1st International Milwaukee Riso Invitational

June 26-August 14, 2026
Opening Reception Friday, June 26, 5-7pm

Spudnik Press is pleased to be the first stop on the national tour of 1st International Milwaukee Riso Invitational originating at Milwaukee’s Suburban Gallery. This collaborative exhibition and publishing project brings together an extraordinary group of contemporary artists, illustrators, and cultural producers to explore the power and substance of the democratic print.  

This inaugural invitational is produced in partnership with the The Comic Art Teaching and Study Workshop (CATS) and the artist‐run platform Bad at Sports, printed at the new CATS facility in Sarofim Hall on the campus of Rice University.

Each invited artist has created an original two‐color risograph print at 11Χ17 inches, editioned collaboratively for public distribution.

In keeping with the spirit of risograph culture—affordable, experimental, and accessible—30 of each print edition will be available free to gallery visitors, while the remaining 10 will be randomly distributed to participating artists. This gesture foregrounds a shared belief in art as both a gift and a tool for building cultural networks.

The invitational draws energy from the legacy of artist‐initiated print projects—ephemeral, distributable, and fiercely independent, said Brian Andrews, of Bad at Sports. It’s a celebration of artists using print as a means of connection, self ‐ expression, and resistance of the cultural machine.

 

Work by: Amanda Ross-Ho, Art Spiegelman, Beth Hetland, Betsy Odom, Cecilia Beaven, Christopher Sperandio, Chris Ware, Diana Guerrero-Macia, Heather Mekkelson, Ivan Brunetti, Jen Delos Reyes, Jennifer Willet, Jessica Campbell, Jessica Stockholder, Jason Dunda, Kuras and MacKenzie, Kyle O’Connell, Max Morris, Meg Duguid, Melissa Potter, Nura Ali, Oli Watt, OnSmith, Paul Krainak, Paul Nudd, Paul Ramirez Jonas, Peter Power, Ryan Peter Miller, Sandra Dillon, Shannon Stratton, Sergio Soave, Sonnenzimmer (Nick Butcher and Nadine Nakanishi), Tamara Lee-Anne Cardinal, Tom Sanford

 

Spudnik Press
1821 W Hubbard St, #302
Chicago, IL 60622

This exhibition is curated by Duncan MacKenzie and Christopher Sperandio and was first exhibited at The Suburban in Milwaukee.  This show is a part a summer of midwest riso exhibitions organized by Spudnik Press.  A sister exhibition, 1st Annual Chicago and Vicinity Riso Exhibition will be taking place at Epiphany Center for the Arts: 201 S Ashland Ave, Chicago, IL 60607 from May 3- July 4, 2026 ( opening Sunday, May 3, 2–5pm)

Bad At Sports is the midwest’s leading site for arts journalism and contemporary art punditry. Boldly, it can be said that they are truly the providers of care for the wounded art soul and contemporary art worlder. In short, they are the strangest of artists and joke makers, surreal meaning hunters and philosophical provocateurs. Theirs is a quest of true horror… For what is art? Will we know it when we see it? And does it want to be known?ttps://badatsports.com/

The Comic Art Teaching and Study Workshop, or CATS, is a treasure trove of original comic art, comic books, and books on comics housed in the Department of Art at Rice University. CATS is a site for making comics and researching the topic of comics for students and professionals alike. Our collection of original comic art and vintage comics is growing!