On September 29th, those that could make it from the crew at Old Rose took a trip to the Norton Simon Art Museum in downtown Pasadena. Every now and then our crew will take a trip to have some fun bonding time as well as immerse ourselves in a new visual culture for learning and inspiration.

As stated on the museum’s website nortonsimon.org, “The Norton Simon Museum is home to one of the world’s most remarkable private art collections ever assembled. Over a 30-year period, the industrialist Norton Simon (1907–1993) amassed an impressive group of European masterworks from the Renaissance to the 20th century, and a stellar collection of South and Southeast Asian art spanning 2,000 years. Modern works from Europe and the United States, acquired by the former Pasadena Art Museum, also occupy an important place in the Museum’s holdings.”

See the gallery below for some of our artists’ favorite pieces, or visit the website for a closer look at what the museum has to offer.

In this new series, Jade will be interviewing each of the tattooers here at Old Rose Tattoo. We hope this will give our customers a little more insight into who is tattooing them and provide helpful information for what each of our artists is looking to tattoo more of! So without further ado, here is the interview with Tony Cruz.

Tony Cruz and David Flores working on back-pieces simultaneously.

Jade: Tell us a little bit about how you got your start in tattooing.

Tony: Well I always loved drawing and originally wanted to be a fine arts painter, but art school wasnt an option for me. Instead, I started getting tattooed by Max Aguilar at Skullhaus a whole bunch and fortunately got an apprenticeship there. Max and I both work here at Old Rose now that Skullhaus has closed up. It’s been about ten years since I started tattooing.

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J: What and who has influenced your career?

T: I never really used any color growing up; I was always drawing in either pen or pencil, and my uncle had this black and grey body suit that really inspired me to work in black and grey and fine line. Tattooers like Adrian Lee and Chuey Quintanar are pretty influential to me. Their scale of work, both in quantity and size, is something I strive to achieve.

J: You said you wanted to be a fine arts painter growing up, has that been a defining aspect of your style at all?

T: Mostly in the imagery and composition of fine art. I look at a lot of Alphonse Mucha and John w. Godward for reference.

J: When it comes to style, how would you describe yours?

T: I wouldn’t say I have a defined style, just that I primarily work in black and grey. I gravitate towards a more realistic look, although since I draw mostly everything by hand there is still that illustrative aspect to my tattoos. I tend to do a lot of portraits, religious, and geometric themes.

J: What sort of projects have you been working on or would like to do more of in the future?

T: I’ve recently been into a lot of Mesoamerican artwork, things featured in ancient Aztec and Mayan stonework. I finished up a Kewpie doll a couple of months back that I covered with imagery from those cultures. On the other end, I often lean towards classical imagery, symbols that come from Catholicism and Christianity. One of the last back pieces I finished was of the Virgin of Guadalupe. I would say both types of projects allow me to study and bring to life part of Mexican culture.

J: How would someone book with you?

T: The first step would to be to fill out my waitlist, [linked here] . At the moment, it’s taking me about 6-8 months to get back to people. I look through it in order, and will have the shop call people when I have time in my schedule for new projects. I put a lot of time and energy into each design, and drawings take me anywhere from 16 to 20 hours on top of the whatever research I need to do, which is why I have to be more selective with what I choose to take on. At the moment, I am prioritizing only large scale work, things like back pieces and full sleeves. I would just prefer that my body of work be larger projects in the grand scheme of things.

J: What would you say is the best part of working here at Old Rose Tattoo?

T: The 80’s music for sure, but in all honestly I like working alongside people with a strong work ethic. It forces me too keep trying new things and striving to make each tattoo better than the last in order to compete with everyone here.

Tony works at Old Rose Tattoo Friday-Monday. To see a larger body of work from Tony, please check out his instagram linked here @tony.cruz.tattoo.