RIP ZINGER
6.3SE
Art
TOMONORI TANAKA
wordsby jay revelle
Tomonori ‘RIP’ Tanaka’s rolling perspective through the United States by Jay Revelle.
Describing his actual profession as a “professional hanger-outer,” Japan’s Tomonori “Rip” Tanaka doesn’t label himself with a word like ‘photographer’ or by any other professional moniker some of us might feel inclined to wear, even though photography is a very large part of his professional life. Rip, as many prefer to call him, is just basically a dude, or in his words, “a piece of shit skateboarder” who sees the shutter as a means to a thrilling ride. However, his recent release of a photography book titled Rip Zinger – West Americanized Tour wasn’t conceived from some long-term plan of one day being published. It simply started from the innocent goal of coming to the West Coast USA in search of his own personal Animal Chin, all to be documented on celluloid while riding a newly discovered piece of wood: Krooked’s Zip Zinger deck, hence the name of the book. What he didn’t know was that he’d soon get a publishing deal from Stussy, and that the concept of his photography book would begin to take form within the first three weeks of landing in Los Angeles, seemingly all by itself.
