Art Shirts by ARDT

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ARDT @ www.ardentees.com is the culmination of the vision and hard work of Curtis Liau, Benjamin Loy and Donovan Casey Mathews who aim to blur the line between art and t-shirts, which personally I’m all for. I’ve written quite a few posts heralding the change in public opinion towards t-shirts, both as a fashion item and art form, and it’s always nice to see new recruits to the cause. ARDT work with a large selection of talented artists to produce their highly particular style, right now there are a few available designs, buy I have an inkling with their army of talent waiting in the wings it won’t be long before they’ll producing a whole lot more.

They generously provide full profile pages with links for each and everyone of their artists and actively encourage interaction with their visitors who are free to comment on any t-shirt at the store. The site is superbly laid out, simple, clean and subtly slick, it’s obvious that Ardentees have really thought through what they’re doing. In general I like the t-shirts on offer although I have to say if I was running the show one of the first designers I’d feature is the German artist Pearpicker who has produced this superb illustration of a tattooed sailor.

Who knows, maybe this one is already on the cards? In the meantime here’s a few tees that are for sale right now!

Is This Truly Wonderland T-Shirt

The Is This Truly Wonderland T-Shirt by German designer Hansomoto and it offers a venerable bounty of flamboyant hand and vector illustration work (I’m guessing it’s a blend due to the style). I like the central motif, a letter “A” that’s reminiscent of a lot of antique embroidery panels, which I assume stands for the name “Alice” as in “Alice in Wonderland”? Again, I am guessing here. Still it’s a lovely decorative design, highly detailed and expressive in style. Get this unisex tee in white for $35 in sizes XS-L. As with all ARDT’s shirts, this tee has been screen-printed on 100% cotton, would be nice to see them shift to organic in the future. Still one thing at a time.

CMYK Inside T-Shirt

I’m always keen on CMYK tees, essentially the building blocks of all printing, just four colours (cyan, magenta, yellow and key which is black) and halftone shading can create infinite colours. As for CMYK Inside, it’s a nice t-shirt with an appeal for the more expressionist of tastes, but in all honesty it doesn’t either make the most of or even celebrate the wonders of CMYK. I’d like to have seen something far more complex, I’m surprised that the artist hadn’t incorporated halftones which would bring this design to life, and conceptual fruition to boot. Get this unisex tee in white for $35 in sizes XS-L.

“A” T-Shirt

Uniquely combining typography and the human form, I particularly like the “A” T-Shirt by British freelance designer Jack Crossing. It reminds me a little of 60′s fashion photography, especially in the Swinging Sixties of London with models like Twiggy, The Shrimp, designers like Mary Quant, and a deep respect for the power of composition. I’m not sure if I like the slight introduction of colour in this piece though, would be nice to see it in solid or halftone black and white. Get this unisex tee in black for $35 in sizes XS-L.

Check out their art shirt collection at www.ardentees.com or hook up with them at Facebook.

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