Cultural Connections: Exploring the Significance of Polynesian Tattooing ft. Leland Gomez

A Conversation with Leland Gomez on Tradition and Innovation

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
I went through the old-school apprenticeship, you know, I hope we get to talk more about that too,
Okay, so... I went through an old-school apprenticeship too.
Yeah, I mean, I scrubbed tubes. Solder needles?
I traced. Well, I didn't really get to the solder needles, but, you know, I
You're 11 years ago. You're right at the moment where you didn't have to do
Exactly, yes. So, you know, I know what autoclave is.

(00:23):
You know, I know what an ultrasonic cleaner is. I know... I
Tune a coil machine. I know how to build a coil machine. I
know the ins and outs of the coil machine, and I miss it. I
really do, but I got to evolve with the industry.

(00:44):
Chats and
Hello friends and welcome back to Chats and Tats with me your host Aaron

(01:04):
De La Vidova. You know I love so many things
about tattooing. It's an art form with
a deep history in various cultures you know. I
mean obviously it's went through a renaissance and it's kind of a I
don't know what to call it anymore. It's a world's art form and all
these different cultures are fusing together in very interesting ways to

(01:25):
create this new thing, whatever you want to call that. But,
you know, back in not too far distant past, where
you got tattooed physically was probably the style of tattoo you
received. You know, if you lived in the Samoan Islands, you
got that kind of tattoo. If you were in Africa, That's the kind of tattoo you
wore on your body. If you were in Japan, obviously, you

(01:47):
wore that. Japanese tattoos, they have their entire own genre
and look to them. And they're all beautiful and perfect and
just gloriously exemplify
how transformational and how important tattooing
is to culture. And this episode really highlights

(02:08):
that. And I'm really honored to have my guest here today because He's a
specialist in a very specific genre of tattooing, Polynesian tattooing.
He is a tattooer of 11 years. He lives in
Ewa. Did I do it right,
buddy? Ewa Beach. Ewa Beach. Sure did, man. Which is in Oahu, Hawaii.
Hawaii? I know I'm fucking that up. But

(02:30):
bear with me. And he's going to teach us and tell us a little bit about
his journey into tattooing and a little bit about Polynesian tattooing and what it
means to the people of his area. So with all that being
I forgot to add one other layer. It's not that you just do Polynesian tattooing.
I would, you said with your own words, contemporary Polynesian. So

(02:54):
you're taking what the masters before you already
developed. You're adding your own flair, different movement
to it, twists and turns that they didn't traditionally do, which
I, you know, the idea there is like some people might, might maybe
be like, you're disrespecting uh a tradition right
but we both talked and I was like isn't this Wouldn't the

(03:17):
creators and artists from 100 years ago, because I don't think artists'
minds change that much. And I know artists are usually about progress
and evolution. So my expectation is if those dudes
were still alive, they'd probably be honored that you're taking the art form and progressing
Yeah, of course. Of course. I mean, it wasn't
an easy task. You get a lot of flack? I did. I

(03:39):
honestly did. Still do? I wouldn't say now. I
mean, I figure I've earned. the
work I do now. I did get
a lot of backlash from the OGs, but
in some sort of way, I did still respect tradition. Because
without tradition, without the history of where everything came from, I

(04:03):
wouldn't be who I am today. And that's just plain and simple. As
long as I've respected the culture, I haven't done
anything disrespectful, but just evolving it into
what we do now. And exactly what you're
saying, the new generation, the new day and
age, I think that's where this new contemporary

(04:24):
Polynesian is going. And I figured I'd be a part of that journey.
Well, your work's outstanding. I know you've won multiple awards. Yeah,
it's not just that you do that. There's people that do that, not a lot. It's
a small niche in tattooing comparatively, but
definitely looking at, personally looking at your portfolio, one of the
reasons I could have a different Polynesia, but your stuff is impeccable.

