“No Free Toes”: A Cigarette Break With Photographer Emilio Tamez

THURSDAY 11:15 PM JULY 25, 2024 TRIBECA

Last Thursday evening, trailing hemlines and clacking stilettos milled in and out of Tribeca gallery KAPP KAPP, where the 24-year-old artist and photographer Emilio Tamez held a one-off solo show and book launch in celebration of her body of work. Her first monograph, The Perfect Initiate, is a limited-edition, 212-page “definitive aerial view of the early years”—and is already due for a reprint, by popular demand. “Start your collections,” she said when we stepped out of a room of actors, art insiders, and glamour queens for a quick Smoke Break to talk dress codes, transforming her muses, and the downtown bar-slash-street corner she can’t stop frequenting this summer.

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MEKALA RAJAGOPAL: What are you smoking?

TAMEZ: I am smoking a cigarette courtesy of Jackson Krisky, New York’s newest gem.

ATTENDEE: Can I bum a cig?

TAMEZ: You know, I got one from the man, the myth, the legend, Jackson Krisky, in the jacket. He’s a diamond setter at Greenwich Street.

RAJAGOPAL: Oh, that’s good. Men in jewelry.

TAMEZ: Men in jewelry. Women in jewelry.

RAJAGOPAL: Women in jewelry.

TAMEZ: Women in diamonds.

RAJAGOPAL: I know of a woman in watches and it’s sexy.

TAMEZ: Few things feel better on the skin than diamonds, I believe.

RAJAGOPAL: Absolutely. Where are we at?

TAMEZ: We are at KAPP KAPP Gallery on Walker Street at the release of my first monograph, The Perfect Initiate. 

RAJAGOPAL: Congratulations.

TAMEZ: Thank you. And thank you for coming to my show. My mom flew in from Chicago to be here.

RAJAGOPAL: Wow, I love that. And speaking of things that feel good on the skin, what is this look? It’s very dark mistress.

TAMEZ: The only thing that feels better on the skin than diamonds is a custom gown by Briana Andalore.

RAJAGOPAL: Work.

TAMEZ: I came to her with a little idea and I thought we were going to find a few things that might work, and I went for a fitting and she completely surprised me with this piece that was made the night before. It not only fits like a glove and it feels like smoke, but it’s an absolute dream and a pleasure to wear. And to top the look off, I have no shoes on, which is a very, very—

RAJAGOPAL: Toes out for the summer.

TAMEZ: Toes out. Yeah, it’s a dream.

RAJAGOPAL: I’m going to have to censor the toes when I take a picture.

TAMEZ: Please, censor the toes.

RAJAGOPAL: No free toes.

TAMEZ: No free toes.

RAJAGOPAL: Everyone is also dressed really fab.

TAMEZ: I was really particular about—Hi, honey. Thank you for coming. I’ll be upstairs in a few minutes. Sorry. Where were we?

RAJAGOPAL: Dress code.

TAMEZ: Dress code was particular. I’m very vision first. I thought about the tableau of the show that I wanted to have. And I know that all my friends love to dress up, but there’s never the invitation to really go off. So when we have special moments like this, everyone’s in T-shirts and track pants and I thought, you know what? I’m going to put on the invitation “formal attire” and I’m going to go with it. I’m so thankful that all of my girls are here because hems are hitting the floor tonight. And it is an honor to see all the fashion in real life.

RAJAGOPAL: I had to pick out my one look of maybe three that aren’t basically panty-length.

TAMEZ: You look fantastic.

RAJAGOPAL: Thank you. Yeah, it’s so good.

ATTENDEE: The show is so great. We’re going to go to Time, right?

TAMEZ: Yeah. I’m going to walk over there soon. I’ll see you there.

RAJAGOPAL: Let’s talk about the photos in the book.

TAMEZ: Yes. It’s my first collection of work in printed format. It’s 212 pages of photos. The earliest photo in the book is four years old and the most recent photo is about a month old, which I shot on Canal Street in front of a motorcycle. I’m a Scorpio, so I stay in my cave and I know when the time is right to strike. And it felt like this is the way I wanted to make a splash. The book is about showing my style to the world. The show itself was a selection of 10 images from the book that I thought would best encapsulate the themes: to show meditations on womanhood and religiosity and faith and lust and lamentation. And this is like the launchpad from which I want to do all of my new shit. Now I feel like I can close this chapter and move on to new work.

RAJAGOPAL: What’s the new chapter?

