About

If you wear t-shirts (are you wearing one now?) but want/need something different to those Billabong/IronMaiden/Adidas/miscellaneous dorky t-shirts you've been seen in, sartorial deliverance is at hand! Supposedly original things can still be found in the dark, turd-flung corners of the Internet and it would be my pleasure to serve you a helping. Vive la différence! And if, while perusing the designs you've found yourself wondering, "How are the artworks made?" then read on.

How are the Artworks made?
I'm glad you asked. Not with AI, in case you were about to hurl such invective. The images start out as framegrabs from movies. I play around with them in Photoshop until I like what I see and I think I've been clever. This is the artist's core mission. Then, with the edited image displayed on a laptop, I aim a big unwieldy view camera (the old kind where you put your head under a cape) at the laptop screen and make a photograph using a process called wet-plate collodion. WTF IS THAT is probably your next question. "Frustration meets expense," is the short answer, but it's also where the magic happens! Giving a detailed explanation would require a 10000 word essay so I have graciously put a 7 minute video down below for you. It's the shortest one I could find on Youtube, given the modern day attention span has been reduced to ashes by TikTok. In a very small nutshell it's an analogue process where I make my own film in the darkroom using dangerous, smelly liquids that don't get you high but can still f you up! If you've seen photos from the American Civil War, you've seen wet plates. The process is exactly the same.

You may notice on the artworks all sorts of marks, swirls, image artefacts and gorgeous sepia tones; these are not photoshopped, these show up as part of the wet-plate process. Wet-plate practitioners consciously try to eliminate these marks with good technique; they don't know what they're missing! The perfect is the enemy of the awesome from where I stand. While these so-called flaws are deliberate, the result is beyond my control. Unlike digital processes, no two images ever come out the same.

All up I'm employing a hybrid process of 21st century digital and 19th century hand-made analogue photography. 

If you'd like to see examples of my hoity-toity, academically-justified work made with this process, check out my other website right here.

And who is this supposed "Artist"?
My name is Ryan Fitzgerald. I live in Newcastle NSW. I enjoy walks along the beach/good coffee/Netflix and chill. I'm down to earth and love to laugh. Living my best life! 

Duly noted. So why are Bonfire Vanitees only available in Black or White? No Colours?
The art is best suited to a black or white tee. Other online t-shirt retailers might allow you to customize colours, and there may be another colour or two that suits my work but I doubt it. Can you imagine Hear the Wind Howl (the homepage pic) on a bright teal tee?! Trust me, I'm rght. 

Do you print these yourself?
No. It's a print-on-demand-service run by The Print Bar who fulfil orders from Brisbane and Melbourne.  The t-shirts are printed with the Direct-to-Garment (DTG) process.

Are there more designs coming?
Yes! 

Now check this out!