House Call with Ryan Tassi
Although he would probably never admit it, Louisville’s own Ryan Tassi plays a big part in keeping skateboarding alive in Kentucky. In a time where skateboarding is increasingly making the shift to the digital world, Tassi is sticking to the traditions from which modern skateboarding was born, hosting in-person video premieres and printing DVD’s. We stopped by his apartment to chat about skating, photography, and the importance of keeping a physical medium alive.
Who are you?
My name is Ryan Tassi, I'm 31 years old and I'm from Louisville, Kentucky.
First song you’re playing when you get in the car?
Dodging Invisible Rays by Guided by Voices.
Most overrated thing?
Instagram.
What’s your go-to camera?
My Contax G2, just 'cause of how reliable and quick it is. I have some random other medium format cameras, and I love the quality you can get out of them, but you just have to be a little bit more set up with your shots. It takes a little more time and you can't be as quick with it.
Friend that inspires you?
I would say you
Man, thank you, that goes both ways. When were you first introduced to skating?
Really young, probably around eight or nine. I think it was from seeing Tony Hawk and all of his old video game stuff.
For Christmas one year my brother got me a Transworld video called Videoradio. It's really crazy and just kind of blew my mind.
Local skater you admire?
Brooks [Shuping] is always so inspiring to me because he’s 35 and still pushing himself. He just continues to be such a solid dude on top of being a really great skateboarder. It's just always inspiring to go out with him, he's always got an idea or is down to work with some sketchy spot that I cook up for him. It's been fun to have that relationship that we've built over the years from skating together.
I’ve been seeing that clip you filmed of Brooks all over my Instagram, tell me a little bit about how that mission went down.
It was very random, we were skating Los Aztecas, which is like right down the street. It's a little Philly stair into the bank in the back parking lot. We’re warming up and Brooks just skates off to go look at the wallride and he goes, “Yo, I think I'd be down to try this.” I was like, “Yeah right.” It just didn't even seem feasible at the time and was a pipe dream kind of thing, but obviously I have the camera with me and I'm down if he's ever thinking it could work out. And then all of a sudden he just tried it. He ended up using my filmer board actually, with really soft wheels on it. I think it only took him like 20 or 25 minutes. He gradually got closer and closer and then out of nowhere he just rode it all the way through. It was surreal, like, “Oh my God, he fucking did it.”
Last summer you premiered Townies, a full length skate video, tell me how that came together.
I guess it was just a continuation of projects from the past. I made this VX video, Porch Era, and then helped my friend Connor Clark make an HD video called Crazy Feeling, so we kind of just kept the ball rolling with this. I just wanted to take that energy and keep it going. I had just gotten the HMC150 from Noah [owner of Home Skateshop] and I was really excited at the time to work with a new camera and start on a new project.
Where did the name Townies come from?
I liked the idea that we were visiting all these small towns and that there’s all these people trapped in the Midwest in these little college cities. It felt kind of fitting for the people that we are.
What made you want to film mostly in Kentucky as opposed to traveling all over the country where you might find better spots?
You have these little towns all around you and it's cool that we have the opportunity to just make day trips to these places.
You never know, you can find gold in some town in the middle of nowhere Kentucky.
Why did you choose to premiere the video in person and actually print copies of DVDs?
That's just what we grew up on, from the early 00’s and that era of skating, with local video premieres and things that keep the community excited about skateboarding. I like the thing of keeping a kind of a dead format alive and the way you get to play around with those physical mediums, DVD cases and stuff like that. It makes it something special that you can look back on instead of it just being a YouTube link.
It's funny 'cause the premieres are always fun, but working on the projects is the best part. So it's kind of bittersweet, it's like, “Well, what's next?” You want to just get the ball rolling again and be in a project, it feels better.
Assorted works by Ryan Tassi.
How did you get into photography? Is there any specific artist or photo you remember seeing that sparked your curiosity for the first time?
I guess it just came from seeing people within skateboarding that were shooting photos, just random skate photographers or people like Ed Templeton and Jerry Hsu. It just made it seem more accessible, like, “Oh, you can go get a camera and just bring it with you when you go skate with your friends.” It became a connected thing, you go skating, you go looking for spots, you go looking for a photo. I feel like you utilize that same part of your brain in both skating and photography where you're trying to make something out of nothing.
