Pomona Tattoo Expo

just been to the pomona tattoo convention. i didn’t bring millette and miro because we cannot afford the hotel room so i went alone with the boys. i rode with ariel (www.gotinktattoo.com) in his pick-up truck with robert and lorena (ariel’s girlfriend). we arrived in LA at 1am friday, slept a bit then went straight to the convention. this was my third time going with ariel at tattoo conventions. i am the shop’s illustrator. i do custom artworks for ariel’s shop in san jose. i am learning a lot and i am very excited about this new direction. the art of tattooing made me love drawing again and it made me discover new things. drawing has an all new purpose for me. i‘m also fascinated about the stories darius’ and ariel’s friends were telling me. darius’ shop is also located in san jose, ca - da underground tattoo shop.

i feel liberated about doing gallery shows for now. doing gallery shows seem like pointless. it’s stupid to pursue these galleries. there are millions of artists and the pressure to stay on top is senseless so this direction does me great.

even if i’m not really tattooing yet, the feeling of seeing my designs getting tattooed is exhilarating. doing shows cannot match the feeling i get once i see my designs on somebody’s skin. imagine how i will feel when i get to the next stage which is being a tattooist.

humans are my gallery now. i had this pinoy flash about flags, suns and the philippine map and i think it’s a hit among pinoys. i cannot keep count now on how many people already had my sun/flag design. you may say these are simple designs but it’s not that. it is the attitude that these pinoys have that excites me. they are the carriers of our identity and i’m very proud that i did the designs on them to show it off.

i don’t understand filipinos who try to assimilate. you know those pinoys who are proud to be in the midst of whites. they even boast about it and it irritates me. they don’t realize that they become apes when they do this. these guys who get the sun tattoos are different. they are downright proud and screaming about their filipinoness.

the filipino sun tattoo as one of ariel’s friends told me started in prison. i’m not sure if he was right but he saw this first hand. he was in san quentin and he said lifers in that prison wear this tattoo. so i guess i started from that point. i used their symbol to make it more aesthetically appealing.

participating in these conventions is also a challenge. illustrating a piece straight from somebody’s mind in 30 to 40 minutes is a great exercise. i did this 3 days, 12 hours a day straight. jingle lang ang pahinga ika nga. it’s like a drawing marathon. it’s also good meditation.

i enjoyed hanging out with ariel and darius’ friends. they’re all hillarious specially jay and jaime. besides being funny, these guys know how to curse man. haha. i was really laughing all the way with these guys. they’re a bunch of way cool and funny people.

hey thanks guys the grrrreat weekend!

here are some pictures i took...