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BAW:
What made you want to become a Tattoo Artist?
Artist: I
didn't decide . . .it came to me. I had interests in it since I
recognized my trucking Uncle's tattoos as badges of freedom and
independence when I was about 8 years old. But I was happy being a
graphic designer and typographer in NYC during late 1960s. However, I
was surfing the fringe of the tattoo community by hanging out with a
photographer who was investigating this strange world. Together, we
coproduced the contemporary section of "Tattoo!" --
the first real gallery showing of tattooing at the Museum of American
Folk Art. He got the bug really badly and began tattooing almost
immediately. One day, one of his clients asked me to do a tattoo . . .
because I had art school training and this client thought I'd do well
at it. I agreed and got that big bad bug myself. I am interested in
hand tools and how they work and how to create with them. The tattoo
machine is the best damn tool I've ever found.
BAW: Who are your influences?
Artist:
There are so many: Sailor Jerry Collins, Paul Rogers, Ed Hardy, Jack
Rudy, Trevor Marshall, Aaron Caine, Tom Renshaw, Henning Jorgensen,
Paul Jefferies, Cory Kruger, on and on . . .
BAW: What is
your favorite style of work?
Artist: I
love Old School Sailor Jerry style, photorealism (black and grey),
tribal and Japanese. But as long as I'm tattooing, I don't care. . . .
whether it's a name, Kanji, portrait, pin-up . . . it is the act of
tattooing that I crave and love. It is the communion with the whole
time/space continuum "quantum physics" stuff that gets me
off.
BAW: Tell us
about your first Tattoo experience?
Artist: I
don't really remember much of it . . . it was so foreign and focussed
and totally overwhelming. I had a lot of help, I did a small
non-threatening flower with wrinkly petals and leaves so I wouldn't
"screw" up too much. I had been hanging out with Huck
Spaulding a lot and Thom DeVita and had been watching and listening so
I just thought I'd try it. It was white noise all the way. I remember
trying to remember all the steps . . . wipe, dip, grease, dip, wipe. A
week later this neon looking flower was healed and I flipped out.
"Wow! I did that!!!" It was so exciting. Cuz we know we can
put a great looking tattoo ON TOP of the skin . . . 90 percent of how
we did is evident after the work sinks in and becomes a part of the
client. The second tattoo I did was a huge peacock on this same
client's (Tom King was his name . . . bless him) chest. Two sittings.
I went for it. Third tattoo was to sleeve his right arm with a dragon.
BAW: What is your favorite piece you own?
Artist: Oh
please!!!! That's like saying what's my favorite food or pet or
friend.
BAW: What is
your most memorable Tattoo given and why?
Artist:
Again, impossible to answer. Each is unique and rare and special. I
don't mean that in an "ooie-ooie" kind of fairy girl way. It
is so Zen and totally consuming . . . there's no way to separate how
I'm feeling, who my client might be, how they're feeling, what the
image is . . . etc. It is not to me to make those judgments anyway. My
only hope is that my clients are happy with what they receive and that
they can go on in life proudly. I can say I don't want to do regretful
tattoos . . . arm bands are my current dislike.
BAW: Is
there a part of the body you won't Tattoo and why?
Artist: I
will NEVER tattoo the face. I won't do "cosmetic" tattoos
and I won't tattoo untattoable skin . . . I don't like to work inside
the mouth, for example. I don't like to do "joke" tattoos.
My days of experimenting are over. I did 'em, won't do 'em again. Feet
and hands are difficult but I know how so I'll do it if the client
warrants that work and knows that it costs three times as much because
it takes three times as long. And there will be touch-ups and I can't
guarantee how the skin will hold the ink.
BAW: Do you support supply co. that sells to the public?
Artist: Well, I managed Wes Wood's shop on West Broadway and Canal in
NYC for three years and I consider Huck to be a long-time friend so I
guess I do. I do support them in that they have the right to earn a
living in this country like any other entrepreneur. Look, the days of
secrecy and paranoia "this is my turf" stuff is over. The
cat is outta the bag. Every artist I know practically is making their
own machines which they sell at conventions. Sometimes they pretend
they're selling them only to artists. But they are supplying them to
the public, nevertheless. How did almost every young artist start out?
I did a small quiz at a convention years ago and everyone I respected
told me they began by buying a Huck Spaulding starter kit. It doesn't
matter how many scratchers buy a beginner's kit . . . this work is so
hard and the political climate is so dense that it takes Herculean
strength to survive past your first three months. Sure there are a lot
of awful tattoos walking around right now but it isn't because of the
suppliers. It's because of the ignorance of the general public. It is
because of the avoidance of the media to the real issues involved with
tattooing. It's because of our mania for celebrities (I'm getting
weak, pass me one of those new POWER DRINKS, will ya?).
Until people learn that this is a PERMANENT PROCEDURE, that tattoos
are serious business and that they are responsible for what happens to
their bodies, nothing will change. The responsibility for all this
crappy work lies with those who think their "cousin" can
tattoo in their garage. Buyer beware.
BAW: Do you feel there now should be mandatory schooling for soon to
be tattoo artists?
