Community Conversations Interview with Cruz Martinez, Featured Artist for Chicano: Deja Tu Huella

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Above: Cruz’s featured piece titled, “In the Still of the Night”

 

My Conversation with Cruz Martinez

Last month, I had the privilege of sitting down to chat with tattoo artist, Cruz Martinez to discuss his connection to L.A. Chicano tattoo culture as a young child, finding his passion for art in our after-school program at Mattie Rhodes, and his featured piece titled, “In the Still of the Night.”

Cruz Martinez was born in Los Angeles, California in 1995 and moved to Kansas City with his family at young age. His parents both grew up in the heart of East L.A., however they wanted to raise their family away from what Cruz referred to as “the craziness of L.A. in the ‘90s.” The city had a huge impact on how his family presented and carried themselves — from the fashion, lingo, people, and overall Chicano style of L.A.

After moving to Kansas City, Cruz’s family had a difficult time trying to adapt to life in the Midwest, but his parents wanted to seek better opportunities. Cruz’s parents were also amazing artists — his mom loved to paint and worked in mixed media, and his dad was a “simple guy who just needed a pencil and paper to create his artwork.”

Cruz shared that, “keeping my brother and I out of trouble was the main priority, so it only made sense that we became little artists as well.” Both he and his brother attended Plaza de Niños for preschool after they arrived in the Kansas City area, followed by Primitivo Garcia Elementary on the Westside. One of Cruz’s earliest memories was walking across the street at the end of the day to the Mattie Rhodes Art Center to attend our after-school program. Cruz attributes attending Mattie Rhodes at such a young age as solidifying his love for art, specifically drawing. He says that he was too young to recognize that everyone around him believed that he had potential, and was always encouraged to keep creating art.

Growing up, Cruz was also very intrigued by his parents’ tattoos and Chicano tattoo culture specifically. Cruz eventually became a licensed tattoo artist in 2021 after landing a job at Ink Parlor and has been there ever since. Cruz is grateful to every client, customer, and friend who has been tattooed by him.

 

In this clip, Cruz talks about how Mattie Rhodes helped shape him into the artist he is today.

In this clip, Cruz discusses the origin of Chicano style tattoos

 

In this next clip, Cruz talks about the inspiration of L.A. tattoo culture on his artwork