T wo L.A. based artists and long time friends, Bri Cirel and Johnie Thornton , combine their painting styles and designs to fashion Six Foot Owl Clothing and Art.
T his collaboration unites traditional hand painting and printing techniques with a variety of inovative and experimental procedures, making every article of clothing truly one of a kind.
2012 All Rights Reserved
Blood, Not So Simple, by Ellen Grily from District Magazine.
T he clothing art company, founded by high school friends Brianne Cirel and Johnie Thornton, plays with images both sort of cute (piano keys, telephone poles, ants tracking down a cupcake) and definitely disturbing (knives and T-bone steaks, human hearts). But when it mixes the two, as in the Closing Thoughts line, the result makes for some truly striking graphic tees. A series of seven different designs (each of which bears an edition of seven shirts and seven canvas paintings), Closing Thoughts focuses on famous dead folksCleopatra, Vincent Van Gogh, John Lennon. But what unifies many of them is how they died, and, as Six Foot Owl puts it, their timeless ability to inspire and affect people long after their fatal deaths.
A nd so here we have JFK, Kurt Cobain, Abe Lincoln and Hunter S. Thompson, each immediately recognizable and very nicely captured. But whats that coming out from behind their headsor, in the case of Van Gogh, his ear? JFK has flowers; Cobain, a blood spattering of plaid; the Stars and Bars and the American Flag both fly out from behind Lincoln; Thompson, evidently, went out with bats, cacti, and a bull skull. When you finally realize exactly what youre looking at (initially, I fell for the JFK shirt because the red, orange, green and yellow floral design is really pretty) it throws you for a secondwas Starry Night really the last thing on Van Goghs mind? Did Lennon die in peace, as the vibrant flowers and squiggles emerging from his neck suggest? Currently on view at the World Gallery in Costa Mesa (the limited editions are going fast, and some designs may already be sold out) the shirts give you pause, which is more than I can say for the I Hate My Girlfriend tee I spotted recently. Id love to see what his closing thoughts are.
B rianne Cirel and Johnie Thornton create one of a kind works of art using every day garments and apparel as the canvas. The goal of their company, Six Foot Owl Clothing and Art, is to put original images onto the bodies of original people. Not only does 6FO make original garments, but they also customize peoples existing favorite items of clothing.
S ix Foot Owl believes that clothing is one of the most expressive forms of self-representation a person can use. When putting on clothes, we are making conscious decisions that are exposed to the people in the world who see us. Clothes should display the unique set of preferences of what each of us find to be beautiful, or funny, or sexy, or sophisticated. Clothes offer us the opportunity to make statements that reflect our personal and social awarenessnot just that we heart New York.
S ix Foot Owl Clothing and Art began in 2006 when a skate shop in Downtown Oakland named Clean asked Brianne Cirel to showcase some of her artwork. Bri had recently returned from a trip to London where she found inspiration in the public works of various London Street Artists, Banksy in particular.
Bri began to think of ways to display her art and ideas in the same sort of public arena, minus the whole vandalism thing. After finding a large bag of free used t-shirts on the street, Bri asked her best friend/roommate, Johnie Thornton, to collaborate with her by painting on the t-shirts for a display at her art show.
O nce the two of them got going, they realized the massive potential that hand painted custom clothing held. Their works of art could literally walk out of the gallery and develop a whole new context on the street. Much in the same spirit of the British Street Artists, Bri and Johnie felt that arts natural habitat is not on the wall of a gallery-it is in the eye of the viewer.
A rt should not lay dormant in a gallery like some princess imprisoned in a tower. It should be out amongst the public, being seen, inciting reactions, affecting the way people think and feel, and just generally causing a fuss. And in this, Six Foot Owl Art and Clothing was born.
A s the two friends continued to paint on clothing, they received a ton of support and requests for custom products. They began to realize that other people were just as tired of seeing the same old mass-produced clothes around, which speaks nothing to each persons individuality. Everyone 6FO came into contact with became excited at the idea of wearing something that was made specifically for him or her to wear.
T he two friends recently moved to LA where they are currently showing their artwork and apparel collections at galleries and stores around the Southern California area. These kids are just getting started and they are both very excited to establish and expand Six Foot Owl art and clothing.
U nique and limited-edition are two of the most common terms new clothing lines like to center in on, but with 6 Foot Owl it's more than just vocabulary. Their shirts are hand painted, which means that no two shirts are ever alike- literally.
The style is stencil-inspired and clean, with the kind of "art first" mentality that means you'll probably never see a pun or talking food here. That isn't to say that they don't have a sense of humor- one-shirt features ants capturing a cupcake- but the humor is always second to the style.
A s the founders put it, "[their] goal is to put original images onto the bodies of original people." I'd say they're well on their way towards doing exactly that.
A fter all, in the wise words of Mr. T, Calvin Klein and Gloria Vanderbilt dont wear clothes with your name on it, so why should you wear their name?
U sing a quote like that to help explain 6 Foot Owls raison detre certainly earns them points here, because well, its just so true. SFO is a new clothing label (or at least clothing embellisher) based on the pretty simple idea of sprucing up basic garments (such as Alternative Apparel Ts) with original hand painted art. As they are all originals the range of designs is pretty broad, with some of them being significantly more compelling than others. I must say that despite my general disdain for everything having to do with the resurgence of cassette tapes their devils music shirt is definitely worthy of note.
M ost of the t-shirts are priced between $60 and $80, which is a lot for a shirt, but a pretty reasonable number for a piece of art. I guess its up to the buyer to decide if they are buying art or apparel before their purchase to establish what kind of value they are getting.
S ix Foot Owl, founded by Brianne Cirel and Johnie Thornton, is a hand-painted clothing company currently based out of Southern California. The brand creates one-of-a-kind works of art using everyday garments and apparel, as their canvas. Six Foot Owls goal is to put original images onto the bodies of original people, and they do this by creating unique original garments, as well as customizing peoples existing apparel.
We believe that clothing is one of the most expressive forms of self-representation a person can use. Clothes should display the unique set of preferences of what each of us find to be beautiful, or funny, or sexy, or sophisticated. Clothes offer us the opportunity to show other people who we really are, not just that we "heart New York".
-Six Foot Owl
S ix Foot Owl has developed a collection of innovative painting techniques that prove to preserve beautifully on clothing. Through their various experimentation with different methods, combined with established procedures, they have developed a unique formula, exclusive to Six Foot Owl.
Contact us with any questions, comments, or inquiries about our clothing and custom painting services.
