The media age

In 1996, the first time I arrived at a new studio to work, the former Exotic Tattoo of Vicente Sancho Tello in Valencia, and asked whether they had an Internet connection, the baffled looks were astonishing… Internet, what for? Even then I sensed the tremendous potential of the web as a visual library but also as a channel for commercial promotion, and so I was one of the first tattooists in Valencia to have a website, the old www.tatuatgesxavi.com, but I honestly had no idea of the full reach the Internet would come to have in our work.

Production grew and clients stopped being marginal. The rising quality of the work gradually brought greater social acceptance. Then, in 2005, came Kat Von D and Miami Ink, a programme I admit I have never been able to stand watching for a single full episode, but which undoubtedly contributed to the spread and social normalisation of this art.

First Facebook, then Instagram: direct channels to communicate with your favourite artists. Graphic and technical information almost without limits and updated instantly. Tattooing as an art finally exploded.

Personally, I have always tried to keep a certain distance between my work and my private life. Using online channels to spread your work is one thing; clowning around in media shows to gain followers is quite another. There are limits and there is class. My work is the only thing that has to speak for me professionally, and I present it to you on this website.