Chicago, seemingly an unlikely place to find one of the up and coming Chicano artists of today. Yet here he is... Tony Uno.
With a style that beholds roots, originality and holding an air of class about it Tony Uno is an artist to be followed.
His name Tony Uno was acquired through his love of art, deducted from his own name Antonio and the "One" which graffiti artists used to use for tagging back in the day, symbolizes the main one, he was never
into graffiti yet it inspired him to add it to his signature Tony1. This gradually converted into "Uno", paying dues to his Latino background.
His introduction to art was through his father, being around the cholo style seeing the prison tattoos and Mexican imagery in his neighborhood; his love for art grew eager. Yet ironically Tony believes that
his new felt trade at the time took him out of that bad element of street life, "Tattooing defiantly changed my life and pretty much saved my life". It led him down a path that shone away the risks many
youth at the time took and unfortunately still take up till this day.
His life story so far takes us from his days tattooing at home with a self made machine at the mere age of 17. Tattooing his buddies from home soon the arrival of his daughter boosted him to seek his career
and dream, this new responsibility on his plate helped him find his first apprenticeship in 2002 at TopNotch Tattoos. Being solo in his career is something he is used to, considering what he does is more out
there in the West Coast Tony had to find his own way in the industry.
Professionally Tony has been in the scene for 5 years, all together it has been a 10 year process. Yet he believes he is right at the beginning of his career, literally in slow motion waiting for things to
really kick off. When asked where he would like to be in 10 years time Tony wants to be able to help the Chicano scene as a whole so people can enjoy it as an art form, also he desires for his work to be
appreciated to the extent that people think of him when wanting to get some new tinta "I want people to come to Chicago and say they want to get tattooed by Tony Uno, I also want to do bigger projects".
Remembering his first tattoo it is clear that family have played a huge part in his career "One of my first tattoos was a rose on my cousin, and I kinda messed that up, I was like 17 with a home made
machine". One of his proudest pieces also took place on a family member "I did a portrait of my grandfather on my cousins neck, my grandfather is not with us any more, so it was special to him, me and the
whole family".
Born and bred in Chicago Illinois, he is "super proud" of his Mexican heritage and community, he proves this through his work by providing us with a classical Chicano style. One of his favorite styles is of
his own creation, Tony is renown for his "Blocky" style tattoos, "cubism using imagery" he mixes it up and adds his own twist, with generous shading and distinctive lines its beauty defiantly sets him aside
from other Chicano artists. Yet he also beholds a talent for his elegant and soft portraits, this varied talent is what really makes Tony stand out from the rest. "I do classic tattoos that won’t go out of
style, stuff that has been around before us". Some artists that Tony admires are Jesus Esguerra, Michael Angelo and the renaissance era and as far as it goes with tattooists Tony gives props to likes of
Mister Cartoon, "he put what we do out to the main stream, he opened it up for everyone."
Currently Tony is tattooing at Inktown Tattoo and things are looking bright for this young artist, getting national recognition for his unico style Tony humbly never expected to be where he is currently at.
He pays great thanks to his wife Jessica and his son and daughter for being that inspiration and helping him daily through his career.
