anonymous gallery is proud to partner with Anthology Editions and Milk Gallery to present Party in the Back, an exhibition and monograph by photographer Tino Razo. First exhibited in New York City at Milk Gallery, this exhibition features 39 digital C prints and will run from May 28th to June 15, 2017.
Party in the Back juxtaposes renegade sessions by world class skateboarders with dramatic architectural photographs of a lost American dream. In 2011, skateboarder and artist Tino Razo moved to Los Angeles. There, he and his friends began to use online maps to locate abandoned or semi-abandoned swimming pools: they’d hop in the car, armed with mops and buckets, and wash away the mud, the leaves, the garbage, the detritus that collects in forgotten quarters. And then they’d skate the pool. Razo began documenting these sessions almost immediately, but pool culture, like so much of the Southern California cityscape, is disappearing. In these photographs, hope mingles with despair; here we see what it is to discover a spot and execute complex tricks in a fresh space, but each location had an expiration date. It was only a matter of time before the cops showed.
“I would like to say it was the architecture or the missions or the views or trying to learn each new pool and how to skate it,” Razo writes. “But in reality it’s all of it. From scouring Google Earth; to finding spots by driving around looking for yellow grass, boarded up windows, big dumpsters out front, fences around houses or whatever signs of abandonment one can find; to cleaning the pools; right down to skating them and cracking beers with the crew. This was my shrink, my therapy, my escape from myself.”
Presented by Anthology Editions, the exhibition celebrates the release of the Party in the Back book. Available in trade or deluxe editions, the deluxe is only available through Anthology Editions and comes in a slipcase, with a signed print, double-sided poster, custom swimming-pool ashtray, and limited edition Blue Haven Pool t-shirt.
In 1995, a nineteen-year-old Tino Razo moved from his native Vermont to New York City to be closer to his two older brothers, to skateboard, and to study design at the School of Visual Arts. For the next twelve years, Tino was bartending at night, writing graffiti in the early morning, sleeping until the afternoon, and skating when he could. His move to Los Angeles in 2010 led to rejuvenated energy and desire to skate, which LA satisfied with its abundance of empty swimming pools. The excitement of discovering, exploring, and skating these pools with his friends was something that Tino could not let go undocumented. During this process, he met homeowners and neighbors, learned about California’s pool makers, and created thousands of photographs. Tino has participated in group shows that have taken him to Japan and Europe. He currently lives in Los Angeles, where he skates every day and hangs out with his dog Chunk.
ANTHOLOGY EDITIONS
Anthology Editions is an independent publishing house based in Brooklyn. They uncover and fashion cultural narratives as books, collections, and exhibitions. An exploratory endeavor that manifests pop culture heritage without limitation of genre or form, Anthology elevates a practice of archival preservation through licensed material, compelling design, and definitive presentation.
ANONYMOUS GALLERY
Anonymous Gallery was founded in September 2008 on the Lower East Side of New York City, and opened its Mexico City space in 2011. Creating alternative networks for creative discourse between Mexico and the United States, the gallery has been committed to presenting ambitious projects from a variety of emerging, mid-career, and historically significant artists. This year Anonymous embarks on a residency program that invites artists to live in Mexico City for a two-month period of research and production. 2017 also marks the inauguration of the Anonymous project space that will focus solely on the exhibition of Latin American artists.
MILK GALLERY
Milk Gallery is a contemporary gallery and cultural space specializing in photography, publishing, curatorial services, and archival management for collections and estates. The gallery presents projects and retrospectives in portraiture, reportage, moving images and installations from legendary photographers such as Burt Glinn, Thomas Hoepker and Billy Name, and contemporary photographers including Danny Clinch, Diego Uchitel and Hunter Barnes. Milk Gallery celebrates the past while looking towards the future with a sharpened artistic vision and sense of authorship.