I rarely post those "I'm going to get tattooed today,blah, blah, blah" posts, but today I'm getting tattooed by Chris Brand at Tattooland in Anaheim. He is the artist who did the amazing tattoo featured to the left, which is a Japanese style back piece done with an East LA swing to it.
Before I met him in San Jose I had never heard of him before, I guess he is one of those tattoo artists that doesn't have any images up on the web, but is super talented and must get a lot of his referrals from word of mouth. While I was deciding who to get tattooed by at the convention my artist said "You Should get tattooed by Chris" and that was all I needed. I didn't even have to look at his book, I work on the old school where a referral from my artist was all I needed. The tattoo didn't work out at the convention so since we were both from LA I made an appointment for today.
His artistic style is good, but what really impresses me is how he is willing to take an old concept and put a new swing on it. Take the "Cholo Samurai" for example. I've always loved the Japanese Full body aesthetic but there was just one problem with me getting a full back piece in that style.
Um . . . . .
I'm not Japanese.
But Chris's take on Japanese tattoos excited me, because it mixed the traditional elements of the Japanese style with a culture I understand more, "The Hood". Even though I'm a suburban boy, I just can't stay out of the streets, call it my vice.
Chris was part of the book project Ulysses Guide to the LA River which is a study of the LA River from a Graffiti and biological standpoint, which impressed me even more. This made me want to learn more about him so I pulled his hood credit report and found we have some common acquaintances who told me his art was off the hook.
Yet I digress . . . This evening is going to be a good time. Hmmmm, I don't even know what I'm getting, its great to be random like that.
