LA COMMUNITEE

Sale price Price $52.00 Regular price Unit price per

Bayside LS T-Shirt
100% Made in the USA
Silk screened in Brooklyn in small batches

PLEASE NOTE: Please allow 2 weeks for shipping

Kristofferson San Pablo

B. Manila, Philippines.

Co-founder of Vacancy Projects

Currently lives & works in Los Angeles, CA

"So for the back graphic (people in the car), I had thought about how in California we drive A LOT & my first thought was these vintage 80s/90s caricature & beach tees I would see for sale in various storefronts on the beach to swap meets & flea markets when I was a kid. Our relationship to traffic is so different from other places & is something I think about a lot in relation to my artistic practice (there are usually images of cars somewhere). The "I Can't Drive 65" is a reference to the song "I Can't Drive 55" but with our speed limit here which is usually 65mph. And with my interest in pop culture iconography/symbols, I thought it was appropriate to include the famous Filipinx character Jollibee in it as well as the blow-up car dealership balloon that wiggles its arms in the air. The other figures in the graphic have the beach/outdoor vibe with their bikinis & tank tops (note the Lakers/LA reference) & of course the palm tree. The lettering styles were inspired by my history of doing graffiti but also the lettering I saw in sign painting in the Philippines (note the FFF book by Hardworking Goodlooking) & it's relationship to old english which has a place in west coast car/Latinx culture as well.

The front graphic has the Spam can turned into a character as well as 2 characters who escaped from their barrels (based on the iconic Filipinx barrel men/women) & are only wearing a barong. They're also on the beach (hence the palm tree). The overall theme of humor/fun/capriciousness is something I think a lot about in my work & I feel the graphics are good representations of that.

I chose blue for the color because I thought the blue & white go well together, plus it's one of my fave colors to use in art, not to mention the Matisse blue nudes, Yves Klein blue, Dodger blue & the blue sky here in LA all seem to share similar tones" - Kristofferson San Pablo