BAW: What made you want to become a Tattoo Artist?

 Artist:  It started when I was 16. I was a punk rock artist, doing flyers for local shows and that sort of thing, and had done my first record cover. My sister Hannah suggested we go get tattooed. I honestly had not given the subject much thought before that, but I couldn't stop thinking about it after that. In the week between her 
suggestion and the actual appointment  I had dreams not only of getting and doing tattoos, but of teaching tattooing. So the bug bit me before  the needle even touched my skin. I then watched carefully as my first piece (a small lizard on my arm) was traced, stenciled, and tattooed on my arm. It felt right, and I could imagine myself having an aptitude for it. It took a few years from that day for conditions to line up the right way, but from that day forward I knew that it was in my future.

  

 BAW: Who are your influences?

 Artist:  That's a broad question. An artist's influences will extend well beyond the art that they admire. I'll make a short list: as a youngster, I was fascinated by the old masters, in particular Rembrandt, Van Gogh, Da Vinci. I read about their lives and wanted to live the life of an artist, but not make their mistakes. I wanted to both draw and invent flying machines. After that came my first exposure to Max Ernst, who had a period in his career of doing these amazing organic landscapes. Dali had always been a major influence, not only because of his art but because of his sense of adventure, his versatility, his refusal to relax and become a mediocre reflection of a younger self. As a teenager, I was mostly impressed by heavy metal cover art, most notably Derek Riggs' Iron Maiden paintings. As a young man, I explored Giger and Robert Williams: biomech and chrome.  As  a 
young tattooist, I  finally started mixing with other artists with similar sensibilities, and was influenced by them: Eddy Deutsche, Aaron Cain, Marcus Pacheco, Greg Kulz... it's actually too long a list to put here. Those four did a lot of work on me back then. I try to keep track of any great visionary artists out there: Alex Grey is a 
great example. Bob Venosa, De Es Schwertberger. Beksinski was truly amazing. Mati Klarwein. Escher has always been an influence. Michael Whelan is known mostly as an illustrator but is way more than that- he's been a steady influence through the years. Chuck Close and Lucian Freud  are two modern painters whose work looks nothing like mine, but who I am hugely impressed by. I could also go into musical and intellectual influences, but there's only so much room.

  

 BAW: What is your favorite style of work?

 Artist: Tattooing, I try to keep an even balance between illustrative pieces and the kind of abstract thing I'm known for. I will occasionally do Japanese or traditional American style work, but it will always look like I did it.  When I paint, I work entirely in the abstract and take no commissions- that's strictly for my own gratification.

  

 BAW: Tell us about your first Tattoo experience?

 Artist: I think I already did, in the first question. But I'll tell you about the first time I held a machine. A friend of mine had a garage tattoo operation going and was doing some pretty nice work considering what was available back then. I was out there with my girlfriend and he offered to let me use his stuff, if she was a willing guinea pig. So I did a little scarab beetle on her. I shook the whole time and made a mess, which then healed into a knot of scar tissue. This was one of the main reasons I never felt compelled to get my own equipment and figure out tattooing on my own- I never thought I'd get it right without guidance.

  

 BAW: What is your favorite piece you own?

 Artist: I don't play favorites. I enjoy the hell out of my left sleeve, which was once filled with bad teenage tattoos. I lasered them all off over a 6 year period and recently had Aaron Cain and Grime collaborate on a new piece, which they finished in 2 days. You can read about this in the first issue of Tattoo Artist Magazine

 ( www.tattooartistmagazine.com )

  

 BAW: What is your most memorable Tattoo given and why?

 Artist: Many memorable tattoos; hard to narrow it down to just one. Each is a different kind of memorable. For instance, doing an armband on a girl I was wild about but too shy to say it (I  later married her).  The one and only facial tattoo I've ever done, which freaked me out. The first time I ever swapped a tattoo with another artist I had 
just met, out of mutual admiration. Recently, a number of epic projects that are heavily based on my paintings, which have been done in short intensive visits- enough to leave the hands sore for days. There isn't a single experience that towers over the rest.

  

 BAW: Is there a part of the body you won't Tattoo and why?

 Artist: I'm not comfortable doing faces, but  that's not to say I won't ever do one. Depends on the person. Genital pieces usually fit into the Novelty category, and I don't do novelty or gimmick pieces anywhere. On each individual, I may get the impression that they should not get their hand or neck tattooed, or that an extra couple 
inches of skin at the wrist would be a good idea. I gauge these things from case to case, and consider it my responsibility to be conservative . Usually, if I'm working on another tattooer, I'll have very few inhibitions about this though.

  

 BAW: How do you feel about female Tattoo Artists?

 Artist: This art form would be an impoverished place without them.

  

 BAW: Do you support supply co. that sells to the public?

 Artist: The ones that do it the most brazenly, no, absolutely not. There is a supplier in NYC that has a walk-in tattoo superstore where any joker can come in and walk out a tattooer. The machines are in racks like the burger racks at a fast food joint- pull one out and the next one slides down. As a result, good tattooers with decades 
experience are having a hard time making a living tattooing in NY. This can be blamed almost entirely on the looseness of the supply biz, and this one supplier in particular. In a city like NY there will always be a lot of people wanting to become tattooers, so you can't make it too easy for them or they all will, and will glut the market. The fact that it has always been a fairly difficult profession to break into is part of the reason why most tattooers who  made it in had a lot of respect for the trade. These days it is a thing taken for granted, and that has cost us dearly.  On the other hand, the free market is one of the basic American principles, we have to respect 
that as well. It is the job of the people in the trade to  police ourselves, and the only way to stop a business you don't like is to massively boycott them. In NYC, this won't work because  the folks buying these machines don't care about any boycott, they just want to tattoo, and the kinds of artists who would  look at this in distaste 
are unlikely to buy the crap equipment that they sell there in the first place. So there's really nothing that can be done.

  

 BAW: Do you feel there now should be mandatory schooling for soon to be tattoo artists?

 Artist: I distrust big institutions, and institutional learning. The traditional apprenticeship is really the best way, provided you get into a good shop where you will be treated fairly. That means a year or so of drawing flash, scrubbing tubes, watching the other artists work, tracing out designs, doing small pieces under guidance. Watching how the business works, the whole psychology aspect. You could never get a good grip on this from an institutional learning facility, only from an internship. I agree that all artists should be schooled in basic cross contamination avoidance, and should be held accountable for it when they get their business licenses. But this is a state-to-state, town-to-town thing, so we can't expect any truly comprehensive, well-researched, fair and effective federal regulations of all tattooist any time soon.

  

 BAW: Do you feel Tattooing has changed over the years, and if so why?

 Artist: Another real broad question there... the big changes have been the result of more artists getting involved, and that's been fueled by the magazines, conventions and other events and publications that have sprung up over the last 15 to 20 years.  It's always been in an evolving state, but this last couple decades have been so significant 
because of the widespread interest in it.

  

 BAW: Do you think it is important to do as many conventions and shows as possible?

 Artist: These can be helpful for establishing your clientele, or getting your clients in front of the magazine photographers. They are also important places to network with other artists, see portfolios, compare techniques and take seminars. For an artist in their first five years or so they can be an incredible eye-opening experience. The convention scene is in many ways almost as over saturated as the tattoo trade in general, though, so they aren't as powerful as they used to be. The crowds are smaller, the artists more local, the energy level lower in general than 10 years ago, when there were only two or three big shows a year in the states. But they are still worth checking out, just to break your routine a little, a few times a year.

  

 BAW: What advise can you give to someone who is starting or looking to get into the tattoo business?

 Artist: Be a competent draftsperson to begin with. You really need to be able to draw, and to be versatile. Build an attractive and well presented portfolio, 20 pages or less, with a cover letter introducing yourself, and take copies of these portfolios to the shops in your area. Ask to speak to the owner- if you just leave your book there, it will disappear.  Spring is the best time of year to be looking, and winter the worst. Be careful about signing contracts, but expect to pay your dues.

  

 BAW: What could you say to someone who has had a bad first experience?

 Artist: That's common., unfortunately. To the unenlightened, it may even look like the industry is full of sleazebags. But remember that every industry is; the sleazebags in tattooing just look gnarlier than the sleazebags in Washington. So if tattooing is something that really calls to you, don't let one asshole crap on your dream. You may need to search a bit to find the right environment. For most artists, finding or creating the right environment is a part of the lifelong project that is tattooing.

  

 BAW: Since you have started what changes have you seen in the industry?

 Artist: The big thing is the higher population of more serious artists, which has led to a stylistic revolution. Between the lot of us, we've worked out the techniques to render pretty much any kind of style on skin, so at this stage it's really  become a thing without boundaries. Other things change very little: the machines are still 
Victorian-era technology (much refined, but in principle the same) and the reputation still has that dark mystique.

  

 BAW: Where do you think the Tattoo Industry is going today?  Do you think it is getting better or worse?

 Artist: Well, it's become pretty crowded, and there are a lot of really amazing artists out there that have to struggle to stay busy. That's one of the big downsides to our success- the crowd. And this success also draws parasites, like that supplier we were discussing earlier, and all kinds of even less legitimate scamsters. But if 
that's one of the natural consequences of success, than we have something to celebrate. Presumably the crowd will thin out, leaving the most dedicated artists who are willing to keep trying even during lean times. It's a kind of natural selection, which is a process that can lead to great things.

  

 BAW: Please share any other comments or views or questions to the 
public you might have.

 Artist: That about covers it- let me know if you need anything else.  G