Chris Nunez found fame on tattoo-themed shows like Miami Ink and Ink Master, but Nunez is much more than a tattoo artist. He's a world traveler, entrepreneur, philanthropist, and graffiti artist, and he's only just begun.
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00:00Chris Nunez found fame on tattoo-themed shows like Miami Ink and Ink Master, but Nunez is
00:05much more than a tattoo artist. He's a world traveler, entrepreneur, philanthropist, and
00:09graffiti artist. And he's only just begun.
00:13Even at a young age, Nunez appreciated art. He grew up in Miami, Florida, and started
00:17out as an apprentice at a neighborhood tattoo shop. He also experimented with graffiti.
00:21Nunez liked making colorful paintings on walls around his community, and developed a particular
00:25affinity for the color blue in his work.
00:27What I loved about graffiti was, was the risk, the color palette, the excitement, the camaraderie."
00:35Nunez credits his parents for his success because of their unmitigated support, even
00:39of graffiti art. And his first tattoo, which he got at the age of 16, was of his parents'
00:44names. His father, who passed away when Nunez was 18, often reminded him that, when it came
00:48to success, he'd need to ride or die. After his father's death, Nunez entered a dark,
00:53self-destructive period. He was rebellious, but he survived and made it to his late 20s.
00:58With the help of his mother, he managed to turn his bitterness and frustration into academic
01:01success, and eventually got his life back on track.
01:04For Nunez, tattoos like graffiti are just another way to express his artistic side.
01:08"'Tattooing' became relevant to me because it was like, I could tattoo a human being
01:13that's gonna, basically, my art's gonna live on for the lifespan of that human."
01:17Nunez believes the art of tattooing is having a renaissance that goes beyond ink on skin
01:21into influencing artists in a variety of fields, including the fine arts, which inspire
01:25tattoo artists in return. In an interview with the Miami New Times, he explained,
01:29"...you have so many crossover artists. You have sign painting, classic painting, pop
01:33painters, all these different art forms. Even fashion, clothing, they all kind of fuse.
01:38A lot of people have found inspiration from tattoos and have drawn inspiration from tattooers
01:42for their personal art."
01:44Nunez has lots of tattoos, but some of his favorites are what he calls drunk tattoos.
01:48He painted the picture to Format magazine, saying,
01:51"...you're with a bunch of your friends and you have a tattoo shop and you have the keys.
01:54And you also own a bar. I mean, I've woken up in the morning literally like, ow, why
01:59does that hurt? And you look down and you have this little stupid quarter-sized tattoo
02:02from last night on you."
02:03He finds it meaningful to have friends and special people in his life tattoo him, even
02:07if the work doesn't come out as beautiful as if a trained tattoo artist attempted it.
02:10He explained why to Format, saying,
02:12"...I think you have to kind of hit it off with the person who you're getting it from
02:15or it's only half the experience."
02:17His mother even tattooed him, inking the word mom on his lower leg.
02:21"...Chris, are you sure you want to do this? Absolutely. You're gonna do full-on freehand
02:26custom out the box."
02:30Speaking with Format, Nunez explained these small personal tattoos further, saying,
02:33"...it was something I really wanted. I probably only have like 10 or 15 of those. Little tattoos
02:38all on my legs in between big real tattoos, but they're my favorites."
02:42And unlike some who may be reluctant to be tattooed or regret one or more of their impulsive
02:46and permanent ink decisions, Nunez never regrets his tattoos or finds himself in a situation
02:51in which he feels ashamed of them. He explained his philosophy, saying,
02:54"...I grew up with a father who wore a suit every day but had definitely gangster tendencies,
02:58and there was nothing cooler. To be able to do all kinds of different things and play
03:01all kinds of different roles, that's what keeps me feeling alive."
03:05Nunez admitted to Format magazine,
03:07"...tattooing is a gypsy lifestyle, so I've worked everywhere."
03:10When Nunez was 21, he took a trip to Brazil and enjoyed the country so much, he stayed
03:14there for five years. His brother had been living there, and he'd impulsively purchased
03:18a plane ticket to go see him. While there, he opened up a tattoo shop. But the place
03:21didn't last long because Nunez got deported. He recalled,
03:24"...I actually got deported twice. That's what you do for Brazilian women, I guess.
03:28I had a girlfriend there, and at the moment, it was like true love."
03:32When that relationship ended, he moved on to Europe, where he traveled around working
03:35with various tattoo artists he admired. By the time he returned to the United States,
03:39he'd been gone for about eight years.
03:41Besides being a talented tattoo artist, Nunez is also good at running businesses — and
03:46not just those that ink people. In addition to his tattoo parlors, he's a partner at a
03:49strategic content and media company, Ridgeline Empire, which has two subsidiaries, Inkskins
03:54and Upset Gentlemen. And he's part of an animation studio that, so far, has developed two series,
03:59Hood Bratz and Toothians.
04:01If that's not enough, Nunez also helped create a free digital coloring book app called ColorCollab
04:05with his friend Tobias Sherman, whom he first met at a tattoo shop, and Simon Abitbol, an
04:10esports executive.
04:11"...We're gonna have our vision for what the drawing is, and then whoever decides to color
04:16it in, they're really like the color artist."
04:19Nunez aims to facilitate creativity by allowing new artists to work with each other as well
04:23as more experienced ones in a competitive format. In an interview with Nicki Swift,
04:27he said,
04:28"...we collaboratively built something that we could give back to our artists that would
04:30be amazing. And then we decided to gamify it by creating this competitive component."
04:35All his various business dealings have earned Nunez a net worth of $7 million and growing.
04:40Thanks to his extensive travels, Nunez has a deep appreciation for the Amazon rainforest.
04:44He's done extensive fundraising for Benkei Pianco and the Yaranka-Tasarenci Institute
04:49to raise money for a satellite internet connection for the area. He uses the revenue his app,
04:54ColorCollab, generates to support various charities.
04:57Nunez explained the connection between his work with indigenous populations and his tattoo
05:00artistry in an interview with Forbes, saying,
05:03"...one of my passions is that I bring designs from each tribe in the Amazon that we work
05:06with, as well as Native American tribes, and those proceeds go 100% back to them."
05:11Nunez went on to tell Forbes about the motivation behind his fight to save the Amazon rainforest
05:15and its indigenous peoples. He's deeply passionate about preserving and disseminating the knowledge
05:19of the Amazon tribes, saying,
05:20"...they have a plant-based technology that rivals your supercomputer."
05:24Nunez is committed to bringing the wisdom of the Southern Hemisphere to the North, because
05:28as he says,
05:29"...in all reality, the defense we get on one side of the Earth should be on the other,
05:32and that is what I'm pushing to do."