Chuey Quintanar

Latino tattoo artist Chuey Quintanar has been working alongside Jack Rudy at the legendary Goodtime Charlie’s Tattooland in Anaheim, CA for the past several years, and is among the greatest of his genre. Quintanar, who taught himself to tattoo with a homemade rotary machine, is largely influenced by Catholic imagery, a mirror of his Latin roots, which originated from Mexico City and has transplanted into the streets and ghettos of South LA.

In conjunction, the ancestral designs of the Central American aboriginals, the Aztecs, Olmecs and Mayans, who left a wealth of highly symbolic imageries and legends to the world’s culture, reflect prominently in Quintanar’s portfolio. It is the stories and legends of the Aztec warriors he loves inking the most. He blends his client’s personal history with folklore to create new images, and Quintanar often prefers his clients to bring their own ideas into tattoos. 

—Courtesy of Ricco Maresca