You are what you are. I am what I am.

Pressures from outside trying to push you into the lane of who they 06. MATT VAN CURA Issue 2. The Soul.
want you to be. But at the end of the day, while alone, we know who we are and what we have done. It’s up ThyHeartsEye.com
to us to remain true to ourselves. Printed in the USA.
20. MARY JOY
Can you live with the choices you make every day? Can you live with who you are? These are the questions
we must face as we continue thru the strange matrix we are in.
30. THE SOUL OF A TATTOO
There is a constant ebb and flow of self righteousness and self loathing throughout our everyday. People see
us from the outside, but only know the facade we choose to show them. Why are we here? What is our mark?
Do you have a mark, or are you comfortable being a cog? 34. MISCONDUCT Issue 1. The Travelers.
Available Print & Digital
As the years have passed and as I have tried to figure this out, I’ve begun to realize how hard this game can thyheartseye.com
36. RAKING LIGHT PROJECTS
be to navigate. There is a continual influence and a continuous push from outside variables trying to derail
our path. It is up to us to overcome these obstacles and move forward no matter how arduous.
42. CARATOES
Heart’s Eye has become my therapeutic answer to this. It has become a way I can say fuck all to the conforms
and surround myself with the personalities, the art, the conversations and the beauty of each person in each
issue and remain true to myself. 52. BOOKS CLOSED
The friendships and conversations that have come from this project are ones that will remain with me for
eternity. While this project is for me and my journey, I’m hoping it will ignite something in you. Some ember 58. DEBRA YARIAN
you can take and use to stoke the fire within yourself.

Thanks for the support. 62. BURNING QUESTION

Thanks for looking.
Thanks for reading and thanks for being you. 64. THE MORE YOU KNOW,
- kent THE LESS YOU KNOW
@_kentsmith_
76. TRIBAL TATTOO TOUR

79. NO LIES JUST BULLSHIT

Concept, Design & Publishing by:

Kent Smith | @_hearts.eye_
2019
Matt Van Cura is someone who I have witnessed grow as a tattooist and as a
person, in a myriad of ways over the past 12 years since first meeting him on
Long Island where he worked at Lark Tattoo. A friendship I am very grateful
for, Finding myself inspired by his commitment to tattooing and how hard he
has worked to get where he is through out his career, Not only personally but
professionally. Striving to improve upon what he does and who he is.

- Thomas Hooper

Thomas: When I started to learn to tattoo, my teacher asked me a question,

I’m gonna start with that same question, he asked me. “Why should you be
a tattooer, what will you bring to tattooing?”

Matt: You know I’ve asked other tattooists that same question, mainly to motivate
a better drawing when they ask my advice on what they should do. Funny thing
is I’ve never asked myself that, there’s no way I would come up with a good
brief answer for that when I was looking to start out tattooing or really now. It’s
healthy though to question yourself and your motivations, sometimes one of the
ways I question my artwork for a tattoo would be “Is this something I would be
stoked to wear? Is this something I would put on my close friend or loved one?”
Sometimes I’ll ask myself, “ What makes you think I’m so ‘bad ass’ of an artist
that people are gonna pay good money to wear my drawings?” It’s hard not to
come off self-important with this sort of subject, in my mind’s eye there are a lot
of times that I’m not sure I should be a tattooer! Certainly, early on when I felt
like every single stroke of the tattoo process was an uphill battle, I didn’t give
up, I’m still learning every day, handling it with care and doing my best to put
some heart into it, it can definitely be a challenge some days. I have given a lot
away to tattooing, sacrificed some of my sanity and wellbeing, countless hours
and sleepless nights throughout the years chasing something in it, It’s been
the only constant in my life for a long time, I’m still trying to cultivate it, to make
myself a better tattooer. I’m very grateful for everything it has given me, I’m no
renaissance man, or shaman, but I’ve given it all I got.

What was the first tattoo you remember seeing, that made you want to be
a tattooist?

Well, I think the first tattoos I ever saw were on my dad, he was tattooed, before
I was born, got his first tattoo in the early 50s, I think. I was always attracted to
tattoos and wasn’t sure if it could be a real actual thing you could do to make
a living. As soon as I could figure out how to do hand poked homemade stuff,
me and my buddies were doing them. So, it’s really hard to say, I didn’t see
something in a magazine tattooed on somebody that made me say, “Oh, that’s
what I want to do,” you know, but…. I was already doing it before I knew it.

When was this?

Probably when I was around 13, I was intrigued by people with tattoos, the
lifestyle that seemed to go along with it, Maybe it was the lifestyle and that
person was tattooed, who knows? I was really drawn to underground music,
the rebellious statement and the punk rock reckless nature of it all, of course
people inside that culture were tattooed and you wanted to mark yourself, I
don’t know for what real reason, if any. I remember talking to my dad and other
friends about wanting to be a tattooer, I was already interested in drawing and
was thinking about it, whenever somebody asked me “What do you want to be
when you grow up?” I’d say, “You know, I want to be some sort of artist. I want
to draw or paint or do comic books or tattoo.” My pops would say, “Tattooing is
not something you want to do, it’s not the kind of world you want to be in. It can
be a rough place.” So, you know, I was like, “Okay. I get it,” but that just made
me want to do it more.

