This story and all of L.A. TACO's Arts coverage are sponsored by Nikos Constant.
"Gladiators" is the debut solo exhibition by L.A.-based photographer Joe Altmann, bringing together a powerful body of work captured over the last half-decade. The exhibition will feature 50 custom-framed, curated highlights from Altmann's personal collection, ranging from striking concert photography to intimate portraits taken while across the world.
I first got to know Joe when interviewing him for a magazine I was asked to create for the hardcore band Desmadre last year, soon after publishing his photos for a monthly release of Dead Relatives that showcased a new band taking L.A.’s punk scene by storm—P.I.G.
As organically as Altmann was recommended to me as a collaborator, he was also already embedded in the scenes that many of us at L.A. TACO admire and take part in. Altmann grew up in a small town in southeast Germany, and his love of punk propelled him to experience the DIY ethos across the world.
As we touched on in our Dead Relatives segment: “Music was my way out, my excuse to travel to shows, to see something bigger than my hometown,” he said. “Early on, I learned that if you want something, you just have to do it yourself. No one’s gonna hand it to you.”
For this showcase, he says that Los Angeles had a profound hold on him as the variety and community of artists here have pushed him to expand his work.
“There are so many different people, cultures, and communities in these photographs, and L.A. is a city where you have all of those different worlds living right next to each other,” he says. “It feels like the right place to bring them all together.”
The cover shot for the flyer features a photo taken of tattoo artist Nguyễn Văn Thảo on April 20, 2025, in Saigon, Vietnam. He told me that while traveling to Cambodia, he stopped in Vietnam to hang with the Viet Monster Hood, a lifestyle and tattoo collective taking inspiration from and celebrating Chicano culture.
“You’re thousands of miles away from East Los Angeles, but you see that influence in the way they dress, carry themselves, and look out for each other,” he says. “They showed me their tattoo/barber shop, shared stories about their lives, the struggles they had, and how they give back to their communities. We hung out all day drinking tea and eating local Vietnamese food. By the time I actually brought the camera out, we already knew each other. They weren’t just people I came across.”
“There’s something old and something new, East and West, all in the same person,” Altmann says. “It’s not about imitation, it’s about inspiration and connection, and finding something from the other side of the world that somehow feels like your own.”
“Even though he looks tough as hell, he’s one of the kindest, most humble, and generous people you’ll ever meet,” he continues. “There’s something almost protective about him in that photograph. To me, he looks like the guardian of his village.”
Though many photos are a showcase of alternative lifestyles around the world, for Altmann, punk/music is the first and most prominent subculture he features. This photo of Gulch, at their last show from Sound and Fury 2022, is one of his personal favorites.
“Vinny catapults himself off the stage, and if you look closely, you can actually see his phone flying out of his pocket mid-air,” Altmann says. “There are thousands of kids going absolutely mental underneath him, but he told me later that after everybody had left, he somehow found the phone in the dirt. To have captured this moment still blows my mind. I was just there having fun and didn’t really focus on taking pictures too much.”
Altmann’s work thrives beyond the digital noise of social media. Most of this collection has been unpublished, as he truly believes that art should be experienced in person, not reduced to likes, algorithms, or trends.
“L.A. became home for me because I went to shows, met people face-to-face through shared interests, supported the scene, and built real friendships,” he says. “After a while you’re not trying to ‘embed’ yourself into anything; these are your friends and community. My photography grew naturally out of that.”
The opening reception is this Friday, October 2, from 7 to 11 p.m. at RAVEN's Gallery. The gallery is on view until October 5.
RAVEN's Gallery ~ 1545 Sunset Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90026
