Gocco Awareness

By Sarah Foley

In my last year in college a new professor named Kate Bingaman was hired. As an introduction to her class, she told us about her graduate study at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln. She showed us her MFA thesis titled, "Obsessive Consumption." Some of the work she showed us seemed to be silk-screened. Or was it?

Kate indeed had silk-screened, but not in the usual way. What did she do?

It turns out that Kate had used a machine called a Gocco.

What is a Gocco? A Gocco is a small silk-screening machine that looks like a toy. The machine was invented in 1977 by Norboru Hayama. Sixteen or seventeen years ago the company Riso (Gocco's parent company) began distributing the Gocco in the United States.

How does it work? The machine uses two flash bulbs to thermally imprint an image onto a four by six inch screen. Once you have put ink on the screen—BAM! Get your arm muscles ready—you are about to start printing like a master! It is a very easy process. One great thing about the machine is that it is easy to make multiple prints of whatever you are doing.

Later in the semester Kate gave us a demonstration as to how to use the Gocco. As soon as Kate gave the demo, I knew that this machine would become a handy tool for me. I quickly went out and purchased one from DickBlick.com and started printing, printing, printing! There were some projects I was working on at the time that I wanted the final product to be screen-printed. Since I did not have the capabilities readily available for me to screen-print, I used my Gocco technology in place of screen-printing to create the goods. The first project I ever used the Gocco on was a self-promotional book. It was quite an enjoyable experience. From that moment on, I used the Gocco whenever I felt a project could benefit from it—class projects, projects that would bring me some income, presents for my friends . . . in short, everything.

I brought my machine to SVA with me when I started graduate school. I was really excited that I found use for it still. What is more exciting to me is how many people in my class found the machine exciting. I lent it out on occasion and am constantly (still) showing people how to use it. People in class have borrowed the Gocco for freelance work as well as class work. A girl in the class was so influenced by Gocco that she bought her own!

To my dismay, soon after my classmate purchased her Gocco, I found out some devastating news. Riso stopped making the Gocco due to low sales in Japan. They now sell only the supplies for a Gocco until they run out. The do not sell any new exposure units. What! How is this possible?

What are Gocco lovers to do? For now, there is no real solution. Buy all the screens and ink you can while supplies last. Check out Gocco's Flickr group. Take a peek at an Internet site dedicated to saving the Gocco such as savegocco.com. There are also sites that feature artists' work using Goccos like The Wurst Gallery and their "We Heart Gocco". Try to check out Onsmith Comics with "The Gocco Set: 17 prints by 17 artists" as well. Whatever you do, take the chance to enjoy this little machine while you can.

Photographs by the author.