By Arrissia Owen
Opie Ortiz lives the dream. His tattoos are seen around the world, most notably on Bradley Nowell’s upper back that was featured on the cover of Sublime’s eponymous 1996 album. Ortiz went on to front post-Sublime incarnation Long Beach Dub All Stars and later Dubcat, despite having no prior musical background other than jamming with friends.
And he’s given back to his community as an assistant working on the Community of Music mural at Long Beach’s George Washington Middle School. Ortiz worked under artist Ben Valenzuela as part of the city-funded Mural and Cultural Arts Program to help beautify blighted areas.
Between working days at his American Beauty Tattoo Parlour slinging ink, he still likes to stretch his fine art fingers, most recently contributing to the upcoming Chronic State gallery opening hosted by Long Beach Chronic on April 20 at Lyons Art Gallery. Ortiz and low-brow art sire The Pizz are featured artists on the bill.
Participating artists lent their interpretations of Southern California’s marijuana lifestyle culture, with skateboard decks as their canvases. Each design, signed and numbered, is also available as a print for those looking for something to frame.
Growing up in Long Beach, Ortiz became enthralled with the art world at an early age, with doodling graduating to drawing, then to painting, before his attention gravitated toward some of the guys in his neighborhood who wore their art on their sleeves.
“Older teens and friends of mine had a lot of tattoos, but crappy ones,” Ortiz says. “I still remember which tattoo inspired me to make a tattoo machine at age 15 and tattoo all my friends—or people who would allow such a thing.” The tattoo was by an apprentice of Bert Grimm’s named Jason Paul on Ortiz’s buddy Brent French. It was an ace of spades card with a dagger.
Ortiz studied under Grimm back in the early 1990s, continuing to find inspiration in various art forms outside of the tattoo world. He was drawn to the fluid artistic sensibilities of Asian artists.
“I was fond of a lot of artists’ styles and took what I could or borrowed what I thought was cool to meld into my own style,” Ortiz says.
Japanese tattoo artists amazed Ortiz, particularly Horiyoshi I and III. He also looked to various European artists with their motifs and off-the-wall designs, most notably Luke Atkinson, Henk Shiffmacher and Filip Leu who were pushing the realm of what a tattoo could contribute to the art world.
Back in the states, Ortiz was on the brink of unknowingly contributing to the eye of pop culture. It was not uncommon for Ortiz to tattoo friends on the fly back in the day, but it was his friendships with Nowell and Sublime bandmates Eric Wilson and Bud Gaugh of Sublime that would make him a part of history.
Aside from adding backup vocals occasionally for his buddies’ then up-and-coming band, he also created all the artwork for their albums, T-shirts and various merchandise. He also, fittingly, tattooed Sublime’s members, including Nowell’s infamous “Sublime” tattoo that became the self-titled album’s cover as well as the band’s logo.
Nearly two decades later, Ortiz’s eye for catchy graphics with a musical lean have gone on to grace the covers of releases for Capitol Eye, Salir, 3.6 Milk, Shrub, Pilot Touhill, River Jetty, Slightly Stoopid, One Draw and the Hangars, many of whom also openly support the ganja grind.
“I think legalization can be a good thing, hopefully, if it’s done correctly,” Ortiz says. “With the financial situation of California, maybe it can be helpful, who knows. I think that’s a small drop in comparison to other problems we face as Californians. I have hope for the future.”
opieortiz.com.
