Our friends over at the Massimo Osti Studio have been cooking up something once again, and as always, it smells very, very good.
The brand has recently announced Chapter 08, coming in collaboration with contemporary artist Scott King. For those not acquainted, King is a decorated designer and visual artist, having worked as Art Director of i-D and creative director of Sleazenation magazines. Basically, he’s a very creative bloke, whose work centres around provocative graphics and a critical outlook on social themes.
For the collaboration with Massimo Osti Studio, he’s immersed himself in the archive and studied Osti’s vast catalogue of unconventional graphics characterised by tracing paper, experimental printing techniques, and pop art influences – techniques that King is all too familiar with himself.
The partnership, to us at least, is a totally natural synergy. One of those rare collaborations that makes complete sense. For the product, King’s efforts have been placed upon the blankest of canvases – a plain white tee – emblazoned with striking purple-pink text reading:
‘CULTURAL RESISTANCE & THE ILLUSION OF ‘INDIVIDUALITY’ by Scott King’
The bold, but somewhat vague, words relate to the ‘forgotten cultural worker’ – an artist excluded from the system, contrasted with peers who succeed through visibility, networking, and institutional alignment. These provocative words have then been combined with more provocative words printed on the back of the tee, this time going into much finer detail about the concept. King has referred to the product being the ‘opposite of a slogan tee’; instead, it is an ‘essay tee.’
The edgy Helvetica script on the tee, printed in the bold fuchsia colour, makes this one of those garments you only get out on special occasions. One that you keep in pristine condition, always ironed, always folded. It’s also probably not one you wear round to your nan’s house, unless you fancy explaining the concept of the ‘forgotten cultural worker’ to her.
Each tee includes a signed and numbered double-sided poster with a second text by King, reflecting on the artist’s shifting role within today’s cultural landscape, where resistance often gives way to collaboration and the artistic output becomes a marketing tool for institutions.
It’s a top-notch collab, and one that embodies exactly what Massimo Osti Studio is about: creating striking products that pay homage to Osti’s original methods.
A limited run of 100 of the tees is available to purchase now at massimoosti.com
