That would be in my adult life anyway.
I have been drawing and doodling since I was a wee lad, like most artists say, but as I grew into my teenage years everything started coming into light. I was painting for a hand full of years before I stumbled into the first shop I was to begin working in, the year being 1995. That shop was Double Dragon Graphics. I worked there for close to 2 years just learning my fundamentals. It wasn’t the best place to learn good habits but it got me started on the path to becoming a professional tattoo artist. I give Kevin,
the owner that much credit.

After my introduction I went on to work at Shred’s Inferno. It was a good opportunity to learn some new techniques but a very short lived stay. I then went on to open Rite of Passage, which would be my first business. We survived there for 2 years before the city of Chicago said they decided to change the zoning and tell me I can no longer run my business out of that location. Let me express right here how fucked up politics are and that the man can shove a hot fiery iron right up it’s ass. I’m not bitter though.

After Rite of Passage I went on to work at Tatu Tattoo, which was a cool experience. I had the opportunity to work with many talented artists from Chicago all under one roof. I worked there for about 5 months and then decided to move on.

I left Chicago and was hell bound for New York City. I had a great time and met plenty of cool people while working out of Andromeda on St. Marks’s St. The whole experience was very enlightening. I worked there for a year and left 2 weeks
before the 9/11 incident.

Luckily I had just arrived in Las Vegas on 9/10 and had the beautiful experience of living and working in Vegas for the next 4 months. (There is much sarcasm in my head while writing this.) I worked at Sin City tattoo for that duration and realized I had to get back home to Chicago and establish some sort of foundation. Don’t get me wrong Vegas is a fun place to visit but I wouldn’t want to live there.

So I came back home to Chicago and worked at Shred’s Inferno
for about another year. I left there and went to work at Native Soul with Angel Silva and then started to lose my mind. I really wanted my own business again.

I started talking to my partner Johnny and told him I’m sick of just talking about “in the future, when we have our own shop” let’s do this shit now! John and I realized that the city of Chicago is full of shit when it comes to getting licensed for a shop so we took a look into the suburbs. This was something I never thought we’d do but we realized the potential of getting out of the city and
treading into new territory.

Luckily for us it worked to our advantage. We packed our stuff
and headed out to good ole Oak Forest! I know it doesn’t sound impressive but it’s home to us and we’re doing great with our
new shop Native Rituals. Native Rituals has been open
since 2003 and we’re rocking more than ever.
This is my new home and hopefully will
be for years to come.

At this point in history I have been tattooing for 10 years now. I plan on tattooing until my hands and legs fall off. Thanks for reading about my career; hopefully I can contribute to your life
and perhaps your skin.

Click here to see Virus' online portfolio.