Who am I,
besides for a reflection of yourself?
"
I create, I play, I live.
Mostly I tattoo, which just happens to be how I make a living.
I discovered tattooing through a love of art that stuck with me throughout my entire life.
I'm an artist and a lover.
I love life, everything about it, the good and the bad.
My times growing up homeless and my times going to private school on top of a mountain.
I'm in love with this beautiful being named Shakira, who I met tattooing.
I'm blessed to be her husband.
I paint, I draw, I make music and dance, I'm human.
All of this, all of my passions, talents and things that I have been through, my dreams and values all contribute to who I am.
It all contributes but does not define who I am, who I am are the choices I make now.
Each choice.
Every choice.
As I tattoo; I am a tattooer.
As I paint; I am a painter.
As I live; I am a lover.
If you can understand this, you can understand me.
If you don't, we can talk about it. :)
Namaste my friend.
Love.
"
I create, I play, I live.
Mostly I tattoo, which just happens to be how I make a living.
I discovered tattooing through a love of art that stuck with me throughout my entire life.
I'm an artist and a lover.
I love life, everything about it, the good and the bad.
My times growing up homeless and my times going to private school on top of a mountain.
I'm in love with this beautiful being named Shakira, who I met tattooing.
I'm blessed to be her husband.
I paint, I draw, I make music and dance, I'm human.
All of this, all of my passions, talents and things that I have been through, my dreams and values all contribute to who I am.
It all contributes but does not define who I am, who I am are the choices I make now.
Each choice.
Every choice.
As I tattoo; I am a tattooer.
As I paint; I am a painter.
As I live; I am a lover.
If you can understand this, you can understand me.
If you don't, we can talk about it. :)
Namaste my friend.
Love.
"
"Home" - Acrylic on Canvas 2017
Some interesting facts about myself:
- I am African American, Puerto Rican, Italian and Dominican.
- I can tattoo any style. Yes, any style, I mean that. I always thought the best way to learn how to tattoo was to remain versatile. I made it a point in my tattoo career to take on anything a client brought my way and in doing so developed a vast collection of references within my minds eye. Do I have a preference? Of course, I absolutely love color realism/surrealism. That being said, black and grey, tribal, traditional, fine line, watercolor, ornamental, Japanese, Polynesian, etc, etc, etc.. You name it, I've probably had some experience with it. Anything can and will all be tattooed upon request as long as it's nothing hateful. If you're asking for something that has to do with a specific culture all I ask is you understand and respect where that comes from. For example Polynesian tribal tattoos have very specific patterns and meanings. I am not from that culture and do not know those specific meanings, I can research and give you a piece that's as accurate as I believe based on these patterns and meanings but ultimately I recommend a Polynesian artist- which means you probably should go to someone who's a part of that culture possibly taking a plane ride lol. My job is to help my client express themselves in their own unique way and I will not copy anyone else's tattoos. I'm always happy to give my best effort tattooing and using designs and inspiration from other cultures as long as we respect those cultures and accurately represent their symbolisms.
- I was born on Staten Island, New York on December 7th, 1993
- I try to eat a primarily Vegan diet and also use Vegan tattoo ink. Most of my life I was a vegetarian. I'm not a pushy vegan, in the sense I won't try to change anyone's mind on what they eat. I just personally don't eat meat because I don't need to kill an animal to survive. I guess that could change your mind, but I'm just sharing parts of myself here lol!
- I occasionally practice Yoga and meditate, though my wife reminds me I need to more.
- I love chess. I started playing when I was 6 or 7.
- Though I haven't participated in years. I will always have a love for Lacrosse, Muay Thai, and BJJ, which kept me busy in my youth and served as an outlet for a lot of anger I had at life and even myself in my younger days.
- Some of my hobbies besides for painting, drawing and the like include creating music, photography and bike riding, EUC riding and video editing. Occasionally I venture into the world of coding and woodworking. I love to try new things.
