The Raven and The Wolves—Long Beach’s rightfully renowned tattoo studio—has long been invisible to those outside the tattooing world. Tucked into a second-floor space overlooking The Ordinarie and ISM Brewing on the Promenade in Downtown Long Beach, its studio is one that—like the expanse overseen by Kari Barba at Outer Limits—deeply honors the art that is tattooing while also looking toward its future.
Come Oct. 19, the space’s annual art exhibition, “Caste Shadows,” will offer up its array of paintings, drawings, and sculptures from tattoo artists both local and international. The focus? Renowned tattooer Freddy Negrete, whose black’n’grey portraits have revolutionized the field. And yes, he will be in attendance.
Hold up—The Raven and the Wolves is not just a tattoo studio?
There is a deep irony that comes with the fact that so few Long Beach residents even know of The Raven and the Wolves: Those in the world of tattooing have long known tattooing itself is an art. The rest of the world? Not so much. If one were to anthropomorphize The Raven and The Wolves, like many artists, tattooing is not her sole talent. Or purpose. It is a rich, beautiful exploration of, yes, the art of painting human skin. But also a space that encourages its artists to examine history, learn from the masters—from Da Vinci to Good Time Charlie—and exercise their talents both on skin and canvas.
“History is such an important part of our culture and it is something we insist on having and exuding here in the studio,” said co-owner and renowned black-and-grey artist Carlos Torres. “And I mean both tattooing history and art history.”
Standing nearby, artists Sebas Lopez and Zach Medbury nod their heads, dropping little bits of odes toward their love of oil painting, the Renaissance masters, and how traditional art mediums have become just as important as their tattoo art. How they prefer black-and-grey tattooing over colorized because there is a depth that can be achieved when doing hyper- or surrealism. They are, beautifully, a group of male artists showcasing a sense of intellectuality, vulnerability, and humility.
And to think this was a space that was, at its conception, banned from existing in Long Beach.
The Raven was conceived at a time when Long Beach, well, hated tattoos.
Okay, hate might be a strong word. But there’s just the blunt reality that Long Beach long held a moratorium on new tattoo studios. And yes, that included when Ravens was being brainstormed.
In all fairness, the city’s stance wasn’t entirely misaligned. After all, The Jungle—a square-mile neighborhood south of Ocean when The Pike was still active as an amusement space, with the still-existing Outer Limits tattoo parlor in its center—was a genuinely dangerous space. Murders. Heavy drugs and drinking. Even a cafe where servers served topless. And yes, they aligned that riffraff to the many who visited the plethora of tattoo shops.
It wasn’t until 2013 that Paper Crane—inside the East Village’s Lafayette Building—became the first tattoo shop to be built south of Anaheim Street since the Cyclone Racer sped above Long Beach’s shores and those sexual cretins meandered the alleys of the Jungle.
The Raven and the Wolves was birthed out of a serendipitous meeting of an artist on the sidewalk with a very, very big admirer of his work.
Michael “Tank” Gonzales is many things. A lawyer. The man who brought World Central Kitchen to Long Beach during the pandemic. Co-owner of The Raven and the Wolves, yes. But most importantly, Tank is, first and foremost, a lover of humans and their artistic talents. Ever the avid world traveler, nearly every aspect of Tank’s body features the art of a tattoo artist—though at this time in the early 2010s, he had to score the work of Carlos Torres.
But then, there he was, on the sidewalk walking his dog, when Tank happened to pass him by.
“I was a genuine fan and I was watching an artist I had long wanted to tattoo me straight up walking on the sidewalk,” Tank said. “I called our buddy Bobby [Ruiz of Tribal Gear] and told him I ran into Carlos, I was fanboy-ing out, how long I wanted love have a tattoo by him.”
Little did he know Bobby called Carlos right after—”‘You should be friends!'” Tank said, repeating Bobby’s message to Carlos—and soon enough, with Tank lying down and Carlos inking him. Tank learned of Carlos’s big dream: An art gallery-meets-tattooing studio that truly elevates both artforms into a singular, cohesive space. Lucky for Carlos, Tank was a lawyer—and could figure out a way to get around that pesky moratorium.
Across the span of years—including the dream of opening in the former Blues Cafe spot that is now The Ordinarie—Carlos and Tank opened The Raven, just above its original dream destination, in October of 2017.
Part classroom, part studio, part museum: How The Raven and The Wolves dedicates itself to much more than tattooing
“The majority of tattoo artists likely aren’t doing anything beyond drawing, which we all grew up with,” Carlos said. “I think this shop is special because we largely do large-scale, custom work. Much like a traditional artist commissioned to a canvas piece. In that sense, our worlds seamlessly blend and, given our art class space, acts as an encouragement for our artists to explore outside the realm of tattooing.”
Large-scale indeed. Whether it is the masterful, saturated oils of Shay Bredimus or the maniacal wit of Kasper, the stunning intricacies of John Smith’s work or the unfathomable depth of Carlos’s surrealism, the artists of The Raven are in a league far, far beyond butterfly tramp stamps. In fact, it’s not even the same damn sport.
“I’ve been doing art shows since my old shop,” Carlos said. “My old shop was like here: We move everything out once in a while to host exhibits. And when I moved here, it seemed a natural extension to not only continue that tradition but also encourage our artists to embrace their entire creative aura.”
And the fact that Carlos—truly a legend in his own right—exudes an effortless humility makes the space all the more special. He is above nor below an artist he provides a space to. He is not the champion alone but one who shares the title with many. And that includes both those behind him—like Freddy Negrete, the artist being honored at “Caste Shadows”—and those who will undoubtedly tattoo beyond Carlos’s time here. It is a humility that is innate, not performative, which is precisely why The Raven works so efficiently as a concept.
What to expect at ‘Caste Shadows,’ the space’s annual exhibition of traditional art
Carlos stands in the expanse of the massive studio, pointing in various directions as they prep for “Caste Shadows.”
“All the furniture gets moved out, walls get put up, and we have ourselves an entire gallery,” Carlos said, noting this year will also include a space dedicated to the historical side of tattooing, including pieces from the 1970s. (Carlos sits on the group board trying to get a Long Beach Tattoo Museum going aboard The Queen Mary and led by Outer Limits owner Kari Barba.)
Their art class space toward the northern part of the studio has been particularly active in preparation for “Caste Shadows.” There are sculptures galore. Paintings nearing completion. Drawings that acted as the inspiration for much more complicated pieces. Easels. Tufts of colored oil paints. Clay wrapped for future sculpting.
“We asked artists for their interpretation of ‘Smile now, cry later,'” Carlos said. He noted that the tradition of the emotional inversion—birthed out of theatre in Greece with its now famed happy-sad masks representing the arts—has long been rooted in tattooing but that Freddy Negrete has unquestionably helped the ideal remain relevant.
“Freddy’s contribution to our culture, our history is unparalleled,” Carlos said. “To have these works up in his honor and to have him here to look at them as an exhibit is beyond an honor.”
In other words: Go.
“Caste Shadows” will debut on Oct. 19 from 6PM to 10PM at The Raven and the Wolves, located at 212 The Promenade N.
