No One Told Me Not to Do This ― Selected Screenprints, 2009-2015

Jay Ryan has been making screen-printed concert posters in Chicago since 1995. He learned to print at the now-legendary Screwball Press, making work for his his own band (Dianogah), the bands they played with, and the clubs they frequented. Work progressed with a steady stream of posters hired by and for bands such as Andrew Bird, Shellac, the Decemberists, the Melvins, the Breeders, My Morning Jacket, the Jesus Lizard, St. Vincent, Fugazi, Neko Case, Pearl Jam, Hum, Jeff Tweedy, and hundreds of others.

After hiring assistants and moving to a larger commercial space in 2002, Ryan was in the right place at the right time and was involved in organizing the successful Flatstock series of poster conventions, which now continue to hold five large annual poster shows around the United States and Europe. Ryan served as vice president of the American Poster Institute from 2002 until 2007. In 2007, Crain's Chicago Business named him to their prestigious "40 Under 40" list, and the following year, Time Out Chicago named him a "Chicago Cultural Hero” (alongside Roger Ebert, Jerry Springer, and Richard J Daley).

Ryan travels around the United States and Europe, working with university students, lecturing, and showing prints and paintings. He still plays in Dianogah (and an offshoot band, Whelms), and continues to work daily at The Bird Machine in Skokie, Illinois. He lives just outside Chicago with his wife and daughter.