Sep

One Punch Machine Gun Takes No Flak

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Gun, NY, New York, OPMG, art tees, cutting edge, one punch machine gun, urban style, urban t-shirts

If I was a New Yorker I’d make tees like One Punch Machine Gun Clothing at OPMG.biz and you know why? Their designs are the shiznit, and in this case it doesn’t boil down to the usual formula of great graphic style meets solid conceptualist thinking. Although they excel at both, the extra secret ingredient at OPMG is attitude, and they have heaps of it to spare. A New York attitude to creative fashion that takes no prisoners, and if they did they’d be the most probably be the most stylish escapees this side of penitentiary.

If I wasn’t a Londoner born and bred (almost – okay a wannabe at the very edges of the suburban/urban flux), I’d want to be a New Yorker. I’m too British now, the damage has been done, and I do like the damage by the way. Each city has it’s own character, but there are many broad similarities in style and content throughout our arts, music and media. Artistically speaking both cities have a tendency to stick up two proverbial fingers to the establishment at every possible opportunity. I’m glad to see that OPMG are following in that same venerable tradition.

I’m busy doing my own thing here in the UK trying to kick up a storm in the arts world, and OPMG are doing the nasty to the NY fashionista clique. It sure is a relief to know there’s more to life than Banksy, that there are plenty more people out there who’s soul aim is to unnerve the staid and grey middle of the road moral majority. Yes revolution is messy, but when you consider how slow the process of evolution, the gain maybe worth the pain.

Now, this one’s called Electro Bangers, and it’s almost t-shirt porn, I mean the whole set-up is nasty, from the cheap pole dancers sliding up and down, to the halftone Warhol backdrop, to the tacky diamond bling. I love it. It punches a hole through social etiquette, picks a fight with political correctness, and after a few heady thrills and spills, heaves open a belly full of misgivings in the back alley of fashion. There’s no deep message, no apologies, no corners cut, except where they need to be. There are no compromises at OPMG, you’re either with them or you’re against them. This t-shirt isn’t asking you to buy it, it’s picking a fight with you if you don’t.

The Whisky Tee takes us down a similar path of attitude and decrepitude, old school was never cool, so why not flaunt it for all its cheap old haggard body is worth? Retro nightmare featuring characters from the Poisonous period of heavy metal, the cringe-laden excess of make-up and beer bellies oozes out of every pore of OPMG’s Whisky tee. It’s a case of wait long enough and everything becomes kitsch, except OPMG have stuck a needle in this little bubble of nostalgia and sucked out all the goodness, perfecting crass into an art form, Whisky proves that the future is always correct, even if it does rely on the opiate of hindsight.

Take a gander at what else is available at One Punch Machine Gun Clothing right now, they really have captured the essence of a hard night’s drinking and fighting in NY through the medium of the t-shirt. Feisty stuff. Uber Cool.