23. Takahiro Kitamura on Chuey Quintanar
My name is Takahiro Kitamura, I’m the curator of this exhibition, and this piece here by Chuey Quintanar, not only is this is first back piece, but it’s a real great illustration of how the Japanese back piece format works well with other styles. Chuey’s a modern master of the black and grey, of Chicano styles, Aztec, Mayan-influenced styles, portraiture – and it’s really nice to see him do something of this magnitude. This is actually his first back piece, and you can see the impact that he has and how easily Chuey adapted to using a Japanese back piece formula for his style of art. It’s just pure genius and it shows the skill level, and it’s also very nice to see that a master of a different medium would adapt so readily to the Japanese tattoo.
