I made three more bleached, screen printed and airbrushed shirts which are available at my shop in Prague. It’s a tough gig because every shirt takes a minimum of an hour to make, however the whole concept revolves around creating one of a kind Tshirts. Layer I will meet with a local. Czech artist who does hand embroidery on t shirts and sells them as well. We’re hoping to collaborate and also do a token tied drop of shirts so each will have a digital collectible as well. It’s been a lot of fun navigating this weird world of digital collectibles. And I’ve thought a lot about how people value digital items which they buy and own. I honestly don’t think most people can get it until they actually own something. It makes sense of course with video games where users pay for objects that are used in game. But when it comes to just collecting art, many can’t wrap their head around it. Now that I’m making merch, based on an nft drop which was successful, and continue giving back to that community, it’s come full circle in a strange way. Starting off as physical paintings which were then scanned, and rearranged into new compositions. Then these were sold as nfts. So each buyer would get a unique painting that resembles my own, but also stood on its own as a digital art peice as well.
With fine art there is often a fear of collectibles. That they somehow devalue the work itself. If Monet intended on putting his paintings on a coffee cup would the original painting be worth any less? The fact that they are out on coffee ups now, does that somehow make the work have any less value? A long running debate has been ongoing for decades if not centuries now regarding the differentiation of art and craft. With ceramicists taking the hardest hit. As their work is often seen as functional, such as cups, or purely decorative, such as vases. But I’m kind of envious of that tightrope they have to walk between their functional work and their art. And how to reconcile the two. With Tshirts, I’m trying to do the same, and be open to criticism and feedback as I make changes to the final product. Or mvp, as the kids say now. Creating something that resonates with people is already hard, getting them to wear a piece of art is even more difficult. Because I think the artist kind of needs to take the backseat. Like in dancing, “the goal is to make the woman look good” but with t shirt design, part of the goal is to ensure you din’t overpower the person wearing the shirt and just make a nuanced addition. At least rhat’s how I view it.
