Heroes & Villains Contemporary Artist Portraits
Roman Cho & Tatiana Wills
Images copyright Roman Cho & Tatiana Wills
Heroes & Villians
Interview with Roman Cho:
What inspired you to start working on Heroes & Villains?
The premise for the project is very simple. There is a new generation of artists who are influencing our culture. These people are the ones creating the visual vocabulary of our times. But due to the nature of their working methods, working out of sight of the public in their studios instead of in front of an audience the way a singer would, many of the fans would have no idea what their favorite artist looked like. It is still the case today but even more so six years back. With Heroes & Villains, Our goal was to put the spotlight on the artists who are influencing our world.
It seems like a labor of love. I remember when we first met you were working on this project, how long did it take you to complete?
I remember the night we met! It was definitely at the old Scion gallery space. I believe it was the show with Friends With You. You were with Natalia.
That was early on in the project. From start to finish, the H&V project took six years. It definitely was a labor of love. Tatiana and I went through a lot during those six years!
How much travel was involved to get these portraits done?
Fortunately, not too much. We benefited from living in LA which is the epicenter of this scene. So many artists important to the scene live and work here. If they don’t live here, they’ll eventually pass through with a show at one of the many galleries here. We did travel to San Francisco, Portland and NYC eventually to photograph the artists living in those areas. I wish we could’ve gone to Chicago and Toronto. There are many artists we wanted living in those cities. Perhaps next time….
Do you have any personal projects you work on just for your own happiness?
(photography non photography related)
I have been working on a series of nudes. (Oh wow. how original. right?) I know, I know. sounds cliched, dude photographing hot women naked. but the goal obviously is that I’m saying something new with this instead of yet another naked women photos. Lord knows we’re overrun with those!
I am also working on a new project that will explore an issue that everyone is familiar with. I’m saying much about for now cause until I shoot a frame of it, it doesn’t exist yet. It’s in the planning stages. Once I get going with it, I’ll let you know about it.
On the non photographic side, lately I’ve been woodworking with hand tools. All my life, I’ve been obsessed with the idea of excellence. I felt that whatever I decide to do, I wanted to be the best in it. I should commit to it fully in order to excel in that craft. So I’ve always limited myself in the things I involved myself in; never the type to do things here and there. One thing I’ve always wanted to do was to do woodworking with hand tools. I love the organic nature of the wood and crafting something with it. Something beautiful and romantic about the simpler nature of such craftsmanship. Never got to it due to lack of time and money for the tools. Well, at this point in my life, I don’t have the time to dedicate myself to be a great woodworker so I decided consciously that I won’t try to be great at woodworking. I came to the conclusion of “fuck it! I’ll just have fun with it and won’t be concerned if the lines aren’t straight or the joints don’t fit seamlessly.” so far so good.
What do you think your next project will be?
Like I said above, I have two projects going. well, three if you consider that I’m always shooting portraits of people significant to our culture. But that basically describes my work as a photographer so maybe that’s not a project per se.
What do you consider “Punk” in this era?
Art,Style,Music.
Punk is no longer punk. Punk in its day was about anti-establishment, non-conformity and the expression of your anger of being the outsider, the outcast, the misfits. There was real anger. Now the punk aesthetic has become so popular that it has not only been co-opted by the mainstream but IS mainstream. (a broadway production of “American idiots” for example) It no longer is punk. It just looks like it.
At the moment, I believe we are at the tail end of a fat period of prosperity so our culture is still sluggish from the overindulgence. Our culture is too busy remixing. There is no real righteous anger. But given the direction of our politics, it won’t be long before real righteous anger comes to fore. The Tea Party and the idiots in charge of it are doing a great job fucking up the country. The liberals are too retarded and soft to stop the destruction that the conservatives are causing. We’re just coming out of a recession and the chances are good we are going into another one. Won’t be too long before our society REALLY breaks down! The anger of the youth will be real then. None of the fake, disaffected youth bullshit we had until now. And when that happens, The condition will be similar to that which caused the punk movement. Let’s see what gets created out of that!
Tara McPherson
Henry Lewis
Gabrielle Bell
Liz McGrath
Natalia Fabia <3
Here are a few images i took of the book so you can get an idea of what it looks like:
HEROES & VILLAINSis a collection of portraits by photographers Tatiana Wills and Roman Cho which surveys some of the most intriguing personalities in today’s art, street and pop culture movements. Wills and Cho began their prescient documentation of these underground innovators six years ago, and many of their subjects are now attracting unprecedented attention in the art world. Their photographs unveil the persona, unique vision and inner character of more than 100 of the most iconic figures in the contemporary creative world, such as Robert Williams, Mark Ryden, Gabrielle Bell, David Choe, and Saber One. With a vibrant sense of play and an intuitive ability to expose internal truths, Wills and Cho have captured quiet revelations of essence and character, as well as startling moments of spontaneous expression. To further illuminate the motivations and impact of this diverse group of artists at this vital moment in history, the volume includes an essay and fourteen in-depth interviews by Amanda Erlanson. As the first collection of its kind, this stunning monograph will be a sourcebook for our generation and those to come.
About Tatiana Wills
With an eye to simplicity, Tatiana Wills divines the essence of often mercurial and elusive personalities, resulting in quiet revelations of essence and character. She launched her career while running the photography department of the renowned entertainment firm Seiniger Advertising, shooting campaigns for Sony, Paramount, Universal, Miramax, HBO, and Showtime. The unique sensibility she brings to each assignment has won her honors from PDN, Communication Arts and the International Photography Awards. Her work has appeared in the pages of such esteemed publications as GQ, Time, Juxtapoz, Nylon, and IdN, as well as on the silver screen in Banksy’s street art documentary, Exit Through the Gift Shop. Tatiana has exhibited in several prominent west coast galleries, including White Walls and The Shooting Gallery in San Francisco, and Corey Helford Gallery and the Beyond Eden Contemporary Art Fair in Los Angeles. She currently lives and works in Portland, Oregon.
About Roman Cho
Roman Cho is a Los Angeles-based photographer who uses the specialized vernacular of portraiture to document the active figures in our culture, as well as those living outside the spotlight, in order to bring to light the interior world of his subjects. The intense characterization and classic tone of his work have garnered him a wide range of clients, from Universal Studios, Paramount Pictures, New Line Cinema, Disney Studios, KO Creative and Real World Records, to editorial clients such as Time, Rolling Stone, GQ, Los Angeles magazine, Maclean’s, Fretboard Journal, and No Depression. Roman received his B.F.A. from California Institute of the Arts, and now teaches photography at Art Institute of California – Orange County. He is represented by Global Assignment byGetty Images.
About Amanda Erlanson
Amanda Erlanson is a writer, art collector and editor of the art blog Erratic Phenomena. She grew up in backwoods New Hampshire without electricity or television, her nose buried in dusty old books, where she discovered a passion for Golden Age illustration. While slacking off from her job shelving books in the art history library of Dartmouth College, she learned everything she knows about art. She now lives in Los Angeles, where she divides her time between the entertainment industry and the art world, and delves into the hearts and minds of her favorite artists through her exhaustively researched interviews.
Technical Specs
- Hardcover, cloth with paper jacket
- 12.5 x 10″ (32 x 25.4cm)
- 192 pages
- 100 color plates
- Edition of 1,000
- ISBN 978-0-9822461-6-0
- Release date: June 2011
- Designed by Blaine Fontana of FONTANA STUDIOS
- $60.00
- You can find it here on Amazon: Heroes & Villians