- My mother and I moved around a lot during my childhood. First for my mother to get away from my Father who was a corrupt police officer in the mafia, then we moved to different places as my mother worked to give me the best life she could. We moved around to survive after she was injured at work.. Staten Island NY, Rockland County NY, the Bronx, Piermont NY, Avon CT, Scarsdale NY, White Plains NY, Harlem and Manhattan (Spending my high school years in Harlem-> I refuse to accept that Harlem isn't its own borough lol). I might have missed one, but basically every different type of economic and social structure you can imagine within America. We became homeless during my childhood due to an injury my mother suffered at work when I was 6 or 7. A few years later after Workers Compensation Insurance refused to compensate her, we became homeless. She won the court battle almost 18 years later after her injury. They still got away with paying next to nothing.
- Before becoming homeless my mother moved us using the money she had left from her old job to Avon CT, where I attended a private school for math and science that I had been wanting to go to. It was a beautiful school on top of a mountain with its own planetarium, observatory and sun dial. I went for 5th grade and loved it. The school itself encouraged creativity and discovery above all else. One day I would love to bring that type of education system to inner city schools- as many of my interests that developed at that private school stayed with me throughout the course of my life.
- After fifth grade, I was homeschooled for a year as our living situation was up in the air. School went downhill after that. I lost interest in the "normal" educational system after experiencing the private school that encouraged me to create. I saw first hand how the education system set up in America was, in my honest opinion, bullshit. While we were living in Scarsdale, NY with my great aunt before ending up in homeless shelters, I attended Scarsdale Middle school. Scarsdale, being an extremely wealthy area with a school system that leads to most of the children attending prestigious Colleges and Universities was to me, disappointing. The school taught to the test.. It had a few creative classes, but nothing like what I had experienced. From there we ended up in a homeless shelter in White Plains as I still attended that school in Scarsdale. I went from the homeless shelter there that myself and other kids called "The Roachmen" to the wealthiest school system on the east coast every day. Talk about a culture shock. I made many great friends in both places at the time.
- I dropped out of a high school in Harlem years later, after being transferred from shelter to shelter throughout the city. (PATH, the homeless system in NY, is- or at least was- horrible by the way.)
- My first job was stock at Duanereade. I worked overnight shifts while attending a credit recovery school in Harlem which I also dropped out of. At this point, I had given up on my dream of becoming an architect, realizing that I wouldn't enjoy the process required by the school system. I was also feeling stuck and was definitely full of anger at everything up to this point.
- I discovered tattooing in 2014. Simply to tattoo myself at first. Soon I was tattooing friends, strangers... I ended up moving into an apartment with two other tattoo artists in the Bronx. This was the beginning of my tattoo career.
- The first shop I worked in was Hells Kitchen Ink in Manhattan. The 5 star reviews I got for that place can still be seen on the yelp and google page. I was only a couple years into tattooing there.
- The second shop I worked in was Times Square Tattoo. I got there 8 days after the owner opened it up and helped make it what it is today. My 5 star reviews can still be found on the google page along with most of the tattoos I did there. I stayed there until I felt the need to open my own place. Working for someone else can limiting, especially if you don't share similar views. Everything happens for a reason and I appreciate everyone who has been part of my journey. Everyone and Everything.
- I met my wife, Shakira, tattooing. Since then she's begun her own tattooing journey (which she had an interest in before even meeting me). I'm very grateful to have her in my life.
- Shakira and I take care of two dogs, a beta fish, a bearded dragon, and two tattoo shop Chameleons at the time that I am writing this.
- I am a huge advocate of Psychedelics. Though I've had many "trips". A single psilocybin mushroom trip changed my entire perspective on life. In one moment I went from not believing in anything, to believing in one universal truth. Love. I do not currently use psychedelics or smoke weed but believe tools for mental exploration are important for growth. Be it psychedelics or meditation.
- My favorite musical artist, though I have a lot, has to be Bob Marley because of what he represented and the energy I can feel from his music