Tattoos

Kamis, 25 Juli 2013

Phil Shares a Portrait of His Kids

One of my daughters' teammates on her lacrosse club was immortalized, along with her big brother, on her father's arm:

At the end of the season, I got a chance to chat with Phil, the father of these two kids, about his work. The son was three in the portrait and the daughter was one. Now, they're both teenagers.

He told me that he got this piece almost twelve years ago from a European artist named Zsolt. The artist in question, Zsolt Sárközi, hails from Budapest, Hungary, and works at a shop he founded called Dark Art Tattoo. The tattoo was done here in New York City, at Sacred Tattoo in Manhattan.

Thanks to Phil for sharing this wonderful portrait of his children with us here on Tattoosday!

If you are seeing this on another website other than Tattoosday, without attribution, please note that it has been copied without the author's permission and is in violation of copyright laws. Please feel free to visit http://tattoosday.blogspot.com and read our original content. Please let me know if you saw this elsewhere so I contact the webmaster of the offending site and advise them of this violation in their Terms of Use Agreement.

Selasa, 23 Juli 2013

Katrina Shares a Pair of Audrey Kawasaki Designs in One Tattoo!

Earlier this month, I rode my bike in the Tour de Queens. At one point in the ride, all the riders had stopped in the hot sun as we waited for traffic. I looked at the person next to me and noticed she had an amazing tattoo on her right thigh. I introduced myself and she told me her name was Katrina. She told me a little about the tattoo and allowed me to take a picture of it:

I know, I know, the photo seems a little washed out. I shot it in bright sunlight and that was the best I could do. However, Katrina gave me her artist's info and I was able, with permission, to post the tattooist's photo from his online portfolio:

Photo Courtesy of Andy Pho

So, you can see, it's a pretty amazing tattoo.

Katrina later e-mailed me with her explanation of the piece:

"The whole piece on my thigh just basically gives me a representation of who I am and who I can be.

It took me 3 years to finally go with it. The artist who did it is Andy Pho (www.andypho.com) who at the time tattooed at Omni Ink in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. I've always admired geishas for their perseverance and aiming to be better performers. The whole presentation of them is just beautiful and broken at the same time. Their make-up covers their whole face so you can't really tell what they're thinking or how they feel. Just a piece of mystery.

I found the geisha from one of my favorite painters, Audrey Kawasaki. I absolutely love her work. I basically combined two paintings into one. The geisha (Yuuwaka) and the anatomical heart (My Dishonest Heart) are probably my two favorite ones from her. I'm very keen on detail and Andy just did a phenomenal job for someone who had only been tattooing for a year and a half at the time."

Here are the two Kawasaki paintings in question:

"Yuuwaku" 誘惑 allure

oil and graphite on wood 20"x 26"
"Hajimari"@Jonathan Levine Gallery in NY 2009
© Audrey Kawasaki 2004 - 2013

and

My Dishonest Heart

mixed media on wood 10"x12"
'The Drawing Show' @ Thinkspace 2008
© Audrey Kawasaki 2004 - 2013

Andy Pho, the tattoo artist responsible for this great tattoo, has since left Brooklyn and Omni Ink for his own shop in Las Vegas, called Skin Design Tattoo.

Andy adds, by way of a bio:

"We are currently undergoing a major relocation to a larger studio set to open in late August. Please follow the artists there as well (the artist roster and work will be updated for the grand opening).

I am a Brooklyn native (born in Coney Island, lived in Midwood, Flatbush, Boro Park, Dyker Heights, Bensonhurst, and Gravesend, before relocating to Vegas)."

For the latest on Andy and Skin Design's progress, you can follow him on Facebook here.

Thanks to Katrina for sharing her awesome Audrey Kawasaki two-in-one tattoo, and to Andy Pho, for helping us really appreciate his fine work!

Sabtu, 20 Juli 2013

Vicki's Words of Inspiration Get Her Where She Needs to Go

I'm always interested on what people choose to permanently inscribe on themselves, especially when the tattoo is textual.

Earlier this week, I met Vicki in my local grocery store and she had this inked on her inner wrist:

Her tattoo reads "Motivation Dedication Hard Work."

Vicki explained,

"I'm a marathon runner. So, when you get to, like, mile 20 and have six to go, you need a little motivation, dedication and hard work ... I started living by that about ten years ago, and it gets me where I need to go."

In October, Vicki will be running her 5th marathon.

This script and tattoo was done by Mr. Kaves at Brooklyn Made Tattoo in Bay Ridge.

Thanks to Vicki for sharing her tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

Jumat, 19 Juli 2013

Ink Master, Season 3: Who the Hell Are These Guys?

Say what you want about "reality" tattoo competition shows, but they are relevant to tattoo blogs, regardless of how you feel. Personally, I find them fascinating on so many different levels.