(04:50):
It's beautiful. It's obvious you put a lot of work. You
aren't lazy. I can see it. I can see it. Big work, too. I
mean, hell, you're down here at the convention today doing a three-day session on a guy,
I'm over it, man. I'm over it. I really am. This convention
scene is, I haven't been around the convention for, what, since five

(05:10):
years? And it's different. You know, I'm
not saying I'm popular, but I do have a lot of connections and networking. So
Yeah. I mean, it's nothing's wrong with that, but you know, it's just like, you're trying to do,
we want to, we want to vibe with my client, but then I got homies. Yo,
what's up dog? I haven't seen you for five years, you

(05:33):
know? And I'm like, yeah, I haven't seen you for five years. So, you know, it's,
it's, it's like, I'm coming back into it and I really, uh, I really enjoy the
convention scene, but you know, I'd rather, you know, I
It makes total sense. I mean, imagine a master painter sitting
there with people talking to him the whole time he was creating that. That's not
how it works. Well, how it works is you put on music and

(05:56):
you quiet your mind and you 100% focus on the craft at hand, the
job at hand. And you can still get it done, you're gonna get it
done, but it's exhausting when you have to try to use your social mind
And I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm a sociable guy. I mean, I can
get along with anybody. But when it's time to work, it's time to

(06:17):
work. And I think that's what the
convention circuit is turning to, networking, just building those relationships. Nothing's
wrong with that, but we still got a job to do. We're
still getting paid at the end of the session. You know, sometimes
it's not fair to the clients, but I love it, man. I love the scenery. I

(06:38):
I don't really like them at my shops, because it's like, I feel
like you need to be with people, your client. But at a convention, when
It's awesome you brought that up, though, about not doing
that in the shops. That's what I wanted to build as environment for my
shop. I wanted a... I didn't want to put, because
I came from a shop where we had our own boots, and then we're

(07:01):
all just there, but I like vibing. Just
like here, I want a tattoo next to you. Hey, how's your day going? Hey, you know the
other day, hey, Broncos suck, or any of that.
We're just talking shit the whole day. That's cool. I like
that type of stuff, but the environment of the convention is a little bit
different. Guys walking in and out, hey, my headphones is on. Oh shit, I

(07:24):
Well, maybe we're getting ahead of ourselves here. I'm a little curious with every
artist I meet, really, you know, to be an artist is to, I don't
know, like take a pretty big risk. There's never this clear path
when you're a young man. Oh, do this and you'll have
this in life and you'll have kids and you'll be able to buy a house where, you
know, there's more guaranteed paths. Your friends are going off to college or

(07:46):
there'll be learning a trade that's a guaranteed pathway. to
support themselves. But I think folks like us, especially tattooers, we're
taking this like leap of faith, you know, and I like that story.
So let's hear a bit about that. You know, your childhood or,
you know, what point do you start identifying as an artist and what
point and for what reason do you decide to take that leap of

(08:11):
Hmm, good question. I guess you
could say I was born
and raised around the environment of athleticism. So
it did play a big part in my everyday life now, you know, building structure
in my life. So my dad, he was
on to me for like all my sports, like soccer, football, he

(08:34):
was like my everything. Like if I didn't do good, he wouldn't tell me on the field, we'll
get back in the car and he'd be like, Yo, you got to do this, you know, what
the hell was that today? Right. So I always had that eye
over my shoulder, which which is like tattooing, you know, so.
Back like 10 years ago, I went to college. I

(08:54):
did the whole college thing, but it wasn't for me. But I was a
drawer in high school. That's where art began for me. I
would draw all over all my work, all over all my... Ask
any teacher, they hated it. They were like, what the hell is this? What the
hell is... But I got teachers today that support
me in what I do now. it

(09:15):
came down to my parents. They bought me a tattoo kit when I was in
college. And they
were the ones that kind of started all this for me. So, you
know, thanks mom and dad for all that. But anyways, it
started from there. I started tattooing all the homies in the hood, you know, all
the guys back at home. Then it just evolved into

