The theme for an art exhibit at Orlando Museum of Art’s 1st Thursdays event was “Fashionista.” In the beginning of 2010 Brian Feldman had met with 10 Orlando artists to discuss collaborations in his “Swan Boat Talks.” This project with Johannah O’Donnell was the first project to be realized from those talks. Johannah and Brian had created 20 T-Shirts that read, Lousy T-shirt using a simple silk screen press. This was the first time that either of them had done silk screen printing so the printing was a bit spotty in places.
People could get a Lousy T-Shirt if they traded in the shirt they were wearing. I went into the men’s room, changed into one of my paint rag T-shirts and traded that for the fashionable black Lousy T-Shirt. I didn’t step behind gallery wall to do the exchange. As I removed my shirt Brian said, “Hey everybody, this is your opportunity to see Thor half naked!” Once I had on my brand spanking new T-shirt, I found a spot to sit and started sketching. Brian and Johannah were constantly posing for pictures. By the end of the evening, every Lousy T-Shirt had been given away and the rack was full of a wide variety of shirts and tops.
Actually, I've been doing silkscreens since college. Brian and I came up with the idea for the project after I told him about my printmaking experience.
The quality of the printing was not up to the standard of commercially produced shirts because water-based ink was used (it's far much more earth-friendly than the industrial stuff).
In retrospect, dark ink on a light shirt would have probably looked less "lousy", as the dark water-based inks cover much better than the white does.
Thanks for the write up. Love the drawing!