Estevan Oriol Evil Monito magazine interview

[Elano]

Photographers are unblinking witnesses to what they choose to document and observe, and Estevan Oriol’s work offers us an uncompromising look into the bare-knuckle truth of metropolis’s underbelly. His photography is a stark reminder of the extent to which mainstream media has distorted and exploited the real lives of millions of people around the world. In this interview, Estevan reflects on his career as a professional photographer, the intersection of art and identity and how there’s nothing more important in life than getting yours the hard way.

EM: For those who are unfamiliar with your work, please introduce yourself.
ORIOL: I’ve been shooting pictures as a hobby since 1995, and started doing it professionally in about 1997. What people mainly know me for is Snoop Dogg’s most recent black-and-white cover and a Righteous Kill poster that’s getting blasted everywhere with Rob de Niro and Al Pacino. It’s weird, I do a lot of magazine work…and people see the magazines, but what they know me for is the stuff that’s in the streets – like posters, and snipes that record labels and movie companies do.

I also do videos – I did the latest video for Paul Wall’s ‘Break ‘Em Off,’ some work for Blink 182…I’ve done about 35 music videos to date, shot about 100 magazines and created maybe 30 album covers. Within five minutes of Googling my name, you can get a pretty good idea of the projects I’ve worked on.

EM: How has the economy affected your profession?
In this business, you can’t be in it for the money ’cause you aren’t going to be making any. All the major record labels, magazines and distributors are shutting down and closing now, so there isn’t too much album cover and video work. A lot of things that I depend[ed] on are being shut down because of the economy.

You know, for me, every day you hear a lot of people say their jobs are hard and it’s hard out there or people are unemployed…but for me, the fact is, every day I’m unemployed. Today I’m doing a photo shoot for a personal project about women in LA with an Italian printer – most of it is for promotion. If I sell out with the book, I’ll make a little money – but it’s not about that. Today I’m unemployed, tomorrow I’m unemployed and yesterday I was unemployed.

Yesterday I did a job for a big magazine – they only paid a hundred fifty for the shoot, but if it wasn’t me doing it, it would just be someone else trying to come up in the industry and they’d get that credit and exposure. It’s a fine line between turning shit away in the name of self-respect and working. Like, if a musician or someone comes up to me with a thousand dollars and asks me, “Yo, can you hook up my album cover homie?” I’m like “No, homie,” ’cause that’s not how you do your homies. I was a tour manager for Cypress Hill and House of Pain for thirteen years, so I know exactly how much musicians make.

My new thing is if someone asks me to do something for a low price, I tell them to trade: I do your photos, you make me a track or something.

EM: Your photography often offers a very unique, deeply involved perspective into cultures that aren’t otherwise accessible to mainstream audiences. What does heritage and identity mean to you?
It means everything. You know? It’s what you are. What makes your identity is your heritage – where you come from, who you are and what you are. Me, I’m Mexican-Italian, and both those cultures are fuckin’ nuts. They got beautiful women, everybody and their mother wants to talk about being with some hot Italian or Latina woman… the food is off the hook, I don’t know anyone who doesn’t like tacos, rice and beans or a plate of pasta and pizza – so, I don’t know, I love everything about my two cultures. Both are very family oriented, great food, beautiful sexy women, both are places that got long histories. The Mexican side has the whole warrior type mentality that stretches back to fighting the European conquistadors, and the Italians got the whole Mafioso, machismo attitude with the men. I love it.

I’ve been to 46 countries and I’ve seen a lot of different cultures. I like tripping out on different people’s cultures… I enjoy seeing how other people live. There’s a lot to learn about life in doing that. [When I was with Cypress Hill] I met a lot of people and I seen a lot of different societies – everybody we go to do shows with are like, “Oh, you’re from the hood blah blah, we wanna show you our hood, come see our hood.” Cypress would be tired from doing shows, so I’d go with the local people with my camera and take photos of different hoods in the States, the favelas in Brazil, the hoods everywhere all over the world. I was meeting everyone from the poorest kids in the ghetto to rubbing elbows with some of people who come from money.

