Whitney Art T-Shirts at The Gap
Gap Collaborates with Whitney Biennial Artists for T-shirt Line
To entice customers, retailers such as the H & M, Target, Top Shop, LeSportsac, and Kohl’s have been enlisting the aid of top fashion designers and celebrities such as Vera Wang, Madonna, Kate Moss, Gwen Stafani, and Isaac Mizrahi to to create budget collections for them. This is becoming old news; it seems like every mass retailer is collaborating with some designer or celebrity to produce an affordable, limited edition clothing line for the masses. The designs are often met with mixed reviews and the clothes themselves are often lacking in quality production and materials.
However, the Gap is offering something new for summer 2008. The Gap; which is synonymous with casual clothes like button down shirts, t-shirts, and of course, jeans; has collaborated with a group of 13 modern artists to come up with a line of limited edition t-shirts to celebrate the Whitney Museum of American Art's 2008 Biennial. The Whitney Biennial is a biennial exhibition of contemporary American art held at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City. The Whitney Biennial began in 1932 and features both established and up-and-coming artists.
The artists who designed the Gap t-shirts are all former Whitney Biennial alumni and include Kerry James Marshall, Barbara Kruger, Glenn Ligon, Marilyn Minter, Cai Guo-Qiang, Ashley Bickerton, Sarah Sze, Rirkrit Tiravanija, Hanna Liden, Chuck Close, Jeff Koons, Kenny Scharf and Kiki Smith. The marriage is the first of its kind between a major art museum, a group of prominent artists, and a retailer.
The t-shirts are as varied as the actual Whitney Biennial. Yet, the trademark of each artist seems to shine through which each design. Whatever shirt you choose to buy will depend on your artistic preference. There is an original mix of everything from Chuck Close’s famous photorealism “pixilated” style to the printmaking “doodles” of Kiki Smith. Art fans and fashionistas alike will be thrilled to get their hands on these original shirts. The shirts are literally wearable art.
The limited edition t-shirt collection is available at select Gap stores in the U.S., Canada, and the United Kingdom and at the Whitney Museum of American Art, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, the Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles, and the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis. The t-shirts are definitely affordable and range in price from $28-38. Be sure to act fast though; these designs seem to be selling out fast.
