18 Sep RISO Artist of the Month Maritsa Patrinos
Meet RISO’s September Artist of the Month
What is your name and the name of your organization/location?
My name is Maritsa Patrinos and I am a Brooklyn-based illustrator, designer, and comic artist. I print using the RISOLAB at the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan. Would love to have my own machine one day!
How long have you been in the art industry?
I moved to Brooklyn to study illustration at Pratt Institute in 2007, and have been at it ever since. I have jumped around a lot in my career, from publishing to animation to editorial work to advertising, etc etc. This industry has required me to be very flexible.
How long have you been using RISO duplicators and the method of RISOGRAPHY?
I first used a RISO duplicator my last year of art school, and continued to use one that belonged to a good friend, Kris Mukai, after I graduated. She really became an expert on the machine, and we both did a lot of printing and experimenting with it– we enjoyed watching animation of the little squirrel running on the wheel while it made the master. We even messed around with a RISO gocco printer as well, which was a lot of fun.
Her RISO duplicator was an old model that I could mostly only use the xerox capability on, so I would print my masters out ahead of time and really work to line everything up on the glass to make registration easier. When I wanted a layer to be more transparent, I would literally just put a piece of tracing paper down on the glass before placing my master. (It worked remarkably well!)
What are some of your favorite colors to use with a duplicator?
The answer to this is constantly changing, but some of my favorites at the moment are Sunflower, Mint, and Violet. Another all-time favorite is Metallic Gold– I discovered how opaque and shiny this ink is on black paper and fell in love. It has really made me think about how different inks could interact with different color paper stock.
Why RISOGRAPHY?
As many other artists say, constraint breeds creativity, and I think the RISO duplicator creates the perfect amount of constraint. There are some strict limitations about the RISO printing process that can be pushed and loopholes that can be exploited, which result in really beautiful solutions that changed the way I approach making things. It starts by forcing you to distill your idea down to its simplest form and build it up from there– which sounds tedious, but ultimately leads to some really rich, satisfying work. No matter how many times I print, there’s always some new combination of colors and techniques to discover.
What would you tell people who are just finding out about RISO Duplicators and the artform of RISOGRAPHY?
The little bit of a learning curve is totally worth it, it is so fun. If you ever struggle with picking colors for an illustration, this will really help you get decisive. And if you’ve ever wanted to explore screen printing but couldn’t be bothered with the mess, the time consumption, or the expense, this is definitely for you. Make sure you leave time to experiment and make mistakes, because that’s where the good stuff is. Don’t go in with a perfectly formed vision of what you want to make, but instead make it an exercise in letting go of control and embracing accidents to find new possibilities about your personal process. If possible, I recommend taking a class at a place like the SVA RISOLAB, because the group setting helps spark inspiration.
Feel free to plug any events that you have coming up.
I’ll be at the Small Press Expo in Maryland on September 12 and 13, debuting a new zine in my series “Joy”, as well as some new prints! I’ll also be at the very first Brooklyn Expo of Comics on November 14 and 15.
You can also keep up with the two weekly strips I do for Comics Kingdom, “Working Cats” published online every Wednesday, and my work on “Six Chix” comes out every Friday both online and in newspapers across the country.
Website Links:
Website: maritsapatrinos.com
Instagram: @maritsapatrinos