“It was 2016 and the first time I officially met and photographed Gonz. I was shooting him for an interview in Paper Magazine with Anthony Pappalardo and we were both excited and a bit nervous to meet him in his studio that day. When we got there he was super stoked on this vintage Vivienne Westwood hat he had found at a thrift store. He wanted to put a bunch of arrows in it to make it look like something you’d “see in an old Looney Tunes cartoon.” He spent the afternoon working on it while Anthony interviewed him and I took photos. He regaled us with stories of bar fights in SF, drawing on some blank old-school skateboards he had lying around in thick black marker to illustrate his tales. As the day wrapped up he finished the hat and put it on, proudly ready to have his portrait taken in it. He asked to borrow my denim jacket, suggesting it fit the look better than what he was wearing. I gladly lent it to him. Before we left, he gifted Anthony and I each with a board he had drawn on from his story. This portrait and his board still hang side by side on my living room wall.”
Mark Gonzales portrait
Thank you Cole!
