Hard Rock Hotel Magazine • February 2012 • By Brandon Neasman
Shining Bright
An up-and-coming artist's affini-tee for Las Vegas' Hard Rock Hotel
To some people, the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino is more than a resort with a rock ‘n’ roll motif. The place has a certain mystique about it – it’s a culture in itself. So when it comes to exposing guests to cool art, the Hard Rock Hotel has that in the bag. To kick off its new artist series, designer Albert “OH” Ochosa was selected to showcase his exclusive T-shirt line.
“In a city full of high-rise properties and expected glitz and glamour, the Hard Rock still outshines under its own light.” the artist says. “It has a special place in my heart.”
Ochosa, who has called the hotel his “home away from home for the past 5 years,” is the designer behind Under a Different Sun, a limited edition T-shirt line exclusively for the Hard Rock Hotel. “I have always felt there is a story to be told, visually about “hotel lore” or that “hotel minute” in itself,” he says.
Along with photographer Maryanne Bilham, Ochosa was tapped to design the shirts for the fall/winter The Artist Series collection in May 2011. Raging from $38-$54 the line is one that embodies the Hard Rock Hotel, while still incorporating his unique flavor.
“In the past, Hard Rock Hotel merch had always been graphical logo tees,” Ochosa says, “so I wanted to combine elements of different media such as raw textures, line art and photography all in an attempt to reconnect the fundamental culture of what the Hard Rock is about.”
Inspired by some of his favorite music genres such as the analog era of the 80’s, the electronic/darkwave genre and Manchester’s 80’s music scene, these short sleeve cotton tees feature themes such as a guitar-playing girl on the front to long-sleeve shirts stamped with the United Kingdom flag.
Ochosa describes the line as his love letters to the Hard Rock Hotel and the music that has served as the soundtrack to his life. “I used to tell people ‘I think by now I have long given up my aspirations to become some gothic rock star, so graphic design is my concert venue.’ Every stroke, texture and color treatment makes me explore my own lyrics, beats and melody in a composition, and amazingly, it is all music to me.”