Caleb Reyes, known on Spotify as Splxntercell and to myself as Cubby, moved to Lynchburg last year and quickly became an integral part of the Lynchburg community. Anyone who meets Caleb is brought into the fold of his life like an old friend. His openness is refreshing, and his levitous manner has a way of making any conversation feel comfortable.
I started off by asking how Caleb found himself involved in the art of screen printing, a process which requires a serious investment of both time and money. “I just wanted to figure out ways to get stuff onto the medium or whatever I was working with” he told me. “As a child,” he continued, “you’re just drawing with a marker on a piece of paper… the things I was using were just escalating slowly and then gradually to using ink.” Caleb told me he felt his art was best suited not for canvas or paper but for fabric, and he thus had to find a way to put his art on textiles. An art-inspired brand, Offensive seems to be finding its market amongst creatives and fashion innovators alike. “Your art is literally walking around on someone, that’s crazy,” Caleb said of how it feels to see people wearing Offensive. The focus on art is what makes Offensive stand out, and Lynchburg sets the perfect stage for a brand that embraces meaningful design.
Offensive refers to the way Christians should live in a world that doesn’t hold the same values. Living offensively means loving people and making choices that go astray from cultural teachings, even if it means making waves. “Everything about Offensive and being real and that desire for authenticity comes from God” Caleb said. He went on to impress upon me that the cornerstone of Offensive is vulnerability without fear. Radically living without fear poses a challenge in today’s fear-riddled media and messaging, but followers of Christ are called to a fearless existence in a modern world. A sense of community, expressed Caleb, helps him develop and curate his brand in a people-driven way.
By myself, it was the hardest thing to curate a whole style for a brand when there’s no bodies or people or personalities to represent it, and I think that’s the most important thing.
One look at Offensive’s official site, https://everythingisoffensive.com, and you find evidence of that community. His latest designs, shirts emblazoned with the French word for pain and already out of stock, are modeled by known Lynchburg skater Luke Tibbs. A deeper dive into the archive page reveals more photos of cool people doing cool things while wearing Offensive. It’s a testament to Caleb that his brand perfectly encapsulates the realness of life in Lynchburg while pointing to the realness of worshipping a real God.
In the interest of being real, Caleb opened up to me about the challenges of Bipolar Disorder. “The coolest thing, struggling with Bipolar, is the introspection and self-awareness,” he told me. Adding that he credits the lengthy process of figuring out the right combination of medication and with years of counseling with his ability to recognize his emotions and reconcile with them through his art. One hallmark of Offensive is the central focus of each design on a single word. Caleb admitted that oftentimes the word “won’t mean anything” to other people but “means everything” to him in terms of the emotional state that inspired it. “Where it comes from is tears, anger, depression, loneliness,” he says, “I want it to stay as raw and real to me as possible.” Caleb welcomes conversation about mental health, noting that depression doesn’t define his life since the freeing truth of the Gospel leaves no room for fear.
Caleb isn’t just making pieces he thinks will sell, he’s carefully imbuing himself into every design. As he described his creative process to me, I was struck by his vulnerability and his drive. He is “about” Offensive in every sense of the word, and it shows. Caleb is Offensive, and that’s why he’ll find success.
To conclude this feature on Offensive and its creator, I invite you to read the declaration that graces every page on Offensive’s site which sums up Caleb’s heart and intentions behind every piece he designs.
EVERYTHING IS OFFENSIVE.
IT SEEMS THAT WE AS A SOCIETY ARE ALLOWING OURSELVES TO SUBMIT TO A SPIRIT OF OFFENSE WITH INCREASING REGULARITY. OFFENSE HARBORS BITTERNESS AND RESENTMENT, WHICH MANIFESTS AS ANGER, HATE, INTOLERANCE, VIOLENCE, DISUNITY, FEAR… WHEN WE ALLOW THAT SPIRIT OF OFFENSE TO DISTORT OUR VIEW ON TRUTH WE BECOME IGNORANT, WHICH PRODUCES MORE OF THE SAME.
BUT WE DON’T HAVE TO ASSUME A VICTIM MENTALITY. THERE IS TRUTH TO BE FOUND, AND WHEN WE HOLD FAST TO TRUTH, THEN OFFENSE AND ITS DETRIMENTAL SIDE EFFECTS CANNOT TOUCH US. WE THEN BECOME PART OF THE SOLUTION AND A PARTICIPANT IN THE REALITY OF A MORE PERFECT WORLD.
OFFENSIVE CHALLENGES THAT IF EVERYTHING IS OFFENSIVE, NOTHING IS OFFENSIVE. OFFENSE EXISTS, BUT WE DON’T HAVE TO PICK IT UP. LIKEWISE, FEAR EXISTS BUT WE DON’T HAVE TO SUBMIT TO IT. HATE EXISTS, BUT WE DON’T HAVE TO EXERCISE IT. IT STARTS WITH RECONSIDERING WHAT WE FIND OFFENSIVE. IT BEGINS WITH EMBRACING THE TRUTH WE FEAR MOST.