I ask that the moderators of this forum leave this posting intact. We as a community of legitimate tattoo artists need to work together and help one another. I am posting this to start up a conversation about sex offenders being allowed licensing in the State of Washington and to hopefully rally some support from tattoo artists all around the world. Anyone have thoughts on this? This is what happened to my shop when I found out my “partner” was a registered sex offender and convicted rapist. Believe me when I tell you all that there is going to be a major lawsuit filed soon. But, my fellow artists need to know this information. This shop needs to be shut down. This information needs to go VIRAL. . . . your attention to this matter is important.
Gerald Pickelo Nuñez is a level 2 sex offender. He illegally obtained his Gallery Tattoos studio in Port Orchard through a carefully planned and executed “coup de taut” over parlor owner (me) Brian Hess, dba Atomic Cheetah Tattoo, last September 2012 when it was learned he has been accused of unwanted sexual advances and exposing his genitalia to some of his female clients. The only reason why he was able to accomplish this feat was by being on the lease for the building. Gabriel Freeland, the building owner, was made aware of the facts when they became known and refused to assist the (me) sole proprietor of the original tattoo shop claiming she didn’t want drama. For a person who chose zero-tolerance for drama, she sure has chosen the wrong path away from it.
Police reports were filed and though he is currently on parole, due to police inaction and the inept abilities of the investigating detective, “Pick” still is at large. Many business owners downtown refuse to do business with him (ie. being banned from Moondogs Too).
Pick stole all the business furnishings from the previous owner by illegally locking him out of the building and changing the locks and falsely/fraudulently claiming he was the “new owner” of the shop. He has stolen thousands of dollars in merchandise that he never earned or worked for.
He also turned the parlor into a “tattoo school” hiring people without any experience and turning them loose and unsupervised on paying clients. Though it’s perfectly legal, “Pick” hires anyone with a tattoo license and ability to pay a booth rental to act as an “apprentice.” This puts tattoo machines into the hands of individuals that have little to no experience which is not only a major conflict of interest to the industry at large but potentially very dangerous. So the bottom line is that anyone can buy a tattoo license so; therefore, he will hire anyone that is willing or has already paid for it.
“Pick” will claim that he was the controlling partner in the previous tattoo parlor. Any “partnership” was nullified when he failed to disclose the nature of his criminal past leaving out the detail that he is required to register as a level 2 sex offender. He also made no money investment for an active partnership and pocketed most of the money he did make–embezzling from the shop.
I’m writing this post as a concerned citizen who is appalled by this con artist and benefactor-enablers who instigate and perpetuate his fraud. I only hope that you, the reader, will take the time to cut and paste the contents of this post onto your social network of choice. Please also write your governor and local district congressman and persuade them to make it law in our state to withhold professional business licensing (especially tattoo and body-art specialists) from level 2 sex offenders and higher so we can ensure our community is protected from the possibility of re-offenders.
Don’t be fooled by his clean appearance or “professional demeanour” as he is very cunning and a brilliant liar. He’s been known to post false accusations about Brian Hess on numerous occasions, stating that Hess uses dirty needles, unsanitary equipment and has gone as far as to even accuse him of sodomizing his dog and spreading HIV, staph, and other infectious diseases by not using proper sterilization techniques. With these posts, he includes pictures of Hess, his dog, and other things that are not even related to Hess—such as tattoos done by other people that have appeared on Tattoo Fail Blog and Ugly Tattoos—as though Hess was the tattooist of those examples.
The only thing that Hess would be guilty of, if anything, is giving someone a fare shake, the benefit of the doubt and trusting Gerald Pickelo Nunez. It is also known that Nunez had planned to take over the business long before Hess even learned about the sexual misconduct in the parlor, because he brought all the “apprentices” in the shop to “Pizza Factory” in South Kitsap and told them that there was going to be a “regime change.” Anyone currently working in the shop or has worked for the shop since September 15th, 2012, is going to be the focus of a major lawsuit.
Gerald Nunez has also stolen all of the financial records, personal files, customer files and client data belonging to Atomic Cheetah Tattoo. He has also stolen all of the contents of the business, such as furnishings and art. He also has in his possession a great deal of Hess’s personal effects such as books, movies, electronics, computer equipment and peripherals, and because of his hostile take over—he has caused Hess a great deal of financial hardship.
Please contact city council and law makers that work in our charming waterfront village and engage them for their support in getting “Gallery Tattoo” and anyone willingly and knowingly working with Gerald Pickelo Nuñez shutdown and out of Kitsap County. Having a convicted rapist in a business where he can be alone with young women unchaperoned is a recipe for disaster and will not be tolerated by local businesses of Bay Street, Port Orchard. We are the seat of law in our county and are a shining example for law abiding businessmen and woman who want citizens and guests of our town to have a safe and pleasant shopping experience.
You can find Gerald Pickelo Nuñez’s sex offender profiles by using google search.
We also recommend flagging any postings for “Gallery Tattoo” on craigslist.org. Let’s put the criminal and felon out of business as quickly as possible. Let’s make room for business with ethical and moral values. Let’s clean-up the “bad rap” the tattoo industry gets from bad business practices like Nuñez’s. Thank you for your time and spread the word.
@Sam-I-Am 121296 wrote:
Any connection to “Gallery Tattoo” in Pennsylvania?
No, he was from the Boulder, CO area originally. Now in Port Orchard, WA.
@buttwheat 121291 wrote:
Anyone that looks at the guys portfolio and still gets a tattoo by him deserves a good ass fucking along with a crap tattoo.
Who still uses myspace anymore?
