Local tattoo shop, Into the Void, celebrated their 3-year anniversary on Friday, showcasing professional tattooers' artistic skills outside of the studio. It was an opportunity to present their passion for art of different mediums.
Galeria E.V.A. on South Flores Street is bumping with the noise of DJs spinning vinyl and large crowds who share a love for art while viewing the lined walls holding vibrant paintings.
It took five months of preparation for the venue, but the creation of the art pieces by the Into the Void crew and others had to fit in between their work and life schedules.
“In between being a mom, tattooing and running shop… I was kind of just chipping away any chance I got working on it,” said Quiara.
That’s “Into The Void” owner Esther Quiara. She wanted to “put people on” to the work of the tattoo artists that she refers to as friends and family.
“Not just tattoo but make art outside of permanently marking skin.”
Clowns are influential to Quiara's tattoo style, and her painting titled “Fear” gives a new meaning to why her tattooing revolves around it. It features a female clown, with blue skin, chained at the wrists and ankles surrounded by a spider web as dark sinister faces look directly at her.
“I painted it with taking into consideration imposter syndrome. Feeling like the only person that holds yourself back is you. So that was kind of like the symbolism behind the chains,” said Quiara. “The clown is like thinking that you're a joke, but really you work so hard. All the faces are like, I think we get in our heads and imagine everybody's looking at you, but we're all just like spec and it’s just like a humbling thing to realize… Basically, don't hold yourself back.”
The large canvas was completed in an estimated 12-18 hours in Quiara’s free time.
Another member of the Into the Void team is artist Steven Candelario. He has been tattooing for almost 17 years and has worked with Esther since they opened the shop. His painting titled ”Skin walking after Midnight” depicted a paranormal legend, the skinwalker.
Skinwalkers are supernatural beings that appear in the folklore of the Navajo. They are considered evil witches who can transform into the creatures of their choosing, and in this painting, the skinwalker has shapeshifted into a coyote.
“[I’ve] been really getting into a lot of the old Navajo lore,” said Candelario. “Something neat about skinwalkers on Texas, you know. Everywhere else, like the four corner states, not so great, but in Texas, allegedly, they can't travel this far.”
“Looks like he knows what he’s doing right,” said Rafael Delagarza.
“Almost,” said Candelario.
Candelario taught himself how to paint at home.
“Yeah, I don't know what I was doing. I just YouTubed and started reading a bunch of books, and I was like, well, I guess I figured it out,” said Candelario.
Five-year tattoo veteran Rafael Delagarza also contributed to the art show. He has been working at Into the Void since they opened. His art piece “has to do something different” with his canvas being an old window.
“I just thrifted this frame and painted on it and acrylic isn't something I get to do too many, too much these days, but I still love it,” said Delagarza.
He experimented with glass art when he was younger and gave it a new purpose instead of being hung on walls to be seen through.
“A lot of old houses in San Antonio, there's like those old windows that don't really work anymore. If you move into them, they're old and painted shut, and you can't move them open. Then you see people just throwing them away, and I used to go and get them and paint them,” said Delagarza.
All of these tattoo artists are given the blessing of access to the customers' skin drawing what the customer would want, but this is an occasion where they have free range to do whatever their creative mind comes up with and put that same passion into their work.