EM: While your work is known for its bold, iconic quality, how important are subtlety and nuances in your photography?
Those are important too, especially with women. A lot of my photos with women appear simple… just a straight-up woman with no crazy backdrops or whatever. They’re just simple and subtle and there’s nothing really to them except my choice in the women I shoot. Subtlety is almost entirely in the choice.

Like when I shoot celebrities, sometimes I’ll throw ‘em against a brick wall…It’s like is “So-and-so would like to come down and be shot for a mag, how long will it take? “ And I say, “If they come ready, 15-20 minutes,” and they’re like “That’s all you need?” I just throw ‘em against a nice textured background and it’ll come out cool. I’ve even had Danny Trejo and Forrest Whitaker use [my] photos… as the headshots they send out. I think it’s because they’re simple and clean, but their expressions are so powerful. The power of the facial expression is really what makes a photo sick.

EM: Many of the subjects in your stark portraits are often prominently tattooed. What is your involvement in tattoo culture, and do you find that there is a common intersection between the stories tattoos and photographs tell?
I’m a co-owner of a shop with Mr. Cartoon called Skid Row Tattoos, a shop that we’ve been doing for about five years – so that’s my tie-in with that whole scene. The people we hang with over here, [in] the lowrider Mexican culture, is predominantly about tattoos. Before rapping and all that, people been tatted down. Cartoon’s been tattooing since ‘95 and he tattooed everyone and their mom, literally. We’ve tattooed everyone from people from the hood to soccer moms in Malibu – done it all.

I do photos and videos while Cartoon does tattoos, drawings and paintings. That’s what we’re about. I took a lot of photos of Cartoon’s work, so that brought me up in that world.

EM: Out of all the subjects who you have captured over the years, do you recall a specific individual who came across as the fiercest and most powerful to you?
Some of the hood guys, like the guys who are known in the ghetto for being the big guys – they come across like that – and guys like Rob De Niro and Al Pacino, they really came across like that. Just the way people treated them, the way their whole crew from the Righteous Kill movie set treated them, they are royalty. But at the same time, they’re normal guys….

EM: Your publicly viewable photography is often thematically rooted in a decidedly urban context. Are there any subjects that you enjoy shooting that would surprise your audience?
I guess the girls would surprise people. Right now, I’m shooting Jeri Lee and nobody will see these until the book comes out. She’s right there with all those other people I was mentioning in regards to being real professional, interesting, and simple but subtle.

By now they shouldn’t be surprised with anything I’ve shot. I’ve shot in 46 countries, the hottest girls on Myspace, big-time celebrities and the poorest kids from around the world. It’s funny, though, people still do get surprised. They’re like, “Ah, man, I saw this thing you shot and I didn’t think you’d shoot that, I only thought you shot Mexican dudes with bald heads and cars.” I’m like, “What made you think that, homie?”

EM: Lastly, in keeping with this issue’s theme, how does one ‘get fierce?’
Hard work. Keep your hustle up – you don’t get fierce sitting around waiting for someone to kick the door down, pull you out and tell you that you’re fierce. You gotta get out there, get your grind on and hustle to make that shit happen yourself.

Thank you to everyone who supported me for this long and all the stuff that we do. We appreciate it all – we love what we do, check out the websites and check out our new store if you can when you’re in LA. We got some tattoo books and the LA women book coming out. And lastly, thank you Rickey Kim and Evil Monito.

[Major-XZ]

Yeah... He's The Man... Like His And Cartoon's Work Since Day One... I Have Bunch Of Pictures Of His Works... But Best For Me, It's The Video "Criminal Set/Saturday Night, Live" By Xzibit... He Did A Great Job... Presented Whole West Coast Culture In 5 Minutes Video Clip!

[DPGC23]

D0PE INTERVIEW MAN,
QUIK N2 THE POINT

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[DPGC23]

D0PE INTERVIEW MAN,
QUIK N2 THE POINT

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