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Model: Ceona Esquivel
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Model: Serenity Plaza
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ALEX INOSTROZA PUMPING INK TATTOO
How long have you been tattooing art? Since 2004. What is your first memory of tattoos? Was at a friends house and his brother had a homemade tattoo machine, we stole it and tattooed each other with it. We sharpened our own guitar string on his moms nail filer. It was bad but good memories. How did you get into tattooing? I saw an ad while working a sucky 9 to 5 job in What’s Up Magazine for tattoo classes at Bangkok Tattoo shop. Do you create any other type of art aside from tattoos? Drawing, graffiti, painting—pretty much anything and everything that has to do with art or creativity. Who are some of your favorite tattoo artists from El Paso? Andres Zapien, Matt Valles, Alex Ruiz. What does art mean to you? The expression of ones life, all the good and bad stuff one has been through. I think if you are an artist, all that stuff translates really well into your art. Plain and simple—art is life. Are you from El Paso? Born and raised in Chuco Town. How do you describe the type of tattoo art you create to someone who has never seen it before? Original, powerful imagery. How has the tattoo culture of El Paso changed since you first started? I think the tattoo industry has changed a lot for the good and bad. Good because of the T.V. shows started making it ok. I guess people are all more open minded and appreciate the artwork now. On the other hand, kids that see it on T.V. think it looks easy, so lets try it and fuck up everybody. But thats how I make money too from the scratchers having to cover shit up. I’m not hating on the scratchers, I use to be one! Ha! Ha! I’m grateful for the scratchers and the bad mother fuckers that keep me on my toes. Now tattooing evolved into something nobody would have expected or imagined, and I’m very grateful for the one person to help me get my foot in the door—they know who i’m talking about. FM Instagram@LILALEX915 Lilalex522@yahoo.com
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MYKER YRROBALI SUN CITY TATTOO
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How did you get into tattoos? Getting them: I got my first when I had my son at age 19 and wanted to commemorate the moment/remember his birthdate when my mind goes, haha. Doing them: I was working and trying to go to school for graphic design. Me and school never mixed well so I was about to drop but couldn’t see myself continuing at my job (installing mini blinds). I had been there for 5 years but I wanted to utilize my drawing ability because the old saying, “If you do what you love, you’ll never work a day in your life,” or something like that. How do you describe/define the type of tattoo art you create to someone who’s never seen it before? My tattoos look like tattoos. I respect the traditions, trials and errors and advice from the older tattooers I look up to. The tattooers that I look up to, their work from 20 years ago, still looks as good as it did then. They follow a set of rules and I am truly thankful for learning them, continuing to learn them and walk down that same path—tattoos built to last. How has the tattoo culture in El Paso changed/evolved in the past 7 years? Well there was a handful of shops when I started, now there’s two arms full. Sometimes I cruise around and use my odometer to see the distance from shop to shop and it’s really hard to get passed a mile. I’m a new tattooer, so my opinion on that is irrelevant, but there are a lot of good shops. It shows there’s a demand for it. The military clients seemed to have died down a bit, but we were at war when I started. Definitely a lot more hand, neck and face tattoos and a lot of them are young; more acceptance in workplaces too. Who are some of your favorite El Paso tattoo artists? We’ll I owe everything to Chris Drts. He has blessed me with what I know and has traveled far to seek it, and was gracious enough to bring it back and share. Bill Canales (Full Circle Tattoo, San Diego) has also given me a lot of opportunities to work with him and I tried to absorb as much as I could on my visits. Eric Ward, we are close to the same age, but he started tattooing in diapers I guess, haha. My close friends Adie Borunda and Robert Devx Ruiz, both of whom made the transition of painting graffiti together to tattooing at Sun City and feeding off each other. And the ones that came before me—especially Renegade Tattoo, I really enjoy hearing Orlando from Renegade speak so many good stories and his hunger for knowledge is inspiring...and Flesh Tones (Our Inked Life & Red Skull). As a new tattooer I still know to acknowledge and respect those who came before me, something I learned from graffiti. (915) 843-1157. Instagram @myker
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