to have found a novel approach to the space/place conversation. Their work was part of the 2007 Conflux festival in NYC, a citywide psycho-geography event, organized by Glowlab gallery.
In their own words (translated from French by the google):
Based in the chic neighborhood of Montreal’s South Central, Serigraphy Cinqunquatre is an artist / printmaking studio as well as a design company.
Founded in 2003 by Alice Jarry and Jason Cantoro, Serigraphy Cinqunquatre uses different printing techniques such as screenprinting, lithography and etching, combined with painting and drawing. Parallel to their artistic production, they do design posters, logos, CD covers, t-shirts for music bands, promoters and designers.
Posted by Kevin ONeill on September 27th, 2008 | 
It’s going to take a lot more than skill for Cru Jones to conquer the toughest BMX challenge in the world. It’s going to take a miracle.
Skill clearly isn’t the issue in 1986’s BMX classic Rad (one of my favorites) as Cru proves himself to be a great rider early on in the film. So what’s this miracle?
Unable to qualify for Helltrack because he has no sponsor and the corporate BMX machine is doing all that they can to prevent him from racing, Cru’s little sister initiates the brilliant idea of starting their own team through the simple act of printing their own shirts. Of course there are many more obstacles to follow, but this printmaking scene (starts about 2 mins. into the clip) is a true turning point in the film.
This is kind of a followup to a previous Printeresting post regarding the negative image of printmakers in film. In Rad, D.I.Y. printmaking is the hero and it opens a whole new world of possibility for Cru Jones.
Posted by Jason Urban on September 7th, 2008 | 
Not exactly a necessary addition to the already crowded sea of printing equipment but certainly a fun and potentially healthy one, the Tryckcykeln made it’s debut earlier this summer in Sweden. A pair of young, Swedish printing and bicycling enthusiasts decided to merge their shared interests into one beautiful, if not completely practical, print-cycle. Calle Enström and Johan Undén created the bizarre printing machine for their final project at Forsbergs School of Graphic Design and Advertising. Built from four separate bicycles, their pedaling produced an edition of CMYK books and won them two scholarship awards.
Admittedly, the registration is off and the print quality is questionable at best but I think the whole project is worth it for the visual of that long, colorful bike-train. I’m a sucker for things in CMYK. Click on the links for more images.
Posted by Jason Urban on April 26th, 2008 |
Parsons graduate Joshua Kinsberg was in the news a few years ago after designing a mobile print system for his MFA thesis in Design and Technology. His initial foray into the public eye came in 2004 during the Republican national convention in NYC where he debuted his bikesagainstbush project as a tool of politcal protest. The bicycle, which utilizes a chalk printer, allowed website visitors to wirelessly send messages of protest to be “printed” on the streets. While being interviewed for cable news’ Hardball with Chris Matthews, Kinsberg was arrested and his innovative, mobile printing unit was detained. He’s back in the news again… the NYTimes reported in March that Kinsberg had been under surveillance prior to the convention raising serious questions about an artist/activist’s rights to privacy. This seems like a great example of printmaking crossing-over into the “real world”- interacting with public and being part of the political debate.
There is a lot of lip service paid to “political print” in the museum setting but how often does print really have any political power? On a completely different note, how long before a company like Red Bull finds a way to take advantage of this technology to inundate college campuses with advertisements for energy drinks?
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