Child Soldier Unisex T-Shirt

A comfortable and lightweight unisex fine art t-shirt, based on the Child Soldier painting from Art Unified artist Johan Andersson.

• 100% Polyester construction
• Unisex size – women may prefer to order one size smaller
• Made from start-to-finish in Los Angeles

About the Painting

Child Soldier, from Johan Andersson's Brand for Life series, seeks to redefine iconography and contrast Western market values with their human costs. The painting portrays a muddied child soldier carrying a gun and wearing a Louis Vuitton hat. The artist contrasts the tragedy of the child soldier's condition with a luxury brand that is representative of commercialism and excess. The child's facial expression of fear, confusion and loss is exacerbated through this juxtaposition.

With the explosion of social media, we live in a culture of self-elevation, performance and adoration rather than tangible accomplishment. Brand for Life is a reminder of the realities and effects of our consumerism, seeking to redefine iconography and to challenge perspectives by juxtaposing western branding to a wider story. The purpose is not to condemn corporate culture, but rather to reconnect popular products to the process of making them, highlighting its human cost.

About the Artist

After graduating from Central St. Martins in 2008, Johan Andersson became the youngest ever person to be shortlisted for the BP Portrait Award and named as The Independent’s top 20 Artists 2008. His selected work was displayed at the National Portrait Gallery and in the same year he was also selected for the Jerwood Contemporary Painters prize. Since then Andersson has gone on to exhibit work along side artists including Anish Kapoor, Tracy Emin, Sarah Lucas, Gavin Turk and Howard Hodgkin, and in 2010 was selected to exhibit work in support of BreakThrough Breast Cancer at The V&A Museum. Andersson has exhibited and sold on the international art market including the Scope Art Fair in Basel and Cutlog in Paris.

To learn more about the artist, watch an interview here or visit his artist page here.