Artist: No. You can't do that. Who's gonna teach? We have schools now
. . . and it's classic "blind leading the blind." Anyone who
has the truth of this art in their soul aren't going to teach at a
school. What are we going to have? Tattoo shops on every corner? A
giant daisy chain of tattooing? It takes five years before anyone
knows anything about this . . . and another 30 years to learn the rest
and get good. The problem also lies with the Health Departments. You
get these part-time legislators who drift in and out . . . overloading
health departments with nail salons and restaurants and tattoo shops .
. . I've been visited like three times in my career by a health
department official and I had to reteach him everything. Hell, I am a
Tattoo Shop Inspector for the State of Utah. Let the Health
Departments and the Licensing Bureaus beef up their departments, let
them do their jobs. Raise the cost of permits . . . toughen up the
standards for shops. And prosecute the scratchers, confiscate their
equipment if they persist. (Most of that equipment is built to fail
anyway so the poor "tattoo artist" has to buy more.)
BAW: Do you feel Tattooing has changed over the years, and if so why?
Artist: Um, yes and no. People still get the same kinds of tattoos
(memorial, graphic and figurative) as they did 30,000 years ago and
earlier. And for the same reasons (power, status). But as the
technological advancements have come along, it's enabled for more
elaborate and elevated imagery. Forty years ago we didn't have the
needles or power packs we have now. And great advancement has been
made with needle types and configurations. That alone has opened up
tremendous vistas. When I started we had four colors: black, red,
green and yellow. Now we have an endless array of colors. Healing
advancements and knowledge of the skin structure have also led to
better retention of pigment.
BAW: Do you think it is important to do as many conventions and shows
as possible?
Artist: It depends on what you want . . . and why you want it. If you
go to sit in your booth and think you're big sh*t, then please stay
home. If you go to learn, to talk, to actually study portfolios, then
go. Again, too many tattoo artists think getting into a magazine will
somehow translate to better work. It doesn't. You can feed your head
or your heart. Your ego or your education. I go to see my long-time
buddies and to travel, basically, and to see the portfolios. It's
amazing how many young people sit in their booths and glare with
supreme attitudes at the constant parade of floor walkers.There are
too many conventions now. Too many that are losing the heart of the
business. I prefer to do smaller shows now with a personal touch. Even
the magazines aren't bothering to show up all that often. And there
are these small time promoters who have attached themselves to doing
conventions in every little podunk town in USA. Bad precedent.
BAW: What advise can you give to someone who is starting or looking to
get into the tattoo business?
Artist: Know that this is the hardest thing you'll ever try to do. Get
and stay humble. It isn't about you. Learn everything you can about
those who came before you. Look and draw. Draw constantly. Respect
yourself. This isn't a giant party. It's not rocket surgery either but
it requires a lot of discipline and ethics. Develop that side of
yourself and all else will follow.
BAW: What could you say to someone who has had a bad first experience?
Artist: Come and see me and I'll try to help you.
BAW: Since you have started what changes have you seen in the
industry?
Artist: Well, other than too many conventions, too many sell-outs, too
many egomaniacs who try to rewrite history to suit their own needs,
and all the technological advancements -- I guess the major thing has
been the Mainstreaming of tattooing. It's everywhere. It used to be
that you needed a lifestyle to support sleeves, now skateboarders
barely out of their teens have sleeves and backpieces and, Gawd
Forbid!!, tattooed faces . . . without knowing what they're doing.
It's like their lives have abruptly crashed without even getting off
the ground. Most of these sleeves are by their "homeboys"
and are band logos. There will be a lot of disappointed middle-aged
hamburger flippers in about 30 years all over this country if it
doesn't stop. Of course, in Japan in the mid-1700s, many of the men
were heavily tattooed but with artistic body suits. . . .I don't want
to sound like one of those old fart tattooers who thumb their noses at
the new generation but I don't know if many people understand that
delayed gratification is something wonderful, to be nurtured to
develop one's soul.
BAW: How do you feel about apprenticeships?
Artist: I'm through with them. They largely are disappointments to me
because kids think they should learn everything in six months. And the
more I tell them, the sooner they leave and I've just created my
competition. There is a serious lacking of devotion and discipline
today. I don't think apprenticeships were ever really big . . . Leo
Zulueta certainly went through one of the best I ever saw . . . with
first Ed Hardy and then Bob Roberts. Other than that, I haven't seen
many play out. So I think they're kind of a fallacy. Like Unicorns,
they don't really exist. Maybe once upon a time . . . but for the most
part, if someone gets one, they're paying for it. WRONG!!! And usually
to someone who doesn't know crap either.
BAW: Where do you think the Tattoo Industry is going today? Do
you think it is getting better or worse?
Artist: I think it is about the same as it's always been, just bigger.
Once there were 500 tattoo artists in the country. Now there are 500
in Western NY alone. Politics divide us, anytime you have flesh and
cash. . . that will happen. We are also a closed society . . . unique.
The outside world really doesn't know how to grasp us, get it . . .
and that's a good thing. I think our whole culture is on a downward
slide and tattooing is going right along with it. But people have been
saying that since Plato's days. We've never had the kind of artists
that we have today, never had the advancements and styles of work . .
. the technological advancements. And I find no matter where I go, I
find a cadre of likeminded people who have gone through incredible
tests and trials just to do this magnificent and wondrous work.
Legends existed in the early days, legends are being created today. I
think, all in all, this life is what you make of it.
BAW: Please share any other comments or views or questions to the
public you might have.
Artist: Thanks for taking the time to indulge me in this diatribe. And
be kind to yourselves.
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