INTERVIEW BY BERNARDO LOYOLA
Vice: Where did you get the name Dr. Lakra? What kind of doctor are you?
Dr. Lakra: lakra lakras Lakra lacra lacra Do you think of yourself more as a tattoo artist or a painter?
I heard that about 15 years ago Ed Hardy gave you a tattoo on the chest.
Just to be clear, it’s a Christ face with demons dancing around and peeing all over his face, correct?
A friend of mine saw you a few days ago at the London Tattoo Convention.
Did you get any new tattoos?
I see two main styles in your graphic work. You make these pieces where you “enhance” or modify old prints from the 50s and 60s, tattooing pinup girls and wrestlers with spiders, skulls, and demons, and then you make these big drawings and paintings like the ones we are printing in the magazine.
In some of your pieces, each drawing seems like it was made by a different artist. Do you base these images on preexisting illustrations and photos?
In all your work, I see a constant juxtaposition of sex and violence, the aesthetic and the grotesque, and, in a way, the new and the old.
What is it that attracts you to Mexican design and iconography from the 50s?
Are there advantages or disadvantages of working in a city like Oaxaca, where you live, versus working in Mexico City?
What are you working on these days?
Sin título/Untitled (Vuelven los demonios), 2006, ink on tracing paper, 35.43 x 24.02 inches, courtesy of the artist and kurimanzutto, Mexico City.
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Dr. Lakra: lakra lakras Lakra lacra lacra Do you think of yourself more as a tattoo artist or a painter?
I heard that about 15 years ago Ed Hardy gave you a tattoo on the chest.
Just to be clear, it’s a Christ face with demons dancing around and peeing all over his face, correct?
A friend of mine saw you a few days ago at the London Tattoo Convention.
Did you get any new tattoos?
I see two main styles in your graphic work. You make these pieces where you “enhance” or modify old prints from the 50s and 60s, tattooing pinup girls and wrestlers with spiders, skulls, and demons, and then you make these big drawings and paintings like the ones we are printing in the magazine.
In some of your pieces, each drawing seems like it was made by a different artist. Do you base these images on preexisting illustrations and photos?
In all your work, I see a constant juxtaposition of sex and violence, the aesthetic and the grotesque, and, in a way, the new and the old.
What is it that attracts you to Mexican design and iconography from the 50s?
Are there advantages or disadvantages of working in a city like Oaxaca, where you live, versus working in Mexico City?
What are you working on these days?
Untitled (Alma), 2007, gouache, acrylic, and watercolor on Japanese paper, 76.38 x 73.82 inches, courtesy of the artist and kurimanzutto, Mexico City.
Sin título / Untitled (solid sex lovie doll), 2007 Gouache, acrylic, watercolor on Japanese paper 189 x 242.5 cm (74.41 x 95.47 inches) courtesy of the artist and kurimanzutto, México D.F.
Sin título / Untitled (Acapulco), 2005 Ink on tracing paper 45 x 60 cm (17.72 x 23.62 inches) courtesy of the artist and kurimanzutto, México D.F.
