Sep

Eroteme – T-Shirts For The Dystopian Nostalgic

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Hitchcock, architecture, art shirts, art tees, artistic t-shirts, dark t-shirts, darkness, eroteme, erotemeclothing, gothic, horror, low, nostalgia, question mark

ErotemeClothing.com have only just launched their online collection of designer t-shirts this week, but are already causing a stir in the underground fashion industry. I think I may have met my match when it comes to Trey Romero, the designer and philosopher behind this radical label, have you ever read an introduction to a t-shirt store like this before?

Quote:- “In this day and age the t-shirt has become a universal medium of expression and creativity. While we do have the passion for design, our designs are incomplete. It is only with your participation in choosing the canvas that our designs truly come to fruition.“

A clear and concise mission statement which personally presses a great deal of psychological and emotional buttons for this reviewer. Trey has summed up a philosophy I have proposed for some months now. T-shirts are for the most part treated by reviewers and fans alike with a subdued contempt, a familiarity that belies the truth in what a t-shirt design can achieve in our society today. T-shirts are art. Something very strange is happening in our post-modern world of imagery and iconography. I was almost booted from my Fine Arts Degree course (many years back) for arguing the exact point with a senior lecturer at Brighton University. Art no longer thrives in the establishment of the gallery system. By the time art has made it’s way to a gallery wall it is purely a commodity, severed from social context, it loses its ability to change public perception and takes on the duller hues of self interest, commerce, and investment. The t-shirt is as much a canvas for ideas as any painting.

There’s a very interesting story behind the label’s name, Eroteme essentially means ‘the mark of a question’ (pronounced as arrowteam) last found in the 1913 publication of Webster’s Dictionary. The word is dead, Eroteme has been plucked from history and Trey has breathed new life into this once redundant nomenclature. Eroteme’s fascination with the passing of time and the public execution of once treasured ideas, images and designations throughout their collection.

Trey makes an interesting point about his Ascent T-shirt, why name it “ascent”? If anything shouldn’t it be called “Descent”? A clear example of those who see life as a glass half-full than half empty. However filtering the image through my own addled and twisted mind I see but only one theme, that of gore, horror, trepidation, fear, in fact an opening scene from a cheap and cheerful Hitchcock shocker.

I have to admit that I find the logo somewhat intrusive, as with many of the designs. Perhaps it’s personal taste but if you’re a t-shirt designer struggling to make it in the world, shrink it, disguise it, merge it as far as you can into the texture of the image. Let the image prevail! Even an off-tone, say a burnt sienna coloured text would make a vast difference.

It’s a risky thing branding, unless you have the monetary firepower to blast a name into the public’s consciousness it’s always better to forgo the merchandising for the sake of good composition and solid conceptualism.

A spiral is a mesmeric form, and one does often tunnel in whenever confronted with this archetypal structure, however the brand name has a habit of dragging my eyes to the top. i suspect this is the whole point, to keep one’s spirits high, to associate the label with release, escape, triumph. Like I say, it’s all down to personal taste.

Nevertheless this an extremely powerful image, it’s available as both men’s and women’s tees in red, deep navy and grey. Although I suspect the design has most impact in the former, after all blood on the stairs is a stable favourite with many thriller and horror genre directors of the past. Now shrink that logo Trey!

Perhaps it’s all in my imagination, I mean it’s late (3:39 AM to be precise) but I find the Atrium t-shirt at Eroteme Clothing as dark and forboding as Ascent. I used to wander around derelict factories some years back taking photos when i could, I’ve even worked in a few when times were hard, student summer holidays always ended early for me (and yes they were practically derelict).

Trey would rather see this as a speculation on the emotive strengths of architectural design… “An atrium can be a buildings defining feature, the first impression that the architect delivers to the visitors.” However the treatment of the image, the grainy, gritty textural quality of the print, the steep overhead angle, serves more to conjure ideas of social control and utilitarian oppression than modernist grandeur.

After my “logo rant” I have to admit that this design has incorporated the branding with far more subtlety, in fact it almost looks as if Trey climbed up there and painted the name on himself.

I can’t help but feel this looks more like a brief snapshot of a dream sequence in a Japanese horror flick than what was probably first intended. Architecture has an important place in society, it can be used for good and bad, I wonder how many office workers’ moods could be improved with just a little more empathetic understanding of the “human scale” as opposed to the pseudo-egotism of major corporations and conglomerates.

With the way the earth is going I’m sure that corporate architecture will struggle to maintain it’s precedence in a less commuter-friendly, more cost-efficient, and (hopefully) more individualised society.

The Pillar T-Shirt at Eroteme Clothing- “The pillar, the foundation, the base, these are all terms for the very essence of any structure. We understand that everyone always looks to the flashy design or the newest innovations. But here we recognise the beauty and elegance of what makes all things possible, the beginning.”

This is a surprisingly uplifting piece, perhaps it’s down to the contrasts, the splattered edges, the light blue background, but it works. It sure looks like St. Paul’s Cathedral to me, but it’s probably not. I once spent a late (and very cold) childhood Christmas Eve at St. Paul’s with my family, I think my mother was trying to impress a friend. I didn’t sing, but I did spend a good hour or two staring at the domed ceiling.

There were pigeons up there, literally nesting above our heads. I even saw a few of them poop, one almost hit the altar. Its’ funny how a few early experiences can impress upon one’s lifelong view of the world.

I love beautiful decay, faded grandeur, palaces lost in the jungle, godlike statues crumbling under the weight of centuries of rain and wind, and neglected religious architecture. Man has a habit of enforcing rules on everything, believe this and not that, worship him and not her, fear them not me.

If there’s a super consciousness out there (hellloooo?), they aren’t watching the churches crumble away, they’re not even watching earth. i think it probably takes death for most people to see how insignificant the human race is in the universe. Every mark we’ve made on this planet will disappear by the next ice age. If you’re going to believe in anything, believe that life is short, live it!

If you’ve had fun here, then go and weird out on the visual trip that is ErotemeClothing.com…