GET READY!!!

NEW GODOY INTERVIEW 2010

Realistic & direct. If you tattoo, read this. Not putting anyone down, just being realistic.
http://www.tattoolz.com/godoy2010.html

LIMA PERU - TATTOO CONVENTION LAST YEAR

Lima is a rad city. Peru is a real gem. It is full of unexpected surprises!! We were scheduled to do a seminar at the convention put on by Ramon. There are 2 conventions that happen there, one is put on by Ramon and the other by Miguel... We prefer Ramon's convention. It is bi annual and very professional.

We usually arrive at least a day prior to the event so we can iron out any kinks before we do the seminar, wether we need to buy tools, supplies, copy participation certificates or whatever it may be. On our way to do our shopping routine, we walked past a music store, saw some stuff we wanted to check out. While we were there, a guy came up to us, he said he recognized us from Thrasher Magazine from 1990!! He was an ex-sponsored skater named Juani Masias... we made friends and set up a time to surf in the morning. Morning came too soon, but we were excited to surf Peruvian waves!!! He picked us up and we were off...

Peruvian Surf Vehicle

We drove south down the coast passing old parts of the city which were once trendy and have lost their modern appeal. These places were full classic architecture, and very colorful. You would expect this country to be warm all year round but that is not the case! Remember, when you move further from the equator, in either direction, you start to have seasons. These seasons on opposite ends of the globe, are opposite from each other. For instance, when it's winter in Canada, it's summer in Argentina. Same as Peru. We were there in their fall... the water was cold, in this photo, you can see the greyness... look at Steve freezing his ass off...

Behind Steve is where we surfed. The beach was called Caballeros... it breaks into a cove, there are rights and lefts. This day, there were waves, it was 6-8 feet on the face. If you look to the left in the photo, around the middle of the picture, you will see some waves breaking WAY outside... this peak is called "Pico Alto". This is a HUGE wave.. it breaks way out and you have to be towed into it in order to get on. You wouldn't have the strength to paddle onto it on your own. In this photo, we're facing the ocean, what do you think is behind us when you're looking toward the ocean? Topical Greenery? Palms? NOPE!!!

Sand dunes and more sand dunes. Those are all little ghetto houses on the side of the dune. As desolate as it looks, it has a real cool personality. The waves were clean and good... strong and relatively uncrowded. It was a good time. Our friend Juani, shaped one of the boards we took out. Totally functional but visually unconventional. We came in and got some food at the restaurant/surf shop there before we headed back to the city.

Art and Juani eating chips and talking shit.

The way back was interesting too!! We were re routed to different roads due to a potential riot about to happen. There were cops in riot gear, shields and helmets... people on the other side of the street ready to go. Not sure what it was about, but after many travels in South America, we could guess that it may have something to do with the government f*cking their people over in some way.

How many of you readers have eaten ceviche? It's a raw fish prepared in lime juice. The lime juice "cooks" the fish. Peru is well known for that dish, as well as a juice made out of corn! This was on the menu for us that night. The traditional Peruvian foods we ate were great. There was one in particular which was NOT so hot... anticuchos... cow heart. Not so good.

The tattoo convention was great, it was packed. In our seminar, we met several artists from different countries, the most standout ones were the Naranjo Brothers. They are from Ecuador, Quito to be exact. The shop they own is called House of Style. They are unreal artists... both of them. Mauro is the older brother, he is a machine builder as well. His creations are original and very well tuned. It shows in the tattoos he does... we met other brothers there who bought machines from us. In the photo below, they teamed up on a back piece. They finished this in 5 hours. The client sat like a champion!

All that red is NOT blood!!!

The convention was a success for us and even if it wasn't monetarily profitable, just being there is worth every penny you spent. The culture is rad, the people are cool, the scenery is unbelievable, the waves were quality, the food delicious... can't wait to go again!