In a way, he was my biggest influence, with tattooing in general. He had tattoo

magazines like Tattoo Advocate and Tattoo Time, different books that he had
hidden away. I remember being that shitty little kid who digs through his parents’
stuff when they’re not around and was just like, “Whoa, you know, I don’t think
I’m supposed to see this stuff,” but….
That’s an exposure to tattoo culture and
real tattooing at an early age, not many
people have had that, its pretty amazing
and special.
It wasn’t easy stuff to get ahold of either, you
had to find a place that would sell that type
of magazine or book and we were in North
Texas in the early 80s, I don’t know where that
would have been found. Maybe it was a porno
shop or something, who knows? I had no idea
where he came across that kind of thing, but it
was amazing, he was obviously trying to keep
it out of my sight. When he would come home
with a new tattoo, he wouldn’t want to show
it off, I would try to ask him about it and he
would avoid the situation or the conversation.
I don’t know if it’s just because he didn’t want
me to run out and try to get one, but it just
made me more intrigued by it all.
My friends and I had a homemade machine,
I guess, rig you could call it, you know, with
something we made out of a remote-controlled
car motor, a spoon, a pen and a transformer.
You just plugged it into the wall, there was no
on or off switch or voltage control! At this point
I was doing tattoos in my bedroom, probably
around the age of 16 or 17 and I was taking it
really serious. Even though it was some of the
worst, most unsanitary conditions, I was trying
to be clean about everything, I had some Lysol
and some latex gloves, my parents weren’t
very happy about it at all.
Anyway, I was kind of picking away at it and I get my first professional tattoo, I drew it and
just went for it, I was trying to figure out how to the guy said, “Yeah, I can do that. Let me going to tattoo me now?” He said, “No. Frank Romano at Slinging Ink, he taught me a to, I like to go to Europe to tattoo at Black Horse
make a needle, I remember someone talking just clean it up,” and I was like, “what do you I’m going to set you up and you’re going lot about tuning machines and pulling “clean” Tattoo, those guys are awesome and I probably
about how a needle was supposed to be a mean?” You know? to do your own tattoo.” And, he set me lines, using proper line weights, etc. I never had get out there about once a year.
group of needles, not just a sewing needle up with a machine. I don’t know if he a start-to-finish apprenticeship, luckily people
which was what we would use and trying to Yes, I do! I did exactly the same thing set it up the way he would do it or just in have been open enough to push me along Is there a particular image, a singular tattoo
understand how to do that. I remember I was with my first tattoo! Was there a defining a safe kind of way, like maybe back the through out my career. I think no matter who that sits with you, that makes you think,
trying to use a soldering iron and just melting moment? At what moment did you think, needle up or whatever. But, I remember teaches you, eventually it’s your responsibility “Man, if I could just capture the feeling and
shit, just not really knowing what I was doing, “Okay, I’m going to go do this in a shop just sitting there trying to tattoo this to take it where you want it take you. I had quite execution that tattoo had?”
but it was something I was compelled to learn professionally” What made you walk in the eyeball with bat wings on my thigh and a few home base shops, Slinging Ink, Kustom
to do.It was a weird time. Was just totally doors of the tattoo shop and ask for your just struggling, sweating, freaking out, Kulture, Lark Tattoo, Richie’s Tattoo, DaVinci I had a copy of A to Z a while before attempting
obsessed with it. first job? not knowing what to do, I couldn’t figure Tattoo, Invisible NYC. Currently I’m at Elm Street to tattoo…Man, that tattoo on the cover,
out the foot pedal. Just trying to get Tattoo in Dallas TX, I moved up here from Great the dragon circling the Japanese Hell King
There’s the whole LSD thing too. I pretty Didn’t really go down like that at all, man. a line was virtually impossible, don’t Wave in Austin. Nowadays I don’t really get out that Huck Spaulding did, I was like, “That’s
much decided that tattooing was where I was It was all kinda ludicrous actually. I’d hang know how long I was there, it seemed and travel regularly to tattoo as much as I used it!” That’s what they’re supposed to be like.
headed on a trip. around their tattoo shop a lot, I really just like hours, but I’m sure it wasn’t long
wanted to tattoo. I kept pestering them about enough before he was like, “OK, you see
I remember looking through tattoo magazines it a-lot, I had a few tattoos and I remember what I mean, ain’t easy is it?”
before tattooing for a living and thinking it talking to the owner of the shop “Man, I just
was the customer’s idea that made the tattoo really want to get tattooed today. I just don’t So, I went home and started drawing a
good or bad and whether or not the tattooer have any money,” I remember thinking, “Well, bunch of different stuff. I kept bringing
tattooed it well or not wasn’t even really a what’s the big deal? Why can’t you do a tattoo the drawings in to them. Because I kind
thought. for cheap?” I probably I had 10 bucks or of figured I was in and needed to prove I
something. He responded “I would never do could draw or something.
There were 5 or 10 names we’d see over a tattoo for $10. You’re out of your mind.” I
and over again, some stood out with a was like, “What’s the big deal, man? It’s just a “Hey guys, look I’ve done a tattoo now,
certain recognizable look but I still didn’t drawing, man, hook me up!” I obviously really let’s do this! Gimmie a job!” I’m sure it
really understand it as individual style that had no idea of what it took and what it was was pretty funny, the point he was trying
each tattooer had, I just kind of figured there really about, I was being a complete jerk about to make I didn’t really get, but it got me
was the stuff that people got tattooed, the it. But, he said, “Okay, so it’s no big deal and hooked on it. Then one of the guys there,
standards that were on the wall, and then it’s really nothing and its worth 10 bