Chase Tafoya lived all over California before making Bend his home in 2012. He’d visited his parents, who’d just moved here, loved it and relocated three weeks later.
“Bend is such an artist town,” Tafoya says. “From the arts and entertainment, the entrepreneurial spirit, to the recreational sports; the people who live here are all creative types. You see that in the culture of Bend, and it’s a privilege that I can contribute to that culture.”
Tafoya’s dedication to realism runs in tandem with his origin story as an artist, which began when he was three.
“I was always drawn toward people’s faces, primarily their eyes,” Tafoya said. “I was told at an early age that the eyes are the windows to the soul. That stuck with me, and I remember wanting to capture that feeling in my art.”
Tafoya specializes in black/gray and color tattoos. He says most tattoo ideas dictate their ultimate realization. Tafoya’s portfolio is chockful of photorealistic tattooed portraits of customers’ family members, friends, pets and symbols from their upbringings. Religious iconography blends with pop culture: Jesus shredding on a skateboard; Jesus burning rubber in Rat Fink’s hotrod; Jesus slam-dancing à la Circle Jerks.
Tafoya’s own upbringing and his Native American and Chicano heritages are also on full display, particularly in his paintings. Carrying on their legacies, he says, has shaped him into the artist he is today.
“Most of my clients are forever capturing these important images on themselves for nostalgic purposes,” he said. “It brings a sense of happiness and healing.”
Runner up: Sean Belida
Chase Tafoya Studio
Mon-Fri, 10am-6pm
806 NW Brooks St., Ste. #200
chasetafoya.bigcartel.com
This article appears in Best of Central Oregon 2025 and the Source August 21, 2025.
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