The third season of Ink Master premiered this week and, while I won't run down the entire roster of this season's contestants, I do want to note that a couple of them have had their work showcased on Tattoosday previously.

The first person who jumped out at me was Craig Foster, from Skinwerks Tattoo & Design in Carrollton, Georgia.

Craig had two pieces appear on Tattoosday in 2008. This one:

Read about this tattoo here.

and this one:

Read about this tattoo here.

Many of the names are familiar, and we all remember Tatu Baby from season 2.

I featured one of her more recognizable pieces back in 2011:

Read about it here.

Something about one of the other contestants rang familiar, but I couldn't put my finger on it. The artist with the moniker Made Rich had my ink-sense tingling and then, I realized, I interviewed one of his clients just a few weeks ago at the NYC Urban Tattoo Convention.

Based out of the Queens shop Think Before You Ink, one of my favorite pieces of the night was this thigh tattoo on a woman named Taylor:

I haven't published this one yet, but I'll retroactively link it once it's done.

So I'll be tuning in this season just to see how these three artists fare, along with the others. The judges, Dave Navarro, Oliver Peck, and Chris Nunez, are hyper-critical in their assessments, which lends a certain degree of authenticity to the show's claim to find the best tattooer among the bunch to crown Ink Master.

Keep an eye on the three artists above, because I think they have a good chance of going deep into the competition.

Rabu, 17 Juli 2013

Krystina and a Krooked Ken Tattoo

I met Krystina in my neighborhood of Bay Ridge, Brooklyn last month, after stopping to ask her about her tattoos.

Turns out, she works as a manager at North Star Tattoo in Manhattan, a wonderful shop with some amazing artists.

She shared this small tattoo of a black cat, a skull, and the number 13, credited to Krooked Ken, who owns Black Anchor Tattoo in Denton, Maryland and Powerhouse Tattoo Company in Montclair, New Jersey:

Krystina explained how she came by this tattoo from Krooked Ken:

"I'm good friends with him. I used to work for him and we went to Rodrigo Melo's [the owner of North Star Tattoo] wedding ... the day after Rodrigo's wedding, we were staying at the same hotel in Jersey, I went to Powerhouse ... and he did this tattoo that day. Daniel Cotté did the flash. The only copy of it, he never did prints or anything, just the hand-painted flash, is at Powerhouse, and Daniel Cotté works at North Star, as well."

Thanks to Krystina for sharing this cool tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

Senin, 15 Juli 2013

Amherst Tattoo Company is Looking for Talent (and New Clients)!

You may recall that Tattoosday went on the road a few months back, spending a few days up in Massachusetts.

At one stop, the family and I stopped at a Starbucks before our scheduled tour of the U.Mass campus in Amherst.

I noticed, as we were leaving, that there was a tattoo shop nearby. I peeked in and saw that they were still working on the shop, which was scheduled to open the following week. I introduced myself and left my card.

Just last week, I received an email from Josefa, owner/manager at Amherst Tattoo Company. Turns out they were renovating the former Holeshot's Preimum Tattoo & Body Piercing location, whose work was featured previously on Tattoosday here.

Josefa tells me that they are looking to expand their staff, seeking a quality tattoo artist and piercer. Here's more info on the shop, if you are interested:

Amherst Tattoo Company is a studio located in down town Amherst, MA. ATC enjoys plenty of walk-in business and also appreciates a steady and consistent repeat clientèle.

We are in the location of a former studio that spent 10 years with a pristine reputation thanks to their lead artist, who opened ATC in April when the existing shop closed. ATC is ready to bring in new, committed talent.

If you are a licensed or licensable tattoo artist or body piercer please get in touch with us at amhersttattoocompany@gmail.com with a brief professional history, an electronic portfolio or example of your work and a resume or cv if you have one. If you do not have extensive photographs or an electronic portfolio, please also indicate when you would be available to come to the shop with your book.

You can check them out on their website here and their Facebook page here.

If you are qualified and interested in working at ATC, you can reach out to Josefa at 413.253.0972 and/or

amhersttattoocompany@gmail.com.

Anyone who has recently had work done by artists Michael Williams or MJ Beaton, and would like to share, feel free to email photos to Tattoosday@gmail.com.

Minggu, 14 Juli 2013

Bastille Day Special - Jessica Loves "La Tour Eiffel"

It's Bastille Day in France, so I thought we could celebrate by sharing a tattoo from Jessica, who I met last month at the end-of-season gathering for the Brooklyn Crescents lacrosse club here in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn:

This lovely tattoo of the Eiffel Tower, France's most recognizable landmark. Jessica got this from an artist named Kurt in Wilmington, Delaware. It just reinforces her love of the Eiffel Tower and French culture.

Thanks to Jessica for helping us celebrate Bastille Day here on Tattoosday!