(09:36):
something bigger. You know, I was like, you know, I could really do this for, you
know, for a living. So I quit my job. I was
a ramp, I worked on the ramp at Hawaiian Airlines back
in Hawaii. And I quit my job. I
ended up getting myself into a shop like down the road from
my house. One of my good friends, his dad

(09:57):
owned the shop and he's like, yo, he just gave me an opportunity and
I took it. And then from then on, I
But back then, like, I went through the old school apprenticeship, you
know, I hope we get to talk more about that too, though. Let's talk about it. Yeah, let's talk about

(10:20):
Yeah, I scrubbed tubes. Soldered needles? I
traced. Well, I didn't really get to the soldered needles, but I scrubbed
Exactly, yes. I know what an autoclave is.
I know what an ultrasonic cleaner is.

(10:42):
Tune a coil machine. I know how to build a coil machine. I
know the ins and outs of the coil machine. And I miss it. I
really do. But I got to evolve with the industry.
And that's where it's leading to now. But
as far as that, yeah. I'm really fortunate. to

(11:10):
I mean, I shouldn't say it's gone now. It exists out there. It does.
But 90% of tattooers that are coming in right now may never
Unless they go work at some old school shop with an old school.
Yeah, it's really rare. So I know exactly what you mean. And as
far as all that, Yeah, I'm really humbled that

(11:32):
I got to experience that because it really made
me who I am today. And I really tried
to put that on the younger guys that I tried to help. But I mean, the
generations evolved, the industry transformed, and I was
like, man, I can't give them that old school way
because I don't use coils no more. I didn't use it anymore. Everything

(11:54):
was cartridge to rotaries. So with
Funny enough, the rotary is the older machine. It's
funny when I get an old school dude who's like, I'm like,
dude, this is older than your coil machine. Or maybe there's
a debate there, but they were old. They used rotary motors to

(12:15):
make tattoo machines and then the coil took over. And then when
the rotaries came back in a more advanced form, it
Yes. Yeah. I went through all that too. And the
I had a three-spot when I first apprenticed. And I used to carry that trace box around

(12:37):
all over the place. If I forget it before coming, I got to
go home and grab it. That's how my mentor, he was
like that. Trace every traditional flash. And that's what
helped me, traditional flash. Because them long, strong lines,
that's where I got my discipline with my Polynesian lines
Well, here we are then, Polynesian tattooing. I

(12:59):
wanna know more about, I'm actually asked, I don't fully grasp it,
I know it's an old tradition, but I see the triangles and
the lines and the cuts, and I have heard that
they, you know, like the little triangles, those are shark teeth, and this is
this, and they're not just random shapes, but I don't need you
to get down to litany of what each symbol represents, but I
wanna hear from you, what is, Polynesian tattooing, what

(13:24):
So, Polynesian tattooing, it's pretty
much who we are as people. It's what represents
us as as our culture. So
back then, like history-wise, we
didn't have much. We only had the land and

(13:45):
we had the sea. So where we
got our motifs from and our patterns is
our surroundings. Coming down from the water, the ocean,
sea turtles a lot, shark teeth. We're voyagers.
Polynesians, we're voyagers. Also,
coming down to land work, we built our own

(14:08):
canoes, we built our own canoes with our own bare hands. So,
that's where our patterns came from. So,
some sort of way, like shark teeth, yeah, we had
shark teeth, so that's where the symbols of shark teeth came from. as
far as the lohala mat, you know, we just put it on to

(14:33):
Yes, yes. So a lot of the patterns did come from our surroundings.
So that's what represented our people back then, yeah. And that's what we
do today, you know. We don't really do too much traditional stuff
regarding like, you know, building canoes with our bare hands. We
do fish and all that, but you know, That's where
we evolved, I'm trying to evolve the new contemporary

(14:59):
Does a Polynesian tattoo, correct me if I'm wrong, does it identify
a family's name, some of them? Yeah, yes it does. This
I would love to tell you more about that, but I wasn't raised around the
traditional style. We
do have them, those, Those OGs that

(15:22):
can give you a little brief more history about it, like Keoni Nunes,
the Suluapes, they really
revived our culture. They do the taping,
the tatao. So they're the ones that kind of
revolved, or revived, I'm sorry, revived

(15:43):
the Polynesian today, which is what, you know, began
the contemporary style. Yeah, because it did die out
for a bit. You know, we did lose our culture. We did lose our patterns. We
did lose our ways. Should I want to say maybe like
the 1900s and then like a little bit towards the ending of
the 19th, that's when it started to revive.

