Tilteed

Tell us about AdderXYU in at least 5 sentences.

AdderXYU is me, if amplified: the passion is real, for better or for worse. It’s a passion that extends to my first loves of literature and music as well. It’s a desire to see greatness in a world that has seemed to give up on it. It’s a desperate plea that we start re-educating ourselves in a culture where education is seen as elite and almost wrong. And somewhere under all that, it’s a dashing young man who likes a good martini and a scintillating conversation.

We have too few days to settle for being tied down, limited, and forced into generic experiences. I’ve wasted enough of them, as we all have. As a person, I’m trying to waste as little more as possible. Online, I’m hoping that people will get out of their own ruts and live for the unique instead of the bland. One could argue that alone is a waste of my own life, but I don’t buy it. It’s not all I’ve got.

Tell us about AdderXYU in 3 words.

Impossible. Too loquacious.

Singularitee - Give us the story, why did you start it, when did you start it, what it means to you.

SingulariTee was born of frustration in many ways. It was created because the shirt world, and consequently the art world, has forgotten what art means. There’s a huge movement toward creating solely for money, as opposed to creating for the love of art. I started the blog in hopes of showcasing people I felt really deserved the support. All artists deserve to make a living off their work, but right now it’s as though you can’t make a cent without treading the same old ground, or ramming tired pop-culture tropes into the ground. So the blog was started in September ‘08, in hopes of getting more exposure for work I felt deserved it, to counteract the much more powerful influences of “whatever sells best”. Art at its best needs to be praised, and the art world has become so cynical that even amazing, talented illustrators will ignore their talents and their creative sparks and everything that makes them amazing just for a quick buck. SingulariTee is in many ways the equivalent of college kids lending each other a Pixies tape while the rest of the world praised Milli Vanilli. It’s remembering that what’s popular is not always what is important, or what will last, or even what’s real. It’s giving some glimmer of exposure to the gems hiding behind the work that is all sales and no substance.

If the blog could have one widespread effect, it would be inspiring some group, large or small, to start putting themselves back into their art, and to start appreciating art which contains more of the designer. To understand that there is good parody and bad, times when someone is using style and times when they are aping something else. To remember that there is a difference between making money from art and making art for money, and that one is always less respectable. It’s not elitist to demand quality, and I strive to bring the tee world diverse work that proves that point. A t-shirt graphic is its own artistic expression, and the widespread idea that a shirt is just a shirt is an insult that I strive to correct. I love finding new things, love seeing my favorite designs print, and through the blog, I hope to be able to share that.

Describe your own personal favorite t-shirt.

That is almost impossible, but one of my faves is an old Woot tee from Monsieur Pimpant. It’s a black and white graphic of a man inside a huge cat suit, or possibly being eaten by a huge cat. It’s bizarre, the graphic is sketchy, and the whole graphic sits at the bottom right corner of the shirt. But the colors (it’s on cranberry) are perfect, and it’s just too interesting to resist. I got it in my first random bag… it struck me immediately, and remains one of my favorite tees. And in some ways, getting that tee and seeing how perfect it was made me the persona I am today. A great design is one that can grow on you like that, not necessarily something you need immediately.

What kind of artwork are you looking for and what do you hope to accomplish as a curator?

If I could put it simply, surprise me. I love strong, smart concepts. I love powerful abstraction. I probably like animals more than I should. But I’m willing to consider anything. Just keep quality your first aim. I’m way more likely to fight to print something original and unique to this site than one more tired rehash of the same roaring bear photo. And that’s pretty much what I’d like to accomplish. We all have a very real ability to build fanbases for what we do, instead of doing what builds fanbases. Independent artists of all sorts have done it for years. If I could bring anything to Tilteed, it would be to help the site build a customer base that loves what this site does, and is open to the diverse, quality work that I feel the site has built its reputation on until now.