“Delusions of Grandeur is a visual farewell to an adolescence spent in alleys, woods and driveways across America. Mixing the geography of midwestern suburbia with tropical paradise, this imagery is paired to distort the reality of romanticized versions of the things memory has blurred.”
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I can definitely see the influence of Jerry Hsu in your work. Tell me a little about the book you released, Delusions of Grandeur.
It’s just a collection of photos throughout a handful of years. There wasn’t originally a clear direction for it all. That’s been my process the whole time, I just amass a group of photos that I enjoy, hide them away for a bit and then try to figure out how I can tie in my future work. It's just a puzzle that I try to put together later on. I got the opportunity to live with my half brother in Hawaii for a bit. For six months I got to live out there, work, shoot photos, go skate, and I got the opportunity to meet a lot of really cool people.
There’s work in the book from Hawaii, with traditionally beautiful scenery and then a lot of photos from the Midwest, which is also beautiful, but in a less obvious way. Even though there’s this huge contrast, the work in the book seems like it could all be from same place, some dreamy location that’s neither Hawaii nor the Midwest.
I liked the pairing because of these romanticized ideas we have in our heads of a place or a situation. Like, in the Midwest, it can be really tough and it's not always the prettiest place. You have to find beauty in things like your home and the places around you. I was trying to find a hint of the Midwest in Hawaii and trying to find the things there that reminded me of home. They’re such stark opposites that trying to mold them together was an interesting process.
How do you come across all the wild characters and odd scenery that make up the book?
Oh, it's definitely like 90% luck. It’s just so much driving around or riding your bike or walking around and just always having a camera on you. I mean, all of it is just being out there doing it and always being ready. It’s a combination of a lot of luck, a little bit of skill, and a feeling. You might get a feeling from looking at something strange or something that you just pass by all the time. I don't know, I guess I was just trying to catch and display that.
It was really nice to see it all professionally hung up and in a really nice gallery space like Quappi. I feel really fortunate to have been able to have stuff hanging there. It was just always like a dream to be able to have stuff hanging in a space like that, and it was fun to work with the curator on what photos from the book we were going to print.
You also released a risograph zine, In the Kisser, around that same time, tell me about that.
Oh, that was really fun. I got to work with Tim Roberston from Risolution Press on that. It was really fun to collaborate with him on that just 'cause I never really worked with risograph before and had always wanted to. He showed me all these different paper stocks and all this crazy stuff we could do with it. I even still have the test prints with all the weird sketchy ideas we originally had for it. I've been amassing all these portraits of people with face injuries, it's been years and years of collecting them and I always wanted to do something with it. It was really fun to finally get to do that and release it at the same time with the book. It made it a little bit more special.
What keeps you going, like what gets you stoked to keep taking photos?
I don't know, I guess mainly my friends. Like, seeing what my friends are doing and just like all the people around me.
What do you do when you’re feeling uninspired?
After surgery and having to take a real solid step back with my physical activity, what's been helping is just going to the gym for a bit in the morning. That's been nice, just doing something physical to keep myself occupied and getting myself back to being strong enough again to where I can skate and film and go out with my friends.
I get that, if you're always only working on creative shit, that's cool, but you’re going to get super in your head, especially if you're just sitting at your desk. So, if you can go skate or go to the gym or even just move, then when you come back you'll feel fresher.
Totally, I think I've been a bit out of balance. I was so used to having my physical outlet and my creative outlet. Now that skating, which was my main physical outlet, has been taken away from me at the moment, it’s put my creative outlet also kind of in a weird spot. I’m in the process of getting those things back together to where I'm excited naturally and ready to work on something.
Photo by Daniel Frank.
What are you most proud of right now?
The continuation of filming skateboarding in the city and just going out with my friends and seeing what we can do. We've skated a lot of the same places over and over again and it forces you to either find new spots or create things in your city. You just have to push it and continue the evolution of it, 'cause it's like all the groundwork's been laid by other skaters before you. I’m proud of trying to keep that stuff going.
What’s next for you?
I’m going to be releasing a part I’ve been working on with John Clemmons that I’m excited about, more details on that soon. And I guess just continuing physical therapy, getting myself back to physically being a hundred percent, and finding what sparks me next and what I want to work on.
@ryantassi
Ten bangers from Tassi’s library. Louisville, KY.
Photography & Interview by Isaac Barnett
@iebcam