(16:06):
So we do have like a, I don't
know, a couple of years ago, I don't know if you ever heard of the Marks of Polynesia. A
lot of guys from the California era there, they
did revive, they threw like a big ceremony and if
you ever get the chance, man, you should pick up the books. It's called Marks
of Polynesia. It does, it's a really good book. It

(16:27):
talks about our people, you know, where we came from, who we
are, and it does have some patterns in there, you know, because we
don't want to show them all our patterns. It's kind of sacred, you
Well, it's interesting too, because there's a difference
between Japanese tattooing and not
just in style, but In Japan, to be tattooed was

(16:49):
to be not part, that was an underground, maybe you were a criminal, you
were identified as someone outside of society. But
in the Polynesian culture, to be tattooed was the chief of the tribe
could have it. You weren't shunned for being tattooed. And
most people, I think, got tattoos. It's
such a different thing, right? You got tattooed to be a

(17:12):
A part of it, yeah. You're like initiated into a chief.
Yeah. You got that going for you because there's so many cultures to be tattooed meant
Oh, look at that scumbag over there getting tattoos, but you
know, Polynesian got embraced by his people.
Yes, yes. It showed us, it's like bringing out, we
get to wear our, what do you say?

(17:34):
We get to wear our inside out when we wear our Polynesian
That's cool, man. Very cool. So on this idea around the evolution,
your evolution of Polynesian tattooing, I think that's amazing. I
think all art should evolve or will evolve
whether people like it or not. And it's plenty of room there for somebody

(17:56):
who wants to keep alive the core tradition. Eat
both are fine, right? But on that note of evolution, We're
going, I mean, evolution, right? The tattoo world is
evolving. Like, we're going beyond Polynesian tattooing
right now. So I'm just curious. I always like to talk to tattooers about that.
Like, how do you see the present state of tattooing? And

(18:20):
maybe you could try to visualize what it might look like in 10 years from now.
Are you talking about like... Just the whole industry and how many
people are tattooing, how many people are getting tattooed, what that means

(18:41):
I think the industry has just blown the fuck up, man. Like,
it's crazy. It's hard to find somebody who doesn't have
a tattoo nowadays, right? But,
you know, like with the Polynesian side of it, I
really don't know where it's going to end up in 10 years. I don't really
know where style-wise it

(19:04):
could go, because it can go in many directions. A lot
of the new artists now, they like to use a lot of geometrical stuff with
the Polynesian stuff, and it does vibe. It works.
that I think the new, that new, a
lot of like they do the ornamental stuff, I'm sorry. It

(19:25):
has the same vibe as Polynesian, you know, and then when you mix it,
it's like, it's exactly, It's
exactly how we are today, which is why I
named my shop Cultural Connections, because you
see a lot of mixed people now. So
mixing ornamental with Polynesian, I think that's going to be the

(19:48):
next big thing. And then just taking styles from each
other, from the Polynesian too. to ornamental. We
take a little piece of your ornamental stuff, then I can just flip
it into something where our traditional patterns can
add a little new stuff to that stuff, which
is great, I think, because the industry is

(20:09):
going that way. It's got to evolve. It's just like, if you're
comfortable in one thing, How are you going to get better? How
You said a lot there that I want to comment on.
When I became a tattooer 30 years ago, Leo

(20:31):
Zualeta was doing tribal, whatever, just a general
term. And these symbols didn't represent anything culturally, they
were just, they were black, they were spiky, they
were flowy, and they were cool. And then, of course, that
Dust Till Dawn movie, a guy gets it, an actor, who was the
actor, I can't remember, Dust Till Dawn, Quentin Tarantino's movie, a guy

