Kurt Sayenga collection

Kurt Sayenga [b. 1961] is a director, producer, artist, writer, and graphic designer. From 1985 to 1989, he was also the editor and publisher of Greed, a fanzine that emerged from the Washington, D.C. punk scene. Although Greed closely covered the D.C. punk scene of that period – featuring interviews with notable area bands and musicians like Rites of Spring, Tommy Keene, Three, Velvet Monkeys, Dag Nasty, and others -- its coverage was not limited to that region. Interviews with the British singer-songwriter Robyn Hitchcock, Los Angeles garage-punk band The Pandoras, and the New York City experimental noise bands Swans were a few examples of Greed’s broad coverage of underground music at the time. Greed also had strong connections to the art and comics world, including features on The Hernandez Brothers (Love and Rockets) and Bob Burden (Flaming Carrot), as well as extensive use of comics and illustrations within its pages.

Greed – so titled because “it seemed very representative of the times,” according to Sayenga -- was particularly notable for its clean, highly professional layout and aesthetics, which was still unusual among punk fanzines in the second half of the 1980s. The desktop publishing software that enabled Greed’s sharper layout was not widely available during that era – Sayenga accessed the software through his job in an attorney’s office -- but would soon become commonplace, enabling numerous other fanzines to employ a more professional design aesthetic. Greed ceased publication following its sixth issue in the winter of 1989.

Sayenga contributed to multiple zines from the D.C. punk scene, like Uno Mas, The Boogins, and WDC Period. He also designed the artwork for several releases by D.C. punk bands like Gray Matter, Manifesto, Rain and, most prominently, Fugazi. He has gone on to a notable career as a writer, director, and producer of documentaries for networks like AMC, Discovery, and National Geographic.