August 8, 2018
Never…read morehaving been inked before, my college-aged daughter began talking about a tattoo over a year ago. She designed (and re-designed many times) a tattoo for each wrist and, in the process, my daughter reached out to my wife and I for help on how to locate a tattoo artist sufficiently experienced to do the job. Of course I agreed, as any loving father would, to help her locate a tattoo artist in the San Diego area where she is attending school. In the process of investigation, I realized that one tattoo artist's name was extremely familiar - Hoss Cruz. I quickly realized that one of the original paintings my wife and I had purchased a couple of years ago was painted by him and now I was really intrigued. The painting is a haunting depiction of a forest in winter, trees bare, a winding stream dissecting the evocative scene with the woodland images bathed in red. An oil painter who is also an incredible tattoo artist? I had to reach out to him.
I am sure that each person gets a tattoo for personal reasons. Perhaps it is life affirming or to memorialize a deeply personal event. For others it is nothing more than a cool image worthy of a lifetime commitment of ink to body. For most, it is probably somewhere in between. In my daughter's case, her chosen images were intended to reflect her view on life and how she intends to live it moving forward. In choosing those images, we had a number of discussions about my daughter's choices and the thought of getting a tattoo began to permeate my wife's thoughts, then mine, then our high school daughter. From there, we made the collective choice to each get our first tattoos together, as a family unit, each a separate representation of us individually, but unified by the choice to get them together by the same artist on the same day.
So I reached out to Hoss, letting him know that we were the proud owners of his painting, "Cadmium," and inquiring about the entire family getting inked together. Hoss responded shortly thereafter not only expressing an interest in the project, but also asking us to bring back the painting because he wanted to put a coat of varnish to better bring out the layers of color used to create the work. Soon thereafter, we were sitting with him for a consultation to work out the details of our respective tattoos.
Now I do not want to spend my time advocating for Hoss because of his talent. Anyone can google his images and see that talent is not the issue as Hoss has that in spades. I am writing this because the entire EXPERIENCE was truly unforgettable. You will not find a more soulful, kind person than Hoss. He shuns the limelight. He is all about his art, whether that be creating on canvas or epidermis. More importantly, he recognizes the permanence of his tattoo work and makes every effort to ensure his clients are comfortable throughout the process. Safety, cleanliness and the use of only the highest quality tattooing products is standard.
For me, and I imagine for others as well, the process of actually getting the tattoo was extremely important. I have seen a number of tattoo "parlours" over the years although I was ink free until meeting Hoss. Cramped spaces with books of stencils littering the floor, tables and chairs was a common theme and was not particularly inspiring as an environment although I am sure that each parlour has its own vibe. With Hoss, his tattoo clients find themselves in an incredible environment surrounded by Hoss' original oil paintings which are inspired by his incredible dreams that fuel his creative fire. Over the course of 3 hours during the tattooing process, Hoss answered all of my questions about himself, his art, his vision and his technique. Classically trained as a painter from the age of 9, his knowledge of art history, as well as years of training in painting techniques extending back to the 15th century which he uses to layer his oil works provided a fascinating backdrop for this life altering event of getting my first tattoo. And as for my tattoo, it was intended to represent my many travels backpacking across the world extending back 3 decades. From that amorphous foundation, Hoss took my ideas, ruminated over them and put together an image with incredible depth and meaning that is now a part of me forever. And so is Hoss.
- Aaron T.