(20:55):
All black from here. And then we got of course requests for that over
and over. Because you know, to be honest, as an illustration based tattooer,
we always kind of looked down on it. Because we were like, oh, we
can draw illustrations of real things. Tribal
tattooing is stupid, it's lame. And when people wanted it, it was
like, yeah, we'll do it to make some money today, but whatever. And then

(21:17):
as time went on for me, starting to do a little homework and
studying the source of all this tribal cultural tattooing,
Polynesian style, Samoan style, styles out
of Africa and different places, it became apparent to me
like, oh, you know, That's legit like
that should be honored and it's cool. But this is again along,

(21:38):
you know, 25 years ago It's still not popular in the West. It's
nobody's asking for Polynesian tattoos They're
asking for maybe some tribal that they don't even know what it means what it means what
they saw on a movie and then really the renaissance of
illustration tattoos takes over Carlos Torres
you know, just the Chicano tattooing and then just

(22:01):
the new school dudes. And it's all pictures, really, except
for the guys that are doing lettering, but it's pictures of things. Skulls, girls, flames,
fire, demons, angels. And that's still happening and
thriving today. But lately, especially the last five
years, There's this renaissance of ornamental
tattooing, which Polynesian is an ornamental tattoo. There's

(22:23):
no pictures of things and roses and things. It's ornamental.
And here I am, 30 years later, having to flip my stance on
it, because it looks fucking dope. It looks dope. And it's beautiful. It
is. And minimalist. I got a girl that works for me. Her name's Chris. And she'll
do a back piece where it's just huge, swirling, black shapes.

(22:46):
Yep. Mostly skin. Yeah. So a lot of the women that she
does it on, it's mostly skin. It's so elegant and so pretty
But I'm really enjoying that. And you see it becoming more popular. And
I think about that. And I think, well, One, I
think people don't want their dad's tattoo. You know, the new kids,

(23:07):
dad might have the bitch in his body suit by Carlos Torres, but
the kid, he wants to do something different than his pops. So he's
going to do, instead of complex, he's going to go simple ornamental,
right? Plus, I think there's a cultural need as the
world evolves and technology just rams
forward into our existence, that there is this calling

(23:29):
to humanity for certain people to go back to the roots. We're starting
to be like, dude, I want to learn more about history, analog
living, when we didn't have iPhones. And so you
see this reemergence, which to me is sort
of hopeful, because when I see AI and all this stuff
coming into our world, I feel like is it all gonna be

(23:50):
lost? Is anyone gonna give a shit about the old ways
of doing things? But based on what this reemergence of
this type of tattooing, I can see it growing, and I think you're right. I
think ornamental and tribal and
even people, I can see people being like, it's cool now to get hand-poked tattoos.
in a hut somewhere versus the... I see a reemergence of

(24:16):
Yeah, I am. I'm still learning that every day. And there is a guy back
home, his name is Tatu Rich. He's a big, big...
I'm a big fan of his work. We have a great friendship, but he's taking
that ornamental Polynesian And he's creating something
great. And if you ever get the chance, go
ahead and check out his work. But yeah, he's killing it with that. And that's why I brought

(24:38):
that up, because I feel the industry part of
Polynesian is going in towards that direction. Because it's all
together. Like you said, Polynesian is ornamental. And
Another one movement. Yeah, I
don't see that going. Again, I just hope it keeps growing. I'm sure it

(25:00):
You know, I don't want every tattooer in 10 years to be taking
things off of their AI, you
know, iPad generator and tattooing it,
which is fine. I mean, if you create something with AI and it's beautiful and
it's cool and you can make it look on skin like it looks there and that's your
gig, that's cool. But with that moving so fast and

(25:20):
hard, it's good to see the old ways are still popular and getting
Yeah, for sure. Yeah, that's fucking cool. I respect the old
Right on, my man, right on. Well, you know, I want
to say thank you for coming up here with me today. Maybe
a quick what's next for you? You got anything on the horizon that

