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 Vallarta Living | Art Talk | February 2007 
One Artist's Journey Linked by Ink
 Jennifer W. Sanchez - Salt Lake Tribune
| | Sergio Reynoso tattoos a dragon on the left arm of Courtney Overstreet. It took Reynoso 4 1/2 hours to complete the intricate image for which he charged $300. Overstreet, who has been a customer at Reynoso's Tattoolan for several years, threw in a $50 tip. (Jim Urquhart/Salt Lake Tribune) |
His parents would beat him to quit but Sergio Reynoso refused to stop using his body as a canvas.
Growing up in Guadalajara, Mexico's second-largest city, Reynoso tried drawing everything just by looking at it. Trees. Cartoon characters. Toy cars and planes. But he rarely had supplies because his parents considered colored pencils and sketch books a luxury, and they had no money.
At age 11, his love for drawing turned to tattooing after he saw his uncle Enrique's name marked on his calf. Reynoso later began to use needles and dyes to tattoo his body. His parents were furious because of the skin infections he caused.
"They told me, 'Don't be doing that, pendejo,' " remembers Reynoso, now 43. "But when you have something in your heart, you don't give a s---."
He's still obsessed with body art.
Today, after years of tattooing on the streets of Mexico and trying to break into tattoo artist circles in the western United States, Reynoso runs his own shop, Sergio's Tattootlan, which he opened in Salt Lake City about six years ago.
And he'll be one of 300 tattoo artists from around the world at the fourth annual Salt Lake City International Tattoo Convention next weekend.
Reynoso's one-man shop is among some 50 tattoo and piercing shops along the Wasatch Front, but is the only one listed in the Spanish-language Utah phone book. While he works six days a week, Reynoso has so many clients scheduled there's a six-week waiting list.
Longtime customers say it's worth worth the wait. They describe Reynoso as laid-back, funny and spiritual, a talented artist with a "gentle" technique who knows a lot about his field. They also like talking to him about his Mexican heritage, politics and sports. He's one of just a handful of Latino tattoo artists working in the Salt Lake City area.
Mary Inmee-Jakub, a 50-year-old Salt Lake City barber, met Reynoso at a local tattoo shop about 13 years ago. He has pierced her nipples and tattooed four images on her, including an Egyptian snake on her back and a bracelet of flowers.
"He takes a lot of pride in his work, and he's really into his culture," she said.
Tattoo dreams: When Reynoso was 11, he worked sweeping floors in a hardware store to fulfill his desire to draw. The store's owner agreed to pay him in supplies, from sketch pads and watercolors to tools and paints.
Reynoso was No. 6 of a dozen children, so art supplies were out of the question.
"They would rather buy me shoes or buy me food," he says of his parents.
Reynoso was curious about tattooing. He began experimenting on his hands and legs with a needle and different chemicals, dyes and paints. One of his first tattoos featured images of a weed and an American Indian head with a Spanish sword through it, and the words "Weed" and "Wisdom." The weed represents a saying in Spanish that means "weeds never die"; the head symbolizes the Spanish disrespect for American Indian wisdom and history.
"I don't know why I did it in English. . . . Maybe I thought it was cool," he says. "I never thought I'd be speaking that language."
Reynoso also began building tattoo machines out of small motors from dolls and portable radios. He heard about tattoo supplies and equipment in the United States, but he couldn't find much in Mexico.
He eventually took his art to the streets. He carried a backpack with his tattoo supplies and set up empty buckets as chairs on the sidewalks of Guadalajara, where he tattooed people for change.
He spent the money he earned on Converse tennis shoes, Levi's jeans and his family.
"I discovered doing tattoos was money," he says.
Coming to America: In 1983, at age 19, Reynoso went to California as an undocumented worker to learn more about the tattoo world.
He mowed lawns, cleaned offices, washed dishes and remodeled houses to make enough money to buy tattoo supplies, equipment and magazines. He traveled the state looking for well-known artists, but found few would share their tattooing secrets.
In 1990, Reynoso returned to Guadalajara to organize the city's first tattoo expo, which was attended by over a 100 people, including 15 artists. Two years later, while living in California, he met a Utah couple who had a tattoo shop in Salt Lake City. They offered him a job.
"I never thought I'd be in the United States speaking English," Reynoso says. "I never thought I was going to come over here."
Reynoso moved his family to Utah, got proper U.S. documentation and worked at various tattoo shops for several years.
In 2001, he opened his own tiny shop. Last year, he moved into a bigger place on Main Street.
Courtney Overstreet recently spent 4 1/2 hours sitting on a chair while Reynoso tattooed a dragon on his left upper arm. It cost him $300, and he threw in a $50 tip.
Overstreet, 36, first visited Reynoso about four years ago. He says he'll continue to use Reynoso because of his creative style, good prices and clean shop.
"He opens everything in front of you. He doesn't try to hide anything," Overstreet says.
'Decorating God's temples': Sergio's Tattootlan is in a calm, quaint neighborhood of aging homes and a few small businesses just south of downtown. The shop's white walls are decorated with Aztec calendars and Indian statues. Reynoso works in a spacious studio area blocked off by a wooden divider, which visitors often stand behind to watch as he works.
After more than 30 years of tattooing, Reynoso says the biggest change he's seen is more women getting tattoos. About half of his customers are women.
Reynoso, who says his most popular tattoo designs are images of people, specializes in "Mexican artwork" and will tattoo any part of the body except the penis. He won't tattoo gang signs.
He says tattooing is where he belongs.
"God gave me a talent, and I'm just decorating God's temples with it," he said.
Still, he can't believe that after years of struggling as a tattoo artist, he's is able to support his wife and business partner, Sara, and their four kids doing what he loves.
And on a trip home to Mexico, he couldn't believe that the 2006 Guadalajara International Tattoo Expo was attended by some 4,500 people and 150 tattoo artists.
Reynoso enjoys seeing his art on people's bodies because the tattoos hold so much meaning for them. They are constant reminders of something important - from a picture of a deceased brother to a logo of a favorite sports team or a child's name.
"Tattoos are a reflection of your soul," says Reynoso, whose body is covered in ink. "Tattoos show you how someone thinks, believes and feels."
jsanchez@sltrib.com
Tattoo you
SLC Internationa Tattoo Convention
* WHERE: Salt Palace Convention Center, 100 S. West Temple, Salt Lake City.
* WHEN: When: Friday, 2-10 p.m.; Saturday, noon-10 p.m.; Feb. 18, noon-7 p.m.
* HOW MUCH: Day pass, $15; three-day pass $30, available at the door. Three-day passes are on sale in advance at Lost Art Tattoo, 348 S. State St., Salt Lake City. For information, call 801-971-6319 or go to www.slctattoo.com.
* FOR MORE INFORMATION on Sergio's Tattootlan, 1860 S. Main St., Salt Lake City, call 801-759-7200 or visit www.tattootlan.com.
For more photos please visit www.sltrib.com. |
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