Ryan Besch as Your Cinema

Your Cinema is the moniker of designer/illustrator/artist Ryan Besch from Buffalo, NY. Besch was introduced to art by reading underground comics, digging through his uncle’s LPs and looking through the back pages of Thrasher. Jim Phillips’ Screaming Hand illustration for Santa Cruz and the cover to The Rolling Stones Some Girls LP are some of the earliest images that he recalls having a major impact. In the early 90‘s Ryan found alternative books like Eightball and Hate that were being published by Fantagraphics, record labels like Dischord and Sub Pop, and the independent films that were coming out of Mirimax. These influences opened up a whole scene of underground artist’s and bands outside of the mainstream, the concept of DIY ethics and the idea that he could make things happen for himself.

"Growing up in a semi-rural area outside of Buffalo, being into punk rock and skateboarding was important because it gave me and my group of friends something to identify ourselves with, especially pre-internet when you really had to search things out. I was exposed to visual artists like Art Chantry, Winston Smith, Daniel Clowes, Raymond Pettibon, Peter Bagge, Kozik and tons of others who have all influenced my aesthetic in some way. I also draw a lot of inspiration from the Pop Art movement, and the second wave of gig poster artists from the last 20 years has also been a big influence."

-Ryan