TATTOO CONVENTION - MONTERREY, NUEVO LEON MEXICO

The tattoo convention in Monterrey Mexico is one of the biggest in the country. The one this year happened March 5-7... Look at the size of that crowd, that wasn't even ALL the people who were there. Behind the booths to the left were way more... Here we see the best tattoo of the day awards being given out, this guy ended up in 3rd place.

Here are some more images of tattoos which were entered. There are way more on my memory card... will put em up later. Any of you who tattoo that live in North America, take note.. these weren't even the winners. Mexico excels in black n grey, and realism...their style of traditional BLOWS AWAY the simplistic Americana shit we see constantly.

THIS TRIP WAS SO FULL OF COINCIDENCES!!

SO many that it seemed like they were meant to be. We were on our way to get some banners made, since we had forgotten ours, dropped off the art work, went to make some stickers and got directions for a taqueria which has a reputation for being the best around. On the way there, we saw a little gallery on a side street called the GODOY GALLERY... our last name is pretty rare, we decided to stop in and meet GODOY, the owner. The Gallery was small in the front part of it, a counter and TONS of art for sale... mostly pictures of women with big t*ts. There were post cards, business cards, sheets with descriptions of astrological signs and pairings...

We got invited to an art show that night, we went... coincidentally it was all tattoo related, another coincidence - it was put on by a friend of our - FLACO, in association with Dr. Lakra.!!

Here is Steve standing next to the part of the exhibit which showcased record covers which included tattoos. Here is GG Allin, the original scum f*ck. Steve tattooed him in 1986 with an exacto blade in Dallas Texas. It was a swastika inside an german cross. A few moments later, several tattooers whom we have know for a long time showed up!!! We met a photographer whose name was also GODOY!!!

Here we are at the gallery L to R - Art Godoy, Gallery Godoy, Akylez, Steve Godoy. There was alot of traditional style tattoo paintings as well as some odd items like this one! This rubber baby arm was actually tattooed with a machine and needle. There were tons of single needle line work, small and perfectly shaded roses, faces of women, sayings... very well done.

We also attended a Lucha Libre Femenil... all female wresting matches, which were held in a ring, outside!! It was great. All spectators were getting involved, between the women's fights, kids would go in the ring and beat each other up. Love to see that. The one in the purple glitter shorts is "Unicorn". She had a small horn in the middle of her mask. The one she's got in a hold is always seen doing the weather reports on TV!!! Unicorn kicked her ass by the way..

Juan "Super" Arreguin, won second place in the best tattoo of the day on Sunday. He works at Art's Funhouse Tattoo in Vancouver. To see more of his work go to www.funhousetattoo.ca, or http://www.myspace.com/superflytats.

At the convention, we also met up with a long time friend "el Tigre" from Taxco Tattoo in Saltillo, Mexico. Such a great person. Not only is he a great artists, he's also a shamanic healer. He gets buried in the ground, digs his way out, walks for miles through the desert, eats some peyote, stares at the sun for hours... and then tattoos the next day...

STEVE, TIGRE AND ART.

TIGRE had a convention about 6 years ago which we proudly attended. He had put together a sweat lodge. For those of you who don't know what that is. It's a ceremony where people gather under a totally enclosed Teepee, were there is a hole dug in the ground in the center of it. HOT rocks are put in it and then water is poured on... it's basically a sauna, which gets hotter round after round. You go a round, take a break, another and take a break and keep doing this cycle until you get to the end. The goal was to make it through all 8 rounds. Man, you sweat an sweat. The sweat doesn't just "drip" off of you, it runs off of you like a faucet! At the middle of round 7, when we were totally dying in the suffocating heat, El Tigre was saying a prayer to the creator when someone farted... f*ck. Nobody wanted to admit it... we said, "c'mon, who did it? just admit it!!" Good thing we were sitting by the door flap and got outa there. It smelled like a combination of boiled eggs and dog sh*t. Almost made it....