Where the Tat Artist is King
By Edgar Mendoza

The tattoo convention in Guadalajara, Mexico that I went to was like nothing I expected. I have been to a bunch of conventions out here in San Jose, Santa Rosa, and Sacremento, but the one in Mexico was the best. Not only because it was in Mexico, but people out there treated me like a rock star. There were people there tattooing from all around the globe. I met artists from Costa Rica, Italy, Germany, Spain, London and all parts of Mexico. Me and a friend of mine, who has a shop in LA called Blue Demon Tattoo, were the only people from the US.

People loved my tattoo flash (tattoo drawings), and some offered to buy them. I even sold a guy a few drawings. He had a T-shirt company in Mexico, and we drove 30 miles to get to the nearest copy machine to make copies for him.

One of the cool things about the two-day conference was that at the end of each day we would all go out to a restaurant, then to a club or party and drink all night long.

Everyone there seemed to know the word respect. It felt different then here in the states. Over here, you walk into a shop and they think they are the shit and are too cool to talk to you. But there are some cool local shops in the San Jose area, like Paco Excel at New Skool Tattoos and also Dee, Mo Better at Twisted Illusions in Hayward, Donnie Grooves at Guru Tattoo in San Jose, Frank at Sterile Electric Tattoos in Fremont, Jason Dangers at Rebel Tattoo in Columbia, and Big Paul at Tattoo U in Fremont. I give much respect to all those people, as well as all the artists I met in Mexico.

If you are a tattoo artist and you have never been to a tattoo convention in Mexico you should really go. It will be the best convention you will ever go to.