Robit - Built by Humans - Powered by Spirits

T-shirts of a tortured soul? Perhaps not quite, but going on the biography Steve Orlando of Robit Studios is not a happy man, I quote “What is a Robit? A mechanical man with an void in his middle. it’s like a robot only simpler. This particular Robit was created by a four year old. It’s fuelled by distilled spirits.”

I’d venture to say there’s a bitter-sweet theme that runs through all of Steve’s works, a quality I find both reassuringly honest and revealing, especially when put in the context of his fine collection of unique and pithy t-shirt designs. All of his tees are fair trade, 100% cotton American Apparel, hand-printed and highly original for the most part, so it’s well worth taking a gander the next time you’re passing.

Steve’s outlook on life may be on the dour side, but he still has a great sense of humour, I really think he should be British, we’re all like that over here, except the Scottish who are just dour, (I jest, we’re all miserable bleeders over here, especially since we haven’t had a Summer this year (or not one that you’d notice). Talking of the weather…

A Chance of Reign suits my mood (and the current politically charged mood of the world) perfectly, I’m currently working on my second artwork for my new site PaulBaines.co.uk, which takes a similar path of cynicism towards world politics. Steve is extremely adept at pushing his message across both conceptually and visually, if I was the sort of reviewer that blagged t-shirts for reviews, then this would be the one.

Funnily enough umbrellas fascinate me (design geek alert), perhaps I used to make them in a previous life, their construction, shape and name seem to afford a false sense of security, something akin to the current message peddled by the majority of Western Governments these days. “Everything’s fine, don’t worry, carrying on working, earning, spending, travelling, the world is perfectly safe as long as you do what we tell you to do.”

The truth is there are as many reasons to hate life as there are to love it, and there always were and will be. Democracy allows you a unique option, the ability to choose between a life of perpetual fear or ignorance, that’s a free choice given to every citizen of every democratic state of the world. The alternative is to simply live in fear, as do most citizens of most war-torn, rogue, corrupt, or fascist states out there. Someone living in the Middle East (for instance) will have ‘bombs on their doorstep’ marked as a higher priority than global thermonuclear war or the accelerated decimation of the polar ice caps, but they’ll not be bombarded by any other campaigns, than those of terror. Through social networking I have made friends and acquaintances who have lived through all kinds of turmoil and political unrest, war, feudalism, Political campaigns, advertising campaigns, military campaigns, we can read all about them, watch the footage on TV, listen to the debate, and even risk venturing an opinion without being shot, although for the majority the opinions of the public are seen as little more than a nuisance in the great office of power that is the western democratic system we call government.

Talking of government check out Robit’s Ragingly Inefficient T-Shirt.

I have an inkling that no matter if the Mayan Calendar is right or wrong about 2012, someone, somewhere, will exacerbate the political or ecological climate enough to convince us all the end of the world is truly nigh. The media obsessed over the intricacies of a Nuclear Winter throughout the Eighties, I grew up expecting the Cold War to end with a big bang, seeing as Russia has woken from its pseudo-capitalist dream and started flexing its military muscles again, that paranoid childhood may have stood me in good stead. My advice is simple, if it’s going to happen it’s going to happen. Personally, if I knew a pile of nuclear missiles were heading my way I’d race to the epicentre of the blast. What humans won’t be able to control, perceptually or physically, is the aftermath of man’s existence on this planet, most would eventually die of radiation burns, cancers, or malnutrition. The ecological system would collapse, global dimming would take effect, and what would remain of the human race (if anything), would be unrecognisable to say the least.

Government as a concept is drifting into deep water these days, there are so many different factions, pressure groups, minorities and majorities unhappy with how politics has come to control the lives of everyone on this planet. I think there should be a stipulation that all potential leaders of this planet have a passion for sci-fi and in particular the dystopian nightmare proffered by so many writers of the genre in the past century or so. There’s no point taking away our freedom in order to protect us, the people of the world have a long history of compliance and revolution, anyone, anything, any seemingly innocuous event can tip the balance and send a society in to chaos. Check your history books, so many empires and civilisations end in blood and turmoil, it would be nice if a few more politicians out there took note. You only have law as long as you have the support of the people or the money to pay your police and army, if either fails, you’re talking a return (however temporary) to the stone age, no power, no lights, no transport, no water, no food, the lines of distribution are broken, the cities turn to dust. If I had the money I’d buy a plot on a steep flat-plateau island with enough sun and wind and fertile earth to grow food, and hunker up for the next decade. Looking at recent events, be it Russia-Georgia, China-Tibet, The Middle East, America’s waning economic position in the world, or the India-Pakistan stand-off, there isn’t much chance that we’ll be fixing anything anytime soon. Neither will the government, no matter where you live.

Things have got so bad these days that we’re turning history into nostalgia, to the point that past wars and historical fears of the future have become almost comforting. I grew up thinking the Russians would drop the bomb, it was tangible, it was simple, and for the main part we all lived with it because we knew that Russia would have as much to lose as the rest of us. America even dumped a heap of their missiles here in the UK, I’m assuming most have gone back there by now, following the furore at Greenham Common, however the USA are up to their tricks again and want to plant a whole load more across the whole of Europe, which will more likely cause WW3 than prevent it. Ah well, somethings never change.

Prepare For Robots is almost cheerful in comparison, I love Japanese Manga, and especially their robots, I’m not so keen on the monsters, I expect I’m working on some scale of feasibility here. Even though it would ruin Japan’s economy (not that it’s looking to healthy anyway), I’m sure if any country was to produce a giant killer robot it would be them. Japan is the only country who’ve ever announced a 100 year program for creating android technology, robots should relatively be child’s play in comparison.

Japan will more likely be wiped clean by an enormous Tsunami than a monster, a robot, aliens, kung-fu killers, or ghosts. Japan reminds me of myself when I was a teenager, I didn’t have time for reality then. Oh what a wonderful made-up place the world was then. Prepare to be dazzled by Robit and go out in style!