L.A. Woman: The Photography of Estevan Oriol

Tattoo You: Hip Hop Aesthetics

These days you can’t talk about contemporary eroticism without talking about the contributions made by hip hop and rap culture, and in sunny California that has been a fusion of both Black and Chicano cultures. Starting in the 1980’s it filled post MTV American culture in general with a heightened supercharged sexiness that continues to feed our visual erotic culture from the clothes we wear to the tattoos that cover our bodies.

Fig 1. Portrait of  Estevan Oriol

Fig 2. Estevan Oriol

It’s a hybrid culture in which our bodies are now front and center. For many women tattoos now replace lingerie as a sign of outward sexiness, and for men the tattoos and clothing styles of gangster or “gangsta” culture, watered down somewhat to a street level mainstream, give men something to signal their masculinity back to women. It’s like watching birds in the jungle. But whereas you might think that it’s a purely male dominated environment, in this new world, both male and female power is expressed equally and creates a world where both sexes can be front stage.  

Fig 3. Estevan Oriol

Fig 4. Estevan Oriol

The Photography of Estevan Oriol

No one has captured the Los Angeles scene of the 90’s hip hop culture like Mexican American photographer Estevan Oriol. Along with his friend tattoo artist Mark Machado (also known by his handle Mr. Cartoon.) he was at the center of this cultural revolution. Through his photography Oriol propelled Chicano low rider and gang culture forward into the mainstream and made them key elements in the creation of the visuals that would defined hip hop on both sides of the continent.

L.A. Woman

With books like L.A. Woman in 2009, in which he focused on Women exclusively, L.A. Portraits in 2013, in which he made portraits of Los Angeles music and film celebrities, and finally This is Los Angeles in 2018 he cemented his reputation as the photographer that best defined the hybrid Los Angeles culture of the 80’s and 90’s.

Among his most distinctive images is the now ubiquitous  “L.A. Fingers”  shot in 1995. Oriol remembers using the sign when he was the tour manager for Cypress Hill in the mid-’90s. “I wanted to show where we were from,”  He doesn’t claim to be its creator. “I wasn’t the first one to throw up the sign, but I can confidently say that I was the first one to capture it in a photo.”

Fig 5. Estevan Oriol

Fig 6. Estevan Oriol

In the extended Premium edition of the article you can discover more about Oriol's relationship with the tattoo artist Mark Machado, Mr. Cartoon. His film L.A. Originals, the last great erotic portfolio on black and white film, and MUCH more...!!

Estevan Oriol is active on Instagram

Click HERE for the lively nude photography of Lowbrow artist Coop

Let us know your thoughts about Oriol's photography in the comment box below...!!