Scafiddi gets it. Despite some initial resistance from Westbay, the At War founder sold him on the idea of a potential collaboration in February of 2020. “I said ‘you have love and I have war, which I know sounds like it doesn’t make sense because they’re complete opposites, but they’re also like peanut butter and jelly’,” Scafiddi recalls. “All is fair in love and war,”
The two released their first drop in July 2020; the duo released 75 t-shirts that sold out in one hour. A few months later, they dropped 150 pieces that sold out the same day. In September 2021, Love and War released an entire collection of hoodies, crewnecks and t-shirts, and in 2022, they added basketball shorts to the suite and became a full-fledged brand in their own right. Love and War places Westbay’s “Love” and Scafiddi’s “At War” at play in the same pieces; some feature Westbay’s signature heart figurine, while others remain simple in design, drawing influence from streetwear brands such as Eric Emanuel and Off White.
Both Johns tell me that they “just clicked.” Westbay designs and Scafiddi manufactures.
“I was reluctant to get into clothing. I was worried it would stifle my growth into the fine art market,” he tells me. “That’s why these guys like Murakami and Shepard Fairey are so important because they’ve blurred these lines and removed these boundaries between fine and commercial art.”
In a way, it makes sense why Westbay couldn’t explain to me what drove him to get started. Everything with Westbay is just natural: his relationships, his inspirations, and his work. He is still nostalgic for his days as a barber. “I miss the people aspect of it,” he tells me, “I miss the community.” But the artist is creating his own, as he plans to expand both his personal collection and Love and War to a larger audience — and in an accessible way.
But not too accessible. “We want to spread our message,” Scafiddi says. “But we don’t want to appease everybody, because then you appeal to nobody. We want to be able to bring a community of like-minded people together.”