In Western civilization the Japanese tale of the Three Wise Monkeys with the proverbial principe “see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil” often refers “to those who deal with impropriety by looking the other way, refusing to acknowledge it, or feigning ignorance” (according to Wiki). Based on that proverb, the conceptually-driven graphic apparel line Dance Party Massacre made a nice collaboration with three artists, releasing the limited “Evil Series” T-shirts.
First one is “See no evil” by Elli Egilsson, a.k.a. AC Bananas, a self-taught illustrator who lives in London, known for his music-related works, such as lettering, character, t-shirt, and logo design. He says: “See No Evil for me does mean all the horrific stuff I need to see every now and then, like some killer splatter and thriller movies”, adding: “what you see is an image of the most popular girl in school: the prom queen, the main cheerleader… so one day she looked in the mirror and saw the real her in the reflection. She couldn’t face herself anymore so she pulled her eyes out so she wouldn’t See No Evil”.
Second design is “Hear No Evil” by Carey Haider, the designer, photographer, animal lover and an instigator. Though in traditional depictions of “Hear No Evil” the monkey uses his hands to cover his ears, Careys’ monkey has free hands and dons ear plugs, which is maybe a more effective sound barrier. Why? “Humor, pure humor”, says Carey, “takes a serious situation and makes it lighthearted. The monkey is blocking out hearing any evil—he has a mind of his own on what he wants to do and hear”.This monkey is also dressed for protest, along with suggestive details like the flower in his helmet and his American flag shirt. “Make party, not war”, suggests Haider.
Final design is “Speak No Evil” by Damion Silver, a senior designer at Converse. He has also had international success at both street and commercial art. His style is multi-layered, -medium, and –genre in painting, collage, wood, found images, drawing, and glass. “I wanted to extend the idea of what you think is religious”, says this Catholic-rased, “it’s supposed to be like a holy word, or coming from that source, it should be a precious thing, and I wanted to remove that. Obviously in the past several years, we’ve seen the religious world and religious figures turned on heads and we reevaluate what their words mean”. Enough said.
Each of the “Evil Series” tees is limited to a run of 50, so better hurry up while they’re still there at Dance Party Massacre online shop. You should get your tee for $27.95 and a free sticker pack. And while you’re waiting for your order to show up – watch “Evil Series” promo video!