TAMEZ: I’ll tell you. It’s a meditation on ego. I’m already working on the next two books, and the title of the next book is Ego. That’s an exclusive. This is the first in a world of publications, and the concept of the publication is that I’ll continue to collaborate with really talented artists, but I will always photograph every single image, cover to cover. I’m developing a personal platform. It’s a world in which I can play without the structures of a client or a magazine or an editor and I can be 100% me and I can go off and be a little bit edgy at times.

RAJAGOPAL: Who are your subjects?

TAMEZ: I have to give a shoutout to Dayton [Pangborn]. Dayton is the cover girl. She’s also been my muse for five years. Dayton is in most of the work. Of the 10 images, half of them are of her. She’s an entire wall of the show. We’ve transformed her. If you look closely enough, we’ve had her with no hair, with curly black hair, with a French bob, with fire-red hair. And she’s here tonight, wearing a beautiful custom knit gown that is open-back and basically naked. 

RAJAGOPAL: I love a fully covered but naked moment. 

TAMEZ: Right. She’s my Linda Evangelista. She’s a chameleon. She’s a star and she’s definitely a counterpart in this process. She’s been instrumental. She will be a dream subject for as long as I’m working, but I’m interested in girls that are interested in making good photos, that know how to perform, that love poetry, and that are willing to give their all.

RAJAGOPAL: Love that.

TAMEZ: I think of that Nicki video, where she’s singing like, “I give my all! Sike.”

RAJAGOPAL: Not sike. This is for real.

TAMEZ: No, this is absolutely deadass.

RAJAGOPAL: Who came out tonight?

TAMEZ: I’m so thankful that my friends came. Hari Nef was here. She’s been a big sister to me for a long time, and I think the formal attire really tickled her, because that is a woman who loves theater and drama and knows what it means to give fashion. Also, Patti Wilson was here, another guest of honor. Patti Wilson’s been like a mother to me for four or five years. Getting that stamp of approval felt like a gift. My mom flew in from Chicago and my friends that worked on this came: my dear friend Moe, who did all my PR, and my beautiful girlfriend Dax, who is a featured subject and also a stylist in the book. And Oscar, who is a fantastic painter. I sat for him in his studio recently this past week to be painted by him. It’s a lot of people that I have a creative exchange with and friends of mine who I’ve been inspired by for a long time. And for a lot of them, this is the first time that they’re seeing my work in person, so it’s such an intimate bonding moment to share my artistry in its most raw form.

RAJAGOPAL: What are you drinking? I just watched you pour this cocktail.

TAMEZ: Oh, lord. I’ve been having a pastis summer. I feel like an old French man drinking pastis. And I was drinking that all night.

RAJAGOPAL: I don’t even know what that is.

TAMEZ: Pastis? It tastes like licorice.

RAJAGOPAL: Oh, I feel like I had that the other day at this bar.

TAMEZ: It’s made of star anise and it’s like absinthe. You dilute it with water. I heard that the bottle went quick because the kids were drinking it in the back straight, not knowing it’s meant to be diluted. God bless them and I hope they feel alright tomorrow morning. But right now, I am drinking a Kin Euphorics with a splash of champagne. 

RAJAGOPAL: Glamorous. And the official afters are at Time Again.

TAMEZ: The parade is walking over to Time on Canal, which seems like it is the hangout spot of the summer. We’re probably there four nights a week. It seems like New York’s version of La Perle in Paris, for better or for worse. But that’s where you can often find me on a Wednesday or Thursday night, so I think tonight we’re going to take over the street corner.

RAJAGOPAL: I heard someone say they love the music there, and I’m like, I don’t know if I’ve ever actually been inside…

TAMEZ: I walked in after I installed the show last night and the first song I heard was “Hey There Delilah,” which made me think of my girlfriend in a really sweet way. The second song they played was actually one of our songs, which is “Shiver” by Coldplay.

RAJAGOPAL: That’s a funny playlist.

TAMEZ: I must say, the music there is different from what you hear in other places, but it’s actually just right. And tonight, I’ll be there barefoot, sprawled out.

RAJAGOPAL: Are you going to walk? No.

TAMEZ: I arrived tonight in the back of a U-Haul. I think the plan is to get back in that U-Haul and pull up there.

RAJAGOPAL: Did you eat?

TAMEZ: I ate about half a bag of Pirate’s Booty before I came. And I had a couple of tamales for lunch. I think I’ll probably eat an entire pizza when I get home and then we’re all going to Fire Island tomorrow.

RAJAGOPAL: Fun. I heard that was the move this weekend. Are we wrapping this show up?

TAMEZ: I think so. I’ve got to head back upstairs. 

RAJAGOPAL: Cute. I’ll see you down the street.