Page 24 - Demo

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“Black people's skin is very different and it scars easily,” Eon says. “When you start tattooing, the ink may not seem’s like it's going in or is as dark, but that's because the canvas is darker. The skin is actually softer, and when you go over it and try to make the tattoo darker, you can end up scaring it. Black people's skin can easily get a keloid (an overgrowth of scar tissue that develops around a wound) and it's a whole other level of scaring as opposed to a white person. It's permanent damage that you can't remove or cover up with another tattoo.”
Eon took his show on the road in 2012, and found his way to a guest spot in Farmington, New Mexico, a small town near where the state borders Colorado, Arizona and Utah. Ironically, it was the place where he made more money in a two-week stint than in a whole month of owning his own business. After a couple of years of regular visits, he decided to open a shop there.
“I like that people there love quality tattoos, and are looking for the kind of tattoos that push me to get better,” Eon says.
Mr Tank's 505 (the NM area code) is what Eon calls a “true street shop.” That doesn't mean it's all about flash, because the focus is on custom artwork --- anything and everything that a customer might request. Working at the Farmington shop along with Eon are tattoo artists Greg Knuppel and Jesse Williamson and piercer Orlando "G" Gonzales.
Eon has won awards for nearly every style of tattooing, but his speciality is realism. He also does a crazy twist on black and red, which he calls the Mo-Black Movement.
“When some people tattoo really light, it looks great in a picture, but it doesn't heal well, so years down the road it's way too light. Mo-Black is tattooing dark enough so that when it heals it will match the picture --- yes, scary because when you do it, the tattoo looks darker, but you have to know and trust in what you're doing that the tattoo is going to lighten up and last forever,” Eon explains. “I do a lot with black and red, and without the black being so dark, the red would never be as bright.”
There was a time when Eon's future didn't look so bright. But those days are in the past. It's not a story he shares with everyone who sits for a tattoo, but it's a journey that's inked in every piece he creates.
“I don't have a high school diploma or a GED, and I never thought I would leave Denver, but here I am now and I own two businesses. I've traveled all over the country and I've won awards at all kinds of conventions,” Eon says. “I don't look at myself as an inspiration, but I have too many artists and friends who tell me that my story is very inspirational. . . I tell them that I'm just a normal person who came from an f-d up neighborhood and now I'm trying to live a great life.” O
Mr. Tank's Tattoos
Denver, Colorado and Farmington, New Mexico