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Frezno

by Tony Stamolis

Available November 15, 2008

Though it once held the promise of the California dream, inspiring the likes of Steinbeck and Saroyan, Fresno is now the butt of a thousand late-night TV jokes; it consistently comes in next to dead last in surveys of cities with a high quality of life. This central California teenage wasteland—with an ethnically diverse population of Basques, Hispanics, African-Americans, Vietnamese, and Armenians—is home to lowriders, empty buildings, dope drops, and one of the highest violent-crime rates in the country.

It is also the birthplace of photographer Tony Stamolis, who spent six years chronicling his strange hometown. The result: a disturbing, often humorous, and always poignant insider’s view of a post-suburban American badlands.

Advance praise for Frezno

“I love this book. It’s all in here and the heart of it is Tony’s big true eye. He got it … the oddness, meanness, beauty and soul of this sad hilarious fractured place. Viva Fresno.”
—Terry Allen

“It’s girls, it’s cars, it’s America. It’s guns, drugs, and a struggle to find your place in the world. It’s Fresno, and Tony Stamolis has documented it with a fresh, clean look.”
—Bill Owens, Photographer and author of Suburbia

Tony Stamolis grew up in Fresno, California, and now lives in New York City. His work has appeared in The New York Times, Rolling Stone, Maxim, Nerve, Giant, Mass Appeal, Flaunt, and Black Book. In 2007, he was featured in Taschen’s The New Erotic Photography.

VIEW EXCERPTS [PDF]
FREZNO Excerpt