The Museum of T-shirts, organized by seamster Angel Malerba, focuses on Malerba’s personal collection of t-shirts, including some special outside contributions. The Museum transforms Nonchalant Gallery into something like the artist’s closet, publicly presenting Malerba’s rarely worn, but deeply loved, t-shirts as tactile points of engagement.
Through smirking slogans and bright images, the collected t-shirts offer blips of historical memory. Ranging from t-shirts commemorating local events, to original ACT UP tees, each shirt on display is a complete work: a moment-in-time distilled into a semi-permanent object. In this way, the best t-shirts have already been made.
But the t-shirt is meant to be worn. In a t-shirt’s long life, new owners add texture to the ongoing conversation between ourselves and our pasts. Inspired in part by Malerba’s work with Elise McMohan of LikeMindedObjects, who recycles t-shirts into art or furniture pieces, the exhibition considers the permanence of t-shirts against the excesses of garment production.
Angel Malerba lives and works in Upstate New York. After initially studying film, they began sewing in 2017, followed by years working different alcoves in the fashion industry. He is a passionate collector and upcycler.