Bifocal Media

This design initially contained the tag line “There’s Nothing Wrong With Being Smart”. I got rid of it as the shirt didn’t look as good with extra type.

In 9th grade I won a small regional art contest with a corny self portrait. I remember being pretty stoked when my art teacher handed me the plaque and announced my achievement to the class. Class ended and I was heading out into the hallway when a big redneck proceeded to swat the award out of my hand while yelling “LOOK, A PROFESSIONAL ARTIST!” in my face. I remember looking him dead in the eye and feeling really sorry for him as I retorted… “There’s nothing wrong with being good at things… there’s nothing wrong with being smart”. His reply to this was brief confusion followed by anger. He called me a f@##$t and walked away. Yes, I was a total nerd, but in this moment, I realized something that’s guided my path ever since:

The world is full of people who just sort of go through the motions of being human. ‘People who just let life happen to them and make the same mistakes over and over. Rather than learn from errors, and accept responsibility, they fume and look for someone to blame for their discontent. These folks are typically terrified of anything that falls outside their robotic day to day comfort zone of familiarity, and they’ll do just about anything to avoid enlightenment, discovery, and actually living life. They’ll worship people who distain them and they’ll push good people down in an attempt to pick themselves up.

I’m no genius, but here’s a new shirt I made. I hope you dig it. -Charles Cardello/ Bifocal Media

LIMITED TO 100. Printed on American Apparel 1301 heavy cotton tees.