I don’t care if you like my work or not. The client loved this tattoo. I have lots of return clients. Besides, that is a tattoo from a loooooong time ago. My own work has improved alot over the years, like anyone that practices a skill. I don’t post all of my work anymore because of people stealing. So I use social networks that allow privacy so there isn’t any right clicking and saving.
Concerned citizen? Bullshit.
This attempt to use/milk the rape-charge to cover your own fucking agenda is embarassing.
Besides, that is a tattoo from a loooooong time ago. My own work has improved alot over the years, like anyone that practices a skill. I don’t post all of my work anymore because of people stealing
Those pictures were uploaded in april 2012. I honestly belive that these pieces is the best that you got.
PS: Love that budda-piece. Now I can’t sleep because I laughed so hard that I relocated a rib.
@BertNaked 121319 wrote:
PS: Love that budda-piece.
It resembles one of the “Pep Boys”, I think it was Jack.
You seem to know an awful lot about me or my work, Buttwheat. . . . .and it would appear that you are just as much a part of the problem and why I’ll continue to do work. I’m not concerned about what you think of my work. the fact is that you sit there behind your handle on this forum and say nothing of you you really are. Your little album of Cory Norris’s work i nice. Too bad you have to talk shit about my work. Put your money where your mouth is. Besides, art is subjective. You don’t have to like my work, but you could be professional, but that might be too much for you to bare.
You must be in league with Pick Nunez. He must be your buddy. Well, everyone needs friends don’t they? Too bad you have to run me down when you don’t even know me… . or do you? The only people that I know in the tattoo business here locally are people that have stolen from me, save a small number of guys that I still talk to professionally. So who are you? You don’t live in Seattle do you? You live in the shadow of mediocrity. . . .you must since you find the need to pull pictures of my work and post them here.
I am sick of criminals and thugs running the show. . . . grow up
@Amok 121328 wrote:
Most of us here are tattoo collectors Brian, we are not artists nor are we in the tattoo industry. There’s a couple apprentices that post here occasionally, but that’s about it.
That’s fine, but the post was intended to invoke a conversation that would be productive and perhaps bring some artists (and clients) together that have legitimate concerns about the industry as a business and as a positive environment. People who have tattoos and want more are just as much a part of the equation and the whole point of tattooing in the first place.
My clients like my work. I don’t need another artist to approve what I do. Art is subjective anyway. Technique, on the other hand. . . . unless I hear something about technique that is actually meaningful and productive. . .. .it think you know where I’m going with this. But I don’t need tips from somebody on technique–it’s not rocket science. Besides, that’s a conversation for a different thread. It’s like people fighting over which is better: Rotary machines or Edison style.
The point of this posting was to tell people the truth, both clients and tattooists, about what Gerald Nunez is doing. It was not about my work or even me personally. I’m not looking for people to “help” me necessarily, or even the contrary by posting my work on here giving it a critique.. . that’s just not professional and it’s not even the point of this forum.
I worry about my own business, that I worked very hard for and have invested tens of thousands of dollars in, that is in the hands of a malicious felon that is a skilled liar and bullshit artist. I’m here to do what is my responsibility–to make it known that a Level II Sex Offender, a convicted rapist, is working in downtown Port Orchard. . . MY TOWN! I live here. I have to deal with it. You can do what you want. You can be a part of the problem or a part of the solution–that’s the bottom line. It’s easy for an outsider to say “Brian, You should forget it and move on. . . . ” If you were in my shoes, you would probably do something similar.
I’m sharing this info to also help someone else avoid a similar situation. If it’s happened to me, I’m sure there is someone out there that has been through it or will in the future. Pulling resources and ideas together, that’s the point of this post.. . this little distraction from bullshitters makes it hard for the rest of us to get any real work done and just prove my point.
@bhess246 121327 wrote:
You must be in league with Pick Nunez. He must be your buddy.
I see now how you’ve managed to make such good friends in the industry, if you automatically associate all negativity towards you to be connected to this Nunez fella.
Art is, as you very rightly say, subjective. You can like a painting that I hate, and I can like a painting that you hate, and that is normal and as it should be.
QUALITY, however, is not subjective. You don’t need to be an artist to recognize that when I draw pictures I do them horribly. My (lack of) artistic ability has nothing to do with my lack of drawing ability.
The same applies to tattooing. You can be a fantastic artist and a piss-poor tattooist, and you can also be a fantastic tattooist but a piss-poor artist.
You have a point, but this thread is not about subjectivity in art and I fail to see why it keeps getting misdirected in that way. this is a thread I posted about a sex offender being allowed to continue to do business where he is a threat to re-offend. . . . among other things BUSINESS related.
It became about subjectivity in art when you tried to defend your less than stellar tattoo pieces as being good, claiming that the person dissing your tattoos simply didn’t know good art when he saw it.
Let me, however, clear up a bit of misunderstanding that you have:
You know nothing of the point of this forum, having been here all of five minutes.
The point of this forum (at least in my mind), if there really is any point to be had, is to celebrate the joy that is getting tattooed, share and enjoy good tattoo work, and warn people of the existence of bad tattoo work.
There are almost no actual tattoo artists in here, because those that are welcome here (actual professionals, as opposed to scratchers) are actually quite busy with work and don’t have much time to hang about on the internet. We have some fantastic apprentices here that have allowed us to watch their progress over time, but as they have become busier they have been posting less and less.
This forum is filled with people who love good tattoos, and who will not hesitate for a second to be brutally honest… not only for the benefit of anyone wearing the bad ink, but for the benefit of the entire tattooing scene. Educating people about bad tattoos is a sad necessity, because most tattooists are crap to mediocre, some are good and a few are spectacular, and most people just don’t know (when they start out) the difference between the mediocre and the good.
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