Please take the time to read this; it is a bit longer than I would have liked.

Artist’s Statement:
They youth of today is more aware of advertising and the limited validity of its claims than earlier generations. The dragon, here is a symbol of liberation; its bright colours exude individuality, which is becoming a trait more widely upheld by today’s youth. The oriental dragon itself is a positive symbol of power and wisdom. It is emerging from a coke can; one of several symbols which epitomize today’s powerful corporate industries. Just as the dragon emerges from the can, people today are far more open-minded and not as bound to the social constraints of their environment. The back half of the dragon symbolizes the distortion of one’s state of mind by their social environment.

On the back of the t-shirt there is a warped moth patterned with slices of brand names and common corporate trademarks. Several moths use false eyes on their wings as a defense to frighten predators, they appear threatening, similar to the way constant advertising can create a threatening environment – the brand names and trademarks are the logos of this environment. The sentence underneath, ‘coerce me’ provokes the environment around to try and intimidate the wearer of the shirt, it is an attempt at provoking the corporate promotion and product placement we encounter daily to a point of ineffectiveness, rebelling against advertising, which is an insult to our intelligence and self esteem.

A shirt is a particularly good place to have this message as most shirts which are considered ‘cool’ are already the domain of brands or company promotion – the very things I am rebelling against.

At this point I feel I should stress that the telephone poles (bordering the shirt bottom) are optional, they did symbolize the breakdown of corporate communication and thus influence; however they might look a bit dorky. The red colour of the shirt burns the retinas a little and wouldn’t hurt to be toned down.

Thank you.