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LOS ANGELES, 2007 Imagine finding an old "Nixon for President" t-shirt in pristine condition. You understand what it signified in 1968 and you understand what it signifies now. You see it for the loaded artifact that it is. The t-shirt may be an artifact, an object, but it is by no means inanimate. It is in many ways an event--wearable and highly visible. When we wear printed t-shirts, we enact a part of ourselves for people we don't know. We play with them, and expect a reaction. Playing like this is like staging a performance in which the shirt, the wearer and the casual viewer each play a role. We transmit and receive, judge and stand judged. We experiment. Some brands reference themselves on their shirts. In such cases, the brand is the message, the aesthetic and cultural proclamation. Rather than present itself as source and message, Passenger looks to newspapers and magazines for cultural references. Like paintings that depict moments in history, our projects depict and code real cultural events: war and peace, environment and celebrity, borders and transgressions. In lieu of following aesthetic trends, themes are deliberated from news sources, and soon thereafter a collection is generated from the researched materials. Using cotton as canvas, our goal is to create a limited body of work that peers at the 21st century and uses what it sees to challenge the senses. Reading. Research. Dream diaries. Costuming. Computing. Personal histories. Play. A visual timeline of t-shirts. A wearable cultural storyboard. |
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 1969, January
Tuozzoli, Darren C. born in Bridgeport, Connecticut. 1977, March Tuozzoli boards a trans-continental jumbo jet for the first time, sees Travolta on the sidewalk in Westwood before the premiere of Grease. Falls in love with Olivia. 1979, February Farfsing, Samuel J. born in Bellflower, California to a Roman Catholic family. 1981, December Farfsing serves as an altar boy for Saint Therese Church in Alhambra, CA. Later was expelled from catholic school after accumulating 15 suspensions by the fifth grade. 1986, June Repeatedly paddled by his tenth-grade Jesuit teacher for passing notes and losing french homework, Tuozzoli immerses into Iron Maiden's Powerslave. Gets a mohawk. 1989, September Farfsing administers a handful of homemade tattoos to a few close confidants in a failed attempt to become a tattoo artist. 1990, July Bouncing around three different public schools, Farfsing follows up with a 14-month stint inside a semi-lockdown rehab facility by graduating from high-school drink + drug-free. 1993, August Tuozzoli gets appointed inside the editorial department of Spin magazine, to a position forcibly vacated by Bob Guccione, Jr.'s then-girlfriend, after she arrived to the office high on crack cocaine. 1993, September After months of practicing in a basement and one show, Farfsing quits first noise band Unk-Cegi (now defunct). 1994, July Farfsing forms second techno-folk band Banancorn (now defunct). 1998, April Tuozzoli leaves Seventeen magazine after discovering that building managers do not allow bicycles in the office; Spends days picking up tennis matches at the East River courts. 1998, September Farfsing attends Pasadena City College. Becomes obsessed with screen-printing. 1999, September Inspired by the taste of baked BBQ pork buns, Tuozzoli leaves New York City. Accumulates and cashes-in many frequent flier miles. Almost sails a 50cc Honda scooter off a Burmese hill station access road, driving on an empty stomach. 2003, January Farfsing studies abroad in the Netherlands. Detained in Rotterdam for questioning on alleged marijuana possession. 2003, November Allured by the group's awkward male/female dynamic, Farfsing launches third post-punk band Hello Fever (now defunct). 2004, May After the convocation at CalArts, in Valencia, CA, Tuozzoli and Farfsing both leave the parking lot with degrees from the graphic design department. 2007, February Bamboozled with the Bush White House, Passenger manifesto penned by Tuozzoli in a shower stall. First shirts with Ron Clark roll off a Los Angeles dinner table soon after. |
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