(25:43):
I would say, you know, I have a new passion for
coaching, man. Outside of tattooing, because
Exactly, but I think tattooing did play
a big role in the coaching. being disciplined

(26:04):
with myself, and just being
a leader to these youth. And that's where I had to be, being a
leader, doing the contemporary Polynesian. When
I first started doing the Polynesian, I didn't know where I was leading to.
I took the leap of faith and be like, does it look good
with this? Am I doing something wrong? Of

(26:26):
course, some of these have something to say, but When I started doing it and
I continuously did it, it grew into something greater because my
clientele went from 10 to 100, went from 100 to 1,000, and
that's where I'm at today. But it's
just creating your own path, and that's where I'm leading
with coaching. If I could create my own path, my own follow, and

(26:49):
then change lives, that's my new passion. I'm really
You know, coaching, teaching, I
find it's the last step in learning, right?
Because if you can learn a skill, That's the
first step. And master a skill, that's the second step. But
the third step is, can you articulate how you did that

(27:11):
to somebody else so they can do it? And that act of articulating
it, figuring out what words to use that someone can understand so
that you can help them get there. In figuring out those
words, this is what happens to me, I end up unwinding and
figuring out myself. Why do I tattoo this
way? I just do it, I don't think about it. Then I got a young apprentice

(27:33):
who says, why are you doing that? And I stop, and I'm like, I
don't fucking know why I'm doing that. I just have always done
it and it works. But then I'm like, how do I, I
better figure out how I do it because I've got to teach this person. So
then I'm unwinding my own work. I'm like, Oh, I'm leaning this way.
I'm tilting. I'm using a 15 rounded bag instead of a flat mag. Why

(27:53):
did I choose that? You know, so teaching is sort of
that, that last part of a master's journey. And
it's also the part where you give back to something that's given you
It's funny how you say give back because that's exactly what I want to do because
you know I don't plan a tattoo for the next 50 years of my life.
I wish I could but in some sort of way

(28:16):
if I could give some of my vibe back
to the younger guys, they can still carry on
what I started. That'll be super great
to see. Maybe my grandkids can see it and be like, hey man, my
pops, my papa did that. He started that. He
started that pattern. And now I'm tattooing. Yeah, and

(28:37):
now he's tattooing it. I think it'll be great for the youth and
then just the younger generations just learn more. So like I said, coaching,
you know, just teaching as well. I gotta really know how to
break it down. That's what I'm trying to do. Break it down for the younger guys and
Well, good luck with that. That sounds awesome. If that's what's evolving
for you next, I honor that, I respect that. And

(29:00):
it also, I think that is the, you know, that's your next step. That's
all of our next steps. If you really get a handle on a craft and
you become a master of that craft, I mean, the next step is to
Well, I bless you on that, man. I hope it goes well. I

(29:22):
I'm in Waipahu, Hawaii. Ewa
Beach, kind of. It's like the same city, but I'm in Oahu. My
shop's Culture Connections. I hardly travel now.
Come to Hawaii, man. I really don't want to travel. I mean, the only guy

(29:44):
I'll travel for is Tua, Tatu Tua, the Miami
quarterback. He's the only cool cat. He flies me out there. So that's
the only guy I'll go out there for, man. That's cool. Yeah,
it's super cool. But these conventions, you know, it's a
hit or miss. If I want to go, I'll go. But I haven't been
Awesome. No, it's very cool. I caught you That's why I came up here because I'm gonna get a few people

(30:07):
that I'm not gonna be able to get When I go back to San Diego, so
I'm glad I caught you too. I wish you the best We're gonna come down
and visit you today. You're working for three days on this massive project. We'll
stop by I'll try to I am gonna bug you while you're tattooing. I'm just
We'll come say hi to you down there later today, but I want to say

(30:29):
thank you again for coming up, giving me some of your precious time. And I
wish you the best on this tattoo wild journey you're on,
Chats and