Big Caesar came in and got big Caesar on his side. The side is always one of the toughest spots to sit through, and Caesar was a soldier, the piece still needs about two sessions. Take a peep.

Little History about the big homie Julius Caesar. When Julius Caesar took his legions out of the Roman Army, he was declared Enemy of the Empire. Overnight, Caesar evaded his enemies, captured every checkpoint straight to the capitol and seized the throne. When the royalty house approached him to crown him as emperor, they held the traditional crown and said, “Caesar, you now own Rome, you control every land, from here to the far seas. You are now our king.” After hearing this, Julius Caesar stepped up to the house  pulled out his crown of olives he had personally crafted and said, “No, I am not your king, I am not your emperor…..I am Caesar!” 

Wanted to share with everybody a good quote, I hold value to myself and others…

Just got in a call from some oversees friends in Baghdad. The fellas are still heavy in the mix. And it was clear how they have changed. The years since the buildings have dropped flew by, and while we sit comfortably in our cute cars, and shop for shit we don’t need…, these fellas are ducking motor shells and getting rocket launcers for breakfast.

Remember this one? This is the reference I used for the style experiment, it took about ten men to restrain this mother from the corpse of her dead son..

..Anyways, the homeboys gave me a ring to check and let me know a status update, and they were telling me how they changed their whole combat techniques. Unlike us Westerners, who focus on the “morals” and  ”individuals” of the soldier, Eastern philosophy continues to drive it’s soldiers past a place where US military still have difficulty conditioning their men. The ability and will to sacrifice everything, no attachment, no mental baggage, and the ability to let go of all immediate plans to attack.

They sent me these, an many, many other photos they took and had in their collection from the years back, and they told me about Death Ground. This strategy comes from Sun Tzu, the Chinese war master back thousands of years ago. He talked about deliberately and consciousley being aware of the fact that one day, YOU are going to die. Apparently the US military has adopted such mentality to the point of desperation in the hopes to even match the combat of their enemies.

The fellas were saying that the physical is the easy part, getting past the mind and learning how to shut it off and function in full conscious presence, is the ONLY way to survive. 

Sun Tzu speaks, “Throw away your cooking pots, burn your camps, discard all material baggage, destroy all past and future routing plans, for they do not exist. Corner your men in the deepest and darkest corner, and show them how real the threat is. Show them that killing the enemy means nothing, and that their spirits must make a resolute commitment to death itself. Once your men see that their is NO way out, that they are cornered with no exits, on the battlefield they will begin to see their wives, women and children waiting in the midst. Place your men on Death Ground, and when all odds are against them, and a definite confrontation with death itself is presented, only then will they be undefinable, victorious, only then will they be truly free of self. At that point you will never lose.” 

To the brothers of Bagdad, Iraq, on the full tour all Marines, Army, Air, Navy, Delta, Ranger etc. I salute you.

The Big Homie Caesar came through to work on the bottom portion of his upper left sleeve. We chose the mayan god king and the symbol of the jaguar, holding the earth in it’s grill…..to symbolize that the hands of the universe is not in our control….

….The Mayan empire predicted through their calendar system that the year 2012 is the end of human life on earth, aka “the end of the world.”……..I cAn’T WaIT!

Still needs a good two to three sessions to completion, to Caesar, it’s always an honor, keep it moving.

Earlier last month Juan came in to start his upper left sleeve, we started with the Zapata portrait, and now have finally addressed the main issue. Juan had an old tattoo “Crash” from over ten years ago, and wanted to keep the theme of the revolucion…..

…still needs about two more runs, to establish good composition. Thanks goes out to Juan.

Billy came through over the weekend and started his right sleeve, with a portrait of his Grandfather, still needs another session, here’s a preview.

Speaking of old masters, the day before Sam came through to start his entire sleeve, working our way from the bottom. Here’s a preview of the lower portion, we used Carravagio’s disciple to start the flight.