5/18/2023 0 Comments Los angeles tattoo expo![]() ![]() Lopez explains that his style is derived from tattoos made in the prisons of California. The Spanish-Mexican side comes in and then the revolution comes in.” Soft Shadows It’s hold is in Spanish and indigenous style. It’s a whole front: Maria, she supposes to be like Mother Earth. Even though it’s pretty old, it’s still one of my favourites. “He’s one of the first guys that let me work on him and do a free piece. On Manny’s skin I see different images that have a special Mexican connotation. The crew helps him with the selling of t-shirts and boards with Lopez’ drawings on. While I am talking with Lopez, I see in the busy booth of Lowrider Tattoo Manny Navarete, one of the oldest crew members. I mean as long as it’s black and grey I love to do it.” Tattoo Icon I mean it could be an evil skull piece or a very soft religious piece - or a nice girl, a portrait of somebody’s daughter or son. Anything that has nice variations of grace, that’s what I like. There is also a big demand for designs like the Virgin Mary, the Madonna and images from sculptures of Michelangelo. His black and grey style is not only popular in the USA but also in Europe. Ten years ago Lopez started Lowrider Tattoo that also has locations in Orange and Costa Mesa, both in California. I do freehand work as well but over the years you get so many ideas but you can’t just draw stuff out of your imagination. ![]() That’s something I learnt to develop over the past 17 years. So even though it’s something that’s already there, while drawing and tattooing it becomes one of my drawings. “In my hands it tends to be something else. When Lopez started to tattoo 17 years ago, he gave his own twist to these images. ![]() That’s how I learn to draw, so I use a lot of references in my designs - Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, many religious images, it’s already been drawn.” Dia de los Muertos I used to look at books, I used to copy, try to make the drawings as realistic as possible. When I got in the chair I was very depressed, I was sitting in my room - my friends gave me some magazines and I started to draw. That’s what got me in tattooing in the first place. When I was 15 years old I got an accident and wound up in a wheelchair. From there I moved with my family to Los Angeles. “I am from Michoacán, a state in the middle of Mexico on the Pacific, not far from Acapulco. Lopez has lived in Los Angeles since he was 12 years old. The demand for black and grey is so big, I have a lot of friends who are better than me at colour tattoos so I leave it to them.” “On paintings I use colours but on tattoos I prefer now the really soft grey tones. "When I started tattooing, I did colour at first,” Lopez tells me during the Amsterdam Convention while sitting in his wheelchair. Fine lines, soft shadows, realism with a magical Mexican touch! During the Dutch conventions of Breda and Amsterdam, Jose Lopez’ crew were a living billboard for the tattoos of the artist behind Lowrider Tattoo, located in Fountain Valley, a suburb of Los Angeles. The American/Mexican tattoo artist José Lopez developed his black & grey style from tattoos made in the prisons of California and amongst gang members in the streets of the big cities in the ‘sunny state’. ![]()
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