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# Printing Is for Punks
- URL: https://hyperallergic.com/printing-is-for-punks/
- Published: 2011-11-16T14:16:05.000Z
- Updated: 2025-11-24T15:40:44.000Z
- Description: Secret Project Robot hosted the 6th annual Prints Gone Wild fair November 4 and 5 in their new location in Bushwick.
- Author: Kate Wadkins
- Tags: Opinion, #image-position-hidden, Live With Animals, Printmaking, Prints, zines, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2025-11-17 09:23 (2009-2011)

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2011/11/justseeds.jpg)

Just Seeds table at Prints Gone Wild. (All photos by the author for Hyperallergic)

Autumn is the season for print here in New York. With PS1’s veritable print mania, the [Art Book Fair](https://hyperallergic.com/2011-new-york-art-book-fair/) in October, I was thankful [Cannonball Press](http://cannonballpress.com/?ref=hyperallergic.com)‘s affordable print fair, *Prints Gone Wild*, didn’t fall on the same weekend this year as [it did](http://momaps1.org/calendar/view/252?ref=hyperallergic.com) in [2010](https://hyperallergic.com/prints-gone-wild/). While it can be a blast to [walk all the way](http://blog.katewadkins.com/2010/11/riot-grrrl-traces-of-movement-feminist.html?ref=hyperallergic.com) from Long Island City to Williamsburg and back, that’s a long distance to travel for one’s love of print.

[Secret Project Robot](http://www.secretprojectrobot.org/?ref=hyperallergic.com) hosted the 6th annual *Prints Gone Wild* fair November 4 and 5 in their new location in Bushwick. Previously housed in Williamsburg’s Monster Island building, a seven-year home for street and DIY art in the neighborhood, Secret Project Robot relocated. The new space is a bit smaller, but no matter.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2011/11/kayrocktable.jpg)

Kayrock Screenprinting Table

With every item under $50, *Prints Gone Wild* is more like a bunch of merch tables at a punk show, which is rather appropriate as the opening night always has live music. On that note, one of my favorite items was [Kayrock](http://kayrock.org/books/?ref=hyperallergic.com) Screenprinting’s “Rapping Paper” (featuring a number of well-known rappers).

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2011/11/rappingpaper.jpg)

Kayrock's "Rapping Paper"

Of course, for the more sophisticated buyer, there are plenty of gorgeous prints for cheap. Cannonball’s collection ranges from their trademark old-school poster style to artful works like those of [Rie Hasegawa](http://www.harie.net/en/59.html?ref=hyperallergic.com).

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2011/11/cannonballprint.jpg)

Rie Hasegawa,

While *Prints Gone Wild* is certainly the place to go for prints of all kinds, it’s lacking in the zine department. Obviously that’s not the focus of the event, but predictably my one purchase was a zine by Brooklyn artist [STO](http://stoishere.com/?ref=hyperallergic.com).

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2011/11/sto_asleepatthewheel.jpg)

STO, "Asleep at the Wheel," printed by Kayrock Screenprinting

The best part about seeing all this print work together is the weirdness of it: contemporary print artists, *many* of whom come from a punk background, really let their freak flags fly. STO’s zine, *Asleep at the Wheel*, is chock-full of crude drawings paired with ambiguous phrases: “That ship has fucking sailed,” “He didn’t deserve it but it felt good to do,” “Inside of my coat pocket, I have a map of my hunger, and you are on it,” the last which is illustrated with a man bleeding from his eye and his mouth.

When *New York Magazine* journalist Ashlea Halpern queried me about the [recent resurgence of analog culture](http://nymag.com/shopping/features/analog-2011-7/?ref=hyperallergic.com), I explained that punk has always revered the analog, and nay, this isn’t just a recent trend piece but a way of doing. Print media, which can be used as a punk form of production (hand-silkscreening your band’s t-shirts and album covers, for example), has true staying power. *Prints Gone Wild,* as well as local zine fests (like the [Anarchist Book Fair](http://anarchistbookfair.net/?ref=hyperallergic.com), [Pete’s Mini Zine Fest](http://www.brokelyn.com/mini-zine-fest-highlights-diy-publishing/?ref=hyperallergic.com) and [NYC Zine Fest](http://www.nyczinefest.org/?ref=hyperallergic.com)) always seem to do incredibly well. With the economy in the state it is, punk modes of production and print media are logical ways of doing.

*The 6th annual* [Prints Gone Wild](http://www.secretprojectrobot.org/secretprojectorobot/Home.html?ref=hyperallergic.com) *fair took place November 4 and 5 at Secret Project Robot (389 Melrose Street, Bushwick, Brooklyn).*