Chris Nuñez | |
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Residence | Miami, Florida |
Occupation |
Tattoo artist Television personality Entrepreneur |
Children | Anthony Kali |
Chris Nunez is an American tattoo artist who has been tattooing for 26 years as of 2017. He is the owner of Handcrafted Tattoo And Art Gallery, a tattoo shop located in Miami, Florida, and a judge on the Spike TV network's reality competition, Ink Master, in which tattoo artists compete in challenges assessing their tattoo and related artistic skills. Previously, Nunez was one of the featured tattoo artists on TLC's reality television program Miami Ink.
Nuñez, of Cuban descent, grew up in Miami, Florida. Nuñez had always been drawn to art, and began painting graffiti as a teenager, which he claims his father supported as long as it was an image and not just Nuñez's name. Soon, he discovered tattooing, immediately falling in love with it and obtaining an apprenticeship at a local tattoo shop. Nuñez claims that he is very grateful for the experience of an apprenticeship when he was younger, as he worked his way up from background work -cleaning, running errands, fixing machines - to learning how to tattoo and tattooing fundamentals. His father died when Nuñez was 18 years old, leading to him rebelling during his late teens and early twenties. Nuñez's first tattoos, which he got at age 16, were of his parents' names. He is the single father of daughter, Kali, (who lives with Nuñez and his family) and son, Anthony (who lives in California with his mother). Nuñez has never been married, and is currently single. <[1]>
After being a graffiti artist, Nunez switched to tattooing, though even after opening a tattoo shop with friends he continued to do part-time construction work. He was the owner of Handcrafted Tattoo And Art Gallery in Miami, Florida. He and Ami James later opened Love Hate Tattoos on Miami Beach.
He was a cast member of the TLC network's reality show Miami Ink, and later became a judge on the Spike network's reality competition, Ink Master, in which tattoo artists compete in challenges assessing their tattoo and related artistic skills.