Crossing the Proverbial Line

By Jason Murray

The taboo of body art is starting to lift in Mexico as people from all walks of life begin connecting their lived experiences with tattoos. Multidisciplinary artist Rodrigo Salcedo created his own full-service work environment in Mexico City where artists can create, showcase, and interact with their work.

ITO Lab (itolab.io) was formed to be the center of all things artistic. Built on the idea of a multidisciplinary approach, the space was curated to be an extension of Salcedo’s personal expression. He wants to see, hear, feel, and live art. The immersion helps him feed off the other disciplines, opening unlimited possibilities for his tattoo work.

“If I’m only doing tattoo art, my perspective is very limited,” he said.

One part tattoo studio, one part art gallery, the space also has a large area full of materials to create with. It’s now a fixture in the city’s art scene with guest artists adding their flavor to the building. It’s also the spot where art and performance come together. This is where Salcedo is moving the line of what each medium is capable of.

When clients arrive at ITO, the goal is to create a truly curated experience. From the architecture to the sculptures and the sounds of tattoo machines, Salcedo wants everything inside to evoke peace, calmness, and creativity.

He’s also looking to build an experience unique enough to create value.

“The value comes from the ritual and the transformation process,” Salcedo said. “With NFTs, tattoos can be assets through the lens of contemporary art.”

Owning an original piece of art in a digital form gives your experience more value. They can be passed on, given away, or sold. They showcase and back up the art asset you invested in. Salcedo thinks this is good for the tattoo industry, bringing it to the level of all art forms.

These innovations create opportunities for tattoo artists driven by clients’ demands for more meaning in the art they choose to put on their skin. It also speaks to the higher prices of tattoos and people wanting an investment along with the art and story.

“Getting the tattoo might eventually be a backup investment for your NFT,” Rodrigo Salcedo said.

Salcedo’s art is resonating with people all over Mexico and beyond. The deep spiritual undertones, exploration into meaning and purpose, and strong emotional connections help everyone make sense of their own lived experiences.

This speaks to the true value of tattoos in our culture. Salcedo wants to leave a mark to help try to explain our time on earth. New tools, styles, and trends will expose more people to the art form and reflect the backgrounds, points of view, and perspectives of all people.

“All art changes as paradigms change,” Salcedo said. “All things shape what’s going on in our minds.”

The COVID experience helped fuel change that had been building for years. People worldwide started prioritizing what’s important, putting more effort and value into time, health, revelation, and connection. This pushed Salcedo to want more than just what was in front of him — he wanted to build a solid foundation for his art, his inspirations, and what it means to be an artist as the world returns to normal.

Currently, ITO Lab is an emerging idea of sorts. Salcedo wants to expand it to a unique platform. He’s at the forefront of a niche art movement and wants to explore all the different realms and media. He’s interested in how tattooing can influence art in areas like fashion, light, sculptures, and performance. He wants people who come to his studio to have an overall cultural experience.

He’s also looking for new and interesting ways to perform all his art, from creating a new language and symbols to help explain his purpose to using this language to express the ongoing exploration.

“It’s beautiful and scary at the same time,” Salcedo said. “Transforming pain into beauty.”

Symbols are important parts of his work. He created a language of symbols he uses throughout most of his outlets to express the reality he sees in everyday life. His step into performance began when he shared a video of him shaving his head, putting a stencil on the top of his skull, and tattooing it. The stencil was a symbol he created as part of a new expression that blends ink with skin as a form of therapy and energy.

He also believes psychedelics helped him in his search to find a place as an artist. He began using them more to look inward but eventually found a place where he used them to channel visuals into an artistic reality. He describes this as waking up to different states of consciousness — all part of the ongoing quest for new ideas, new thinking, and new avenues to pursue his creativity.

This approach to his craft is opening opportunities in all areas for Salcedo and ITO Lab. The advantage of perspective helped him expand to areas he wouldn’t have imagined five years ago — new avenues to take his first love of tattooing to different people, different attitudes, and, eventually, a new direction.

Nobody says it’s easy to call yourself an artist; harder still to call yourself a multidisciplinary artist and follow through with it. This new generation’s fluid outlook on what it means to be an outsider looks very promising, based on the ideas from ITO Lab.

The ITO Lab website proudly displays its mantra, “Bridging Art Between Worlds,” showcasing tattoos, art, and an entrance to the metaverse. This new approach is only challenged by creating, preserving, selling, and marketing said art.

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