FoundClothing

Run, Blago, Run t-shirt

This weekend, the space at 1925 N. Milwaukee serves as the setting for Run, Blago, Run -- an art show organized by the Chicago artist CRO and featuring works by Blago-inspired artists, myself included. The other day, I stopped by the space to drop off my work and gave CRO a t-shirt in exchange for this one, which features his amazing Blago stencil. It's not a strictly "found" shirt, but it was free, so that's close enough in this instance (pretty cool shirt/deserves a post).

An Interview with Brian Ulrich

Over at Chicagoist, where I write about art (and, occasionally, other things), you can read this interview I did last week with Chicago photographer and professor Brian Ulrich, who just won a prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship for his work. Ulrich photography focuses on consumption -- from big-box stores to thrift stores. I asked Ulrich if he ever photographed trash, landfills -- discarded objects. His response:

BU: In the beginning, I photographed that stuff. But the problem with a trash dump or trash bag is that it's so out of sight, out of mind. We've kind of appeased our guilt of the thing as soon as we throw it in the can, or dump it in the pile with everyone else's trash. But if it still has a connection to us -- like in the thrift stores, or some old pair of jeans -- they still have some sort of personality that relates back to us and our nostalgia. The trick is to make pictures that don't exist necessarily just in the periphery of ourselves, but kind of implicate and become personalized by their recognizability to our own experience.

Cambria City: A Living Treasure

This is the name of the photo exhibit that Chicago photographer Dave Schalliol and I produced in Johnstown, PA back in April. Learn more about it here (article from the Johnstown Tribune-Democrat -- apparently we made it above the fold??? Nice ...). It's on display through Aug. 15 at the Bottle Works Ethnic Arts Center, 411 Third Ave. in the Cambria City section of Johnstown, PA, USA.

ARTnews: "Earth Works"

"From recycling urine and testing algae to creating animal habitats and transforming landfills into parks, artists are finding novel and sometimes quirky ways to heal the world." Read it!

T-Shirt Science

Another one for the "to do" list: creating t-shirts with spray paint. More hardcore than Cafe Press et al.

Meanwhile, if you're in Chicago, Threadless is holding a submission workshop tomorrow, 2/27.

Two years ago, I made some t-shirts on Cafe Press and bought a few. One said, "I hate drum circles." Another said, "Pop Culture Pariah." I also made a thong that said, "Uncomfortable," on the front panel, but didn't buy it for obvious reasons.