Bifocal Media

I’ve always been obsessed with composition and editing. Sound, video, design… I love fixating over the way interesting bits fit together to create something new and cohesive. I suppose this accounts for my early love of hip hop, zines, movies etc.

At the age of 13, I discovered that I could use the pause button on my double cassette deck to make loops and create my own music out of songs that might not be as appealing (to me) as they already existed. The same could be said for print media and the use (Abuse?) Of a Xerox machine for zine assembly, or a couple VCRs for video production. I’ve always loved using whatever tools were on hand to create new things.

In the early 90s my buddy Craig and I used a couple VCRs to create my first publicly distributed video. It was a BMX video titled “Fowl Language”. It employed this simple yet meticulous approach of editing together scraps of low end riding footage and underground music into something that we found appealing. As it turned out, my tiny circle of bike riding buddies included a kid named Dave Mirra and the video was seen by a most of the underground trick riding public. Keep in mind that BMX was “dead” at the time so that meant around 200 copies were distributed dubbed and passed around. It blew my mind that folks other than us were interested in our little art project.

In 1998 Brad and I released “The Actuality Of Thought” video using this exact same approach and Bifocal Media was born. The tools for putting the pieces together had shifted from VCRs and double cassette decks to a computer, but our approach remained exactly the same.

So… here you have it: a T-shirt made with scissors, ink, clip art, a camera, tape, a scanner, a computer, and a silkscreen. Is it a polished “design” with sound typography and a critique ready composition? Probably not. Is it something I’m proud to share with anyone who’s interested? Oh Yeah! Get it while we got it!  -Charles Cardello/ Bifocal Media 

LIMITED TO 150. Printed on American Apparel 1301 heavy cotton tees.