Presentation
Kayrock Screenprinting were always more ambitious than the average silk screeners and art collectives. From the beginning, the duo of Karl J. LaRocca a.k.a. Kayrock a.k.a. Pre-Raphaelite Shaolin and Jef Scharf a.k.a. Wolfy a.k.a. Little Giant Robot Zero were tackling big subjects -- their very name derived from The Wu-Tang Clan name generator. By making catchy, infectious, psychedelic, Japanese, childlike posters for a couple dirt bag musician friends, Kayrock Screenprinting became a big hit in their neighborhood of Williamsburg, setting the stage for bigger things.
On the strength of the posters the shop became a major hit, establishing the duo as one of the leading talents of the second generation of Williamsburg stars. Instead of simply making posters, the boys labored to create a psychedelic and jazz-rock-tinged shop that could print t-shirts for people like Au Revoir Simone, Dirty Projectors, Grizzly Bear, The Boredoms, The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, TV on the Radio, Ex-Models, The Death Set, The National, The Rapture, Enon, Wayne Gonzales, Amy Sillman, The Liars, Dan Nadel, Picturebox and Gary Panter.
While the boys were a big hit, it was the end of an era instead of a new beginning. The shop left its humble first studio, its parties and Speakeasies behind, and moved to a large and sunny space, pursuing more sophisticated and pretentious directions like artist editions for Fred Tomaselli, Matthew Brannon, BORF, David Ellis, Judith Supine, FAILE, Momo, Swoon, WK Interact, Jef Scharf, Karl LaRocca, Maya Hayuk, Cory Arcangel, Cecily Brown, Kaws, Guy Richard Smit, Kostas Seremetis, Mark Swanson. Mike Pare, Michael Smith, Kathy Bernhardt, Aaron Young, Breyer P-orridge, The Voluptuous Horror of Karen Black, Scott Hug and Brady Dollarhide.
Occasionally, they do book design for Deitch Projects and Soft Skull Press or album design for Oneida, Nada Surf, and Team Robespierre.
Due to political crackdowns on fun and loose morals, the boys have retreated to Monster Island which is a building full of like-minded artists and galleries. 2008 brings a desire to communicate, focus on handmade books, recording, printing, and illustrating their infamous endevours. They still expect Greenpoint Police's Anti-fun brigade or the still active Karl Rove Scary Terrorbusters to kick in their door any day now and send them to Punishment Park. Kayrock and Wolfy met as children in the Russian and Turkish bathhouse on 10th street. Both boys came from homes, and Wolfy was leaning toward juvenile delinquency. Kayrock, however, turned towards books, eventually discovering "The Master and Margarita" by Mikhail Bulganin . Kayrock turned Wolfy on to Bulganin, but before the duo explored literature further, they formed the punk band Roxy Pain in the late '70s. After releasing a handful of singles, including "Laura Welch is a Drug dealer with no Mercy" and "Our buddy George is the dumbest guy we know"; the members of Roxy Pain disillusioned with politics and motherhood have dissolved and reinvented itself throughout the years. The duo went on to form Kayrock Screenprinting, an art collective and non-profit silkscreen with William Kaizen. The collective quickly filled a need in the community and started generating a lot of business. Kaizen felt that the shop had gone in a direction that did not fit his philosophical and economic beliefs, so he left to pursue a career in action films that eventually lead him to California politics. Several luminous guests grace the studios with their silkscreening, modelling and dancing skills such as Orlando James San Felipe (Golden Triangle), Alison Busch (Awesome Color, Red Dawn II) Maya Hayuk and Zach Lehrhoff (Ex Models, Knife Hyts, 30 Pack).
Kayrock and Wolfy decided to incorporate and hone their skills in screenprinting to provide the highest quality work they can and to share their knowledge with anyone who will listen or come over and eat lunch with them.
