When Edgar first discovered tattooing, he didn’t immediately think of learning how to tattoo. Tattooing was organically all around him, and he learned by absorbing as much knowledge as possible, originally, from the person who’d eventually instruct him, and later, from other friends and peers. He didn’t really conscientiously choose tattooing. Tattooing chose him.
It wasn’t until 7 years later that he picked up a tattoo machine for the first time, in 1998, while living in Charlotte, NC.
He started as a full time professional tattooer at Senzala Tattoo, in Old San Juan, PR, in 2001 where he tattooed over a 20 year span. In between those years he also worked at Texas Tattoo Emporium in Houston for two years, and also worked out of a small, two artist studio in Midtown, Houston for a year. More recently he has worked at Horikawa Tattoo in Laredo, Texas. Now he has settled here, in Chicago, circa November 2022, and is looking forward to making clean, solid tattoos for the people of Chicago.
Edgar prefers focusing on larger scale classics, in either American traditional or American with a modern twist, and Japanese influenced tattoos. He is a very versatile tattooer who also enjoys doing black and gray tattoos, polynesian art and tribal in general, geometric, black work, and custom lettering. He is very experienced with many other styles; bold and potent or delicate and dainty, chances are he can absolutely do them for you. Just ask and he’ll come up with something we can both be proud of. If you’re looking to “erase the past”, because your taste has changed and you want something new, or you’re looking for an alternative to laser removal, he is comfortable doing cover-ups. Appointments are preferred for larger work, but he is also available for smaller walk-ins most everyday, given there’s availability. He prefers working with the client’s ideas to come up with original work and have the best possible outcome. As an exception, art done or submitted by the clients may work, as long as they’re not literal copies of other tattoo artists and always subject to editing to make it work as a tattoo.
