The tattoo artist originally from Buenos Aires (with a bit of Italian blood in his veins) works at ‘Guru Tattoo’ in San Diego and has a lot of questions to ask Ed Hardy.
Hi Hernan, did you choose the path of tattoo art for a particular reason?”
I started tattooing in 1993, in Buenos Aires and like many people in the 90s, I got into it through skateboarding and good music! What attracted me most to tattooing in the beginning was how forbidden and frowned upon it was.
Almost all of our career together with my love Salome Sajnin (IG: @salomesajnin), also a tattoo artist and painter, we had the need to travel around Europe to be able to learn this beautiful tattoo craft, and about two years ago we moved from Argentina to California to continue growing artistically.
Does Italian blood flow in your veins?
My father was born in Italy, but like many Italians he and his entire family emigrated to Argentina during the war, but unfortunately he never inherited anything related to tattooing.
Do you think your Japanese style is definitively linked to traditions or does it have a bit of innovation “made in Hernan Coretta”?
Definitely in my experience I was very attracted to the traditional Japanese style, but then I felt that I had to put my personal line to be able to achieve something more impressive and that can be recognized just by looking at it.
Tell me something about ‘Guru Tattoo’ in San Diego and its two locations. For example, I read that walk-ins are welcome within these four walls…
‘Guru Tattoo’ (IG: @gurutattoo) is a very important tattoo name on the beautiful coast of San Diego. My prestigious friend and owner Aaron Della Vedova (IG: @aarondellavedova) founded several years ago these two incredible shops where we are about 20 local tattoo artists and several spaces for guest tattoo artists.
That is why the shop receives many walk-ins, but my wife Salome and some friends only work by appointment.
If you could meet a big name in tattooing (present or past), who would you choose and what question would you ask him or her?
Huuu, what a difficult question! Luckily I was able to travel and meet many of my teachers, like Mick Tattoo from Zurich (IG: @micktattoozurich), Mauricio Teodoro Dasilva LINK https://www.tattoolife.com/the-black-vision-of-mauricio-teodoro/ from San Paulo, Filip Leu (IG: @theleufamilysfamilyiron), and Luke Atkinson from Stuttgart (IG: @checkerdemontattoos). I went to San Francisco, California, several times, but I never had the honor of meeting Ed Hardy, and I would have a very long list of questions!
What is your biggest challenge for 2025?
Keep traveling, continue learning about art in all its forms and how to be a better person in this crazy world.
And your last famous words are… ?
Continue enjoying all the beautiful things that life gives us.
