This past spring, Bigg Shadow opened up the doors to his new tattoo shop and gallery called Legacy Empire in the heart of Roswell, NM. Bigg Shadow was featured in Arte a few issue back as one of the best Chicano artist from Texas. After being at his shop he noticed that Roswell did not have a gallery that showcased Latino art of any kind. Shadow decided to purchase the space next to his tattoo shop and remodeled it to a gallery. The grand opening of the gallery was a great success with artists traveling from all over. Sheri Galvan from Dallas, TX, showed off her photography skills while airbrush artist Rick Muñoz and sidewalk chalk artist JJ represented California. Local artists like Mr. Chico, Danny Shaw, David Lasoya, Glass Blowers Bentley Brothers and one of the youngest tattoo artists in Roswell, Mister Peanut, filled the walls of the gallery with fine artwork. The day started with the blessing of both the gallery and tattoo shop by Shadow's parents that traveled from Dallas for the grand opening event. The full day event was filled with a sidewalk chalk contest for the kids, a custom car show and free food and drinks for everybody that attended the event. If you are ever in Roswell, NM, make sure you stop by Legacy Empire and check out what's on display on the walls. For more information, visit Bigg Shadow's myspace page at www.myspace.com/hustlashadow.inline_mediumwraptextright30890355/hot_spot/0911_lrap_legacy_empire_tattoo_shop_gallery0911_lrap_01_z+legacy_empire_tattoo_shop_gallery+posing.jpgTrue

Born and raised in Orange County, California, the artist known as Noah has emerged as one of the hottest talents to hit the fine art market and custom art scene. Noah first earned local recognition in the early 1990s for setting up his easel in neighborhood coffee shops around Costa Mesa and painting portraits of famous celebrities for throngs of fascinated patrons. His portraiture caught the eye of collectors like Nicole Kidman, Tom Cruise, Val Kilmer, Craig T. Nelson, ZZ Top and the Black Crowes.inline_mediumwraptextright31087212/featuredartists/0807_lrap_the_artist_known_as_noah0807_lrap_07_z+artist_noah+angel_laying_down.jpeg.jpgTrue

Orchestrated by Arte's associate editor, John Jarasa, "Life Inside" chronicles the urban allure of the streets and the little known world of incarceration, showcasing the hidden and oftentimes unexpected beauty of what is collectively considered the harshest of environments. This is outsider art from people inside. In this issue, Life Inside invites us into a world where creativity and artistry offers relief to the disenfranchised.inline_mediumwraptextright31086369/features/0901_lrap_life_inside_lowrider_show_in_prisonlrap_0901_02_z+life_inside_prison+man_standing_in_front.jpeg.jpgTrue

Self-proclaimed to be a third-generation tattoo artist, Franco will break down his generation classification. Ed Hardy, first-generation America, second generation with Jack Rudy, and third generation with the likes of himself and other newer artists who have been tattooing long before the tattooing fanaticism occurred. The reasoning behind the protection of the mysterious taboo trade of previous generations of artists is understood with perfect sense by Franco. Some may attempt to call his thought process hypocritical, but 15 years ago Franco never went to any shop and “bugged” anyone, he took it upon himself to perfect his trade skills on his own. Franco never wanted to be in a shop until he felt he was decent enough to do work. He never felt good enough about anything in his life, including his art and tattoo art skills. Only through humility-filled hard work did Franco come to believe he was talented enough to do professional work. Unfortunately the public doesn’t know that one doesn’t have to be good to do tattoo work; one may have a nice location and appearance of being established, but the work being just plain garbage is often the true reality.inline_mediumwraptextright26870308/featuredartists/0903_lrap_franco_vescovi_featured_artistrap_0903_07_z+franco_vescovi+hard_at_work.jpeg.jpgTrue

Featured Artist
Genaro David Gallegos, better know as "El Stomper", was born in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico in 1978. In the land of Mariachi, Tequila, and the home of the great muralist Jose Clemente, Orozco houses a new kind of artist.inline_mediumwraptextright26865139/featuredartists/0907_lrap_tattoo_artist_genaro_david_gallegos0907_lrap_01_z+tattoo_artist_genaro_david_gallegos+el_stomper.jpeg.jpgTrue

In this interview, we wanted to find out what a tattoo artist wanted to know about another tattoo artist, so we had "Espi" and his cousin Carlos Espinoza sit down with Nikko Hurtado and his wife, Joanne, to pick Nikko's brain about his work and his way of tattooing. Espi's experience in tattooing has given him so much throughout the years, and one of the most valuable things is meeting great people like Nikko. Espi first met Nikko at the Expo Tautaje in Mexico, and he couldn't figure out what had impacted him more... his art or his insight.inline_mediumwraptextright25547084/featuredartists/lrap_0809_nikko_hurtado_tattoo_artistlrap_0809_01_z+nikko_hurtado+painted_face.jpeg.jpgTrue

With the "Day of the Dead" theme going strong some people jump in the bandwagon to take advantage of what's hot rather than truly understanding the meaning behind the Day of the Dead holiday. Kiki Platas is one of the few exceptions to that theory. We met with Kiki a few years back when he invited us to his Tattoo Convention in Tijuana, Baja California. Kiki's Day of the Dead artwork has been collected for many years before it went mainstream and before it started popping up on clothing, accessories and purses. Kiki is truly one of the best artists to come out of Mexico and is well respected in the art community. Kiki's unique way of expressing his artwork has taken him all over the world showing off his skills both in flesh and on paper. Kiki is back in the United States and is ready to take on what's next with the support of his family, friends, and fans. We sit down and ask Kiki a few personal questions about his work and life and this is what he had to say.inline_mediumwraptextright25531832/featuredartists/0911_lrap_kiki_platas_tattoo_artist0911_lrap_01_z+kiki_platas_tattoo_artist+working.jpeg.jpgTrue

We attended the much anticipated Ink-N-Iron Tattoo and Kustom Culture Festival this summer at the Queen Mary in Long Beach, California. Some of the best tattoo artists from all over the world that attended the show were Robert Hernandez, Jack Rudy, Real, Tony Salgado, Big Gus, Alan Padilla, Franco, Bob Tyrell, Brian Everett, Tat2 Tony, and Placaso. With more than 250 artists attending the show from 35 different countries we had a busy weekend getting to all the artists that were at the event showing their talents to the thousands of spectators from all walks of life. And it was good to see new faces and new ink at the event. The event was extended with more room for custom cars to be on display and more vendors.inline_mediumwraptextrightThis Issue's Cover Artist Kiki Platas and wife25469180/features/0911_lrap_kustom_culture_festival_ink_n_iron0911_lrap_45_z+kustom_culture_festival_ink_n_iron+guy_and_girl.jpgTrue

Born and raised in Puebla, Mexico, Israel was born into Mexico's graffiti scene. His dad is the legendary old-school graffiti artist, Mosh. Israel began to graffiti professionally when he was 15 years old. His dad used to own a graffiti store where Israel helped out. His dad was also the one that coordinated the Graffiti Expo in Mexico where the elite of the elite would show up and put it down for their crew and country that they were representing. Later on, the artist name Bader was given to Israel after paying his dues in the street scene. Bader is now 27 years old and lives in Brooklyn, New York. Bader's historical graffiti pieces have given him a name in New York since his roots are represented through his artwork. Since his move to New York, Bader has mastered many different skills including airbrushing and tattooing. Bader is tattooing more than ever but still has a crew based out of Brooklyn, New York. If you want to see more of his work, visit him at www.myspace.com/bader_art.

Adrian Castrejon is better known as Spider to his friends, customers, and his fellow artist. At a young age, Spider taught himself how to draw. His older brother who drew a lot of pencil sketches of faces and comics, influenced Spider so much that he started to do lifelike sketches of faces, eyeballs and lips. Spider spent countless hours perfecting his skills after school and during the weekends. At the age of 20, while Spider walked home from work, he saw Elizer airbrushing a mural on a lowrider and from there he was hooked on that form of artwork. After watching Elizer for a few months, Spider decided to purchase an airbrush kit. Soon he started to airbrush many car club cars in Orange County, California. After working a few years in different shops, one day he saw his homeboy with a new tattoo and was amazed by the reality of it. At that moment Spider knew that he wanted to take his artwork to another level. So he hit up a few tattoo shops where one finally gave him a chance to see how tattooing was done. After learning a few tricks of the trade, he purchased his first tattoo machine and started tattooing at home. After building his tattoo portfolio, he hooked up with Steve Soto from Goodfellas Tattoo and started working with him full time. Now Spider keeps busy by doing custom tattoo work on his clients and collectors from around the world. If you would like to check out more of his work or make an appointment to get inked, hit him up at www.myspace.com/spidersart or call Goodfellas Tattoo in the city of Orange at 714-637-8282.

This year, one of Alex Castro's goals was to open up a storefront were he could exhibit artwork from different artists and also be able to sell his own clothing line. Alex Castro has been involved with Arte for a few years and was featured at the beginning of the revamp of the magazine. Alex also believes in giving back to the community, which was one of the main reasons he opened up the storefront. The Sinless Factories is located in the heart of the Long Beach Art District. The new hotspot will feature clothing from the hottest brands and flesh art supplies. Sinless Factories will also be used as a gallery that will host different type of artwork each month. The grand opening featured artists like Gullermo Avalos, Rist One, Ryan Smith, Big Gus, Carlos Rojas, Rick Muos, Joe Cool, Swiss Precise, Daniel Quinones, Juan Gonzales, Jose Martinez, and photographers Sergio G and John Jarasa. The blessing of the gallery was performed by Alex's mom, Mayalia Castro, who also sang a few inspiring songs for all the spectators that showed up to the event. With more than 1,000 spectators, the celebration was cut short due to the fire marshals but at the end of the day it was a successful grand opening. We wish Alex and his family the best of luck. If you want to check out the shop in person stop by 418 Cherry Ave., Long Beach, CA 90802. If you want to check out the shop and to see more of Alex Castro's work, visit
www.myspace.com/sinlessfactories and
www.sinlessclothing.net.

Rick Munoz started his airbrush career at a young age. The environment that he grew up in was what helped him master his craft. With so many airbrush artists in the world, Rick was one of the first airbrush artists to travel to South America and achieve celebrity status. Rick is now back in the United States airbrushing his way to the top by giving back to his community and local Los Angeles schools. We sat down with Rick and asked him a few questions about his trial and tribulations and his reasons for giving back to the community.

Born in Hidalgo, Estado de Mexico, Alan Padilla moved to the United States to join his dad and his sister in the City of Commerce, California. Alan started drawing when he was a young man. He acquired his talent from his mom who was a painter and his dad who worked as an architect. Alan was encouraged by one of his neighbors to start tattooing. His neighbor helped him purchase a tattoo machine and Alan started tattooing in his neighborhood. He soon started working at various tattoo shops and perfected his craft. Alan's success was built with hard work and practice. Now, Alan's tattoo art is some of the best from Cali and he has many collectors stopping at his shop to get tattooed. Alan's shop, Ink Addicts, is located in San Pedro, California. The shop is fixed up like a gallery with artwork from artists known worldwide. When Alan is not tattooing or painting on canvas, he draws on seashells. Alan learned to use the seashell's contours, pits, spikes and lines to bring his drawings to life and give them a three-dimensional effect.

Fleshart
The evening started with a stretch limo parked in front of Canvas LA gallery located in Hollywood. The gallery is known for hosting tattoo related themes. The gallery was adorned with masterpieces. The first room displayed the collection of The Namakubi (drawings of severed heads) that were drawn by Horiyoshi III using Sumi ink and blood from his dialysis. The second part of the gallery housed over 30 original drawings of Heroes of the Suikoden. The gallery also had walking masterpieces that were on display on a stage and were later seen walking around the gallery and taking pictures with the spectators. At the far end of the gallery, Horiyoshi III's son Kazu was tattooing while his fans watched him work his magic. The gallery also featured the new Horiyoshi III clothing line founded by Steve Suk. Horiyoshi would like to thank all the people that attended and supported the event. For more info, visit www.horiyoshi-thethird.com.

Nowadays Tattoo art is more accepted due to the mass media and programs that show Tattoo art as not just an underground form of body modification. We traveled to The Expo Tatuaje in Monterrey Mexico where we got a chance to check the flesh art of some of the best tattoo artists from around the world. The show started off slow, but with artists traveling from all over the world to be part of the Expo, the venue was soon full of tattoo fanatics and collectors.

Viva Siempre", a one-night group art exhibition of over 50 world-renowned tattoo artists showcasing some of their most recent artwork, has been one of the most exciting collections to date assembled by Trina Cantola. Original artwork was on display all over the gallery. Artwork by legendary tattoo artists like Jack Rudy, Corey Miller, Robert Atkinson, Nikko, Chuey Quintanar. Pieces by Rick Walters, Lil Roy, Mike Brown, Alan, Mike Giant and Aaron Bell adorned the walls of the Light Gallery located in the city of Costa Mesa, Calif.