T-shirt Art

I subscribe to an e-newsletter called brooklynbased highlighting all things hip-happenin' in the borough, and one of this week's features was about t-shirts:

"It’s difficult to pinpoint when t-shirts became a platform for art. But nowadays, a shirt can convey an artist’s statement, a political message, or an ironic image that takes the time a painting does to create."

My web designer boyfriend's daily work uniform consists of a t-shirt and a pair of jeans, so we're both usually on the lookout for unique, interesting designs for him to sport. Perhaps t-shirts really are just another form of "wearable art," at times just as expressive and thought-provoking as art jewelry. There's a lot of really great websites out there that feature t-shirts designed by artists…

via rumplo

This shirt available through rumplo was designed by Eduardo Recife, (I think? I couldn't actually find his name on the site…) He's a collage artist and typographer I'm a huge fan of. I had been coveting his dream print (the collage this t-shirt was based off of) for months until finally breaking down and buying it (via blue flip art):

San Francisco based Poketo is another fab company to check out. They produce limited editions of all sort of artist-designed goodies, including tees:

via poketo by artist betsy walton

Shirts have proven to be a practical, fun, and inexpensive way to support artists/designers. Of course buying directly from the artist themselves rules, and indie craft shows always have an over-abundance of art tees to choose from.

Threadless is also a really cool online venue for great tees. Designers send in submissions and viewers get to score the designs they like best. After the votes are tallied, threadless will print the most popular t-shirts:

Le Romantique by Matheus Lopes via threadless

I want to be friends by Steven Bonner via threadless

If humor/ironic shirts are your speed, these sites are always good for a laugh:
snorg
and
busted tees