Within the steep steel structure and brick-walled confines of the "Heavy Machine Shop" lies NEXT, nestled in a core of cotton. Throughout its evolution, street art has taken on many forms and mediums. However, it is arguably street fashion in which it finds its most natural progression from the static streets into walking works of art. NEXT is an excision and examination into the heart and soul of one of the most influential and vibrant subcultures - T-shirt culture. Many reformed train-slayers and wall-painters have incorporated the humble T-shirt into their arsenal - the T-shirt acts as a platform to achieving design fame. NEXT invites 20 local and international artists/designers from powerhouse institutions of street wear, to give their view of what the future of T-shirt graphics holds. each does so by creating a one-off design reflecting their vision, and exploring potential graphic trends. These will be housed on-site, along with over 1,500 T-shirts from premier brands in street fashion - ultimately achieving Australia's most comprehensive display of street-inspired T-shirts.
Adorning the surrounding brick walls is a 50 panel display, compiling portraits of leading owners and creatives active in T-shirt culture. Accompanying the portraits, taken by Nicole Reed of A Shot Away photography, are profiles unveiling the origin stories of the brands we wear and love.
The NEXT exhibition is curated by Melbourne-born T-shirt messiah eddie Zammit in association with aMBuSH Gallery. With the impressive credentials of being founder, owner and editor of the world's only T-shirt journal, reflecting his devout passion for the T-shirt medium (for the record, he owns 2,300 plus T-shirts personally...), the exhibition is in capable hands. This is the physical culmination of the subculture he loves. "Let's not dismiss streetwear as a T-shirt category, let's explore its evolution," Zammit says. This exhibition is at once a retrospective and gaze to the future: a time capsule, of sorts, for the humble T-shirt and its marriage to Street Art.
