According to Nate Banuelos’ bio, he describes his specialties as: “…clean, readable, solid tattooing.” The first time that I read that I thought that Banuelos was selling himself short. After all, there is so much more going on in his tattooing that goes beyond simply saying that he’s skilled at doing clean or readable or solid work. However, the more I looked at Nate’s tattoos, the more I realized that Nate’s own summation of his specialities might be understated, but that such an understatement pairs perfectly well with his art.
What I mean by this is that Nate doesn’t rely on getting all up in your face, as it were, with his work. There’s a deceptive simplicity to his tattoos that can almost make you take them for granted. It’s the same with any artist who is at the top of their game: they always make what they’re doing look so easy when in reality, it’s anything but. It’s like watching Marlon Brando act – it’s so easy to lose yourself in the performance because the performance itself seems effortless.
A-ha! But therein lies the rub, my friend. Nate Banuelos has been tattooing for 17 years, and you can bet your ass that every single one of those years was spent working and striving to get to the point where he is now, where his tattoos speak for themselves and lull you into believing that such smoothness and readability is just a simple aspect of his work. I’m on to you, Banuelos!
Regardless, all that really matters here is that the tattoo work of Nate Banuelos is very much worth checking out and becoming a fan of. Banuelos currently spends his days at Guru Tattoo in beautiful San Diego, California. If you’re in the neighbourhood, you should stop on by. How could you not, when someone as rad as Nate works there?