Richmond’s own Barf Comics illustrator James Callahan is at it again creating more work to blow our minds.
Richmond’s own Barf Comics illustrator James Callahan is at it again creating more work to blow our minds.
Callahan recently collaborated with local screen printing company Triple Stamp Press to design a line of T-shirts, called “Skate Gods“.
The new series is a six color design with three different shirts including the “Space Viking,” “Our Lady of Follow Through”, and the “Shred Possessor.”
Triple Stamp Press, located on Everett Street, screen prints designs on apparel, posters and stationary. Spencer Hansen, co-owner of the company, said they’ve worked with Callahan in the past for designs the artist has done for other clients around town.
I’ve been working with him for the better part of a decade now we’ve been screen printing his work,” Hansen said. “Him and I have been swapping art work back and forth and I have helping him get some of it printed for a long time.
Callahan’s work knows no bounds. It’s all over the place from bands, to record labels, to clothes to skateboards and obviously comics. He designed the diver and inventor characters for Strangeways Brewing which Triple Stamp put on tee shirts. He recently told RVA Mag that these designs were taken from a solo art show he did called “Huck-a-Buck”, at Books, Bikes, and Beyond in December 2012.
“They were originally a very small print run of signed and numbered posters,” Callahan said. “Thrasher Magazine noticed them, and we turned these images into an article describing these “Skate Gods” in issue #392 {in} March 2013.”
Callahan added these images manifested out of his love of “personifying an
intangible motivation or sensation.”
“For one thing, it’s drawing the undrawable,” he said. “Which means getting to communicate through a never before seen, but somehow universal image. For another, it’s an excuse to play around in, and try to show a love of, an established visual language. In this case,
religious iconography.”
Hansen said they were looking to build their online store with different artists and since they knew and were into Callahan’s work, it made sense to use his collection to jump start it.
“We were looking to launch something with Jim we weren’t too specific about what artwork he used, we love all of his stuff,” Hansen said. “This was going to be our first guest artist line and we hope to expand on that and have more work by Jim through that line in our store.”
They hope to for the online store to be collections from artists that are clients of theirs, as well as other local artists and even artists from outside of the city.
Hansen mentioned Triple Stamp is hoping to have a line up by spring for Erica Williams, an artist from Minneapolis who does a lot of illustration work for band posters which she sends to Triple Stamp.
And so far, sales for the “Skate God” tees have been on track with their expectations.
“We”re almost at 30,” Hansen said.
Nothing new is in the works yet, but Callahan said he would be interested in working with the company in the future.
“Triple Stamp does incredible work, so I’ll definitely be excited about our next project,” he said.
I think the photos speak for themselves, but you should pre-order yours now in time for the holidays because they are sick. Shirts cost $21. All orders will ship by December 8th if ordered by Tuesday Nov. 24. Purchase yours here. After the pre-order sale, you can still order them online, but the price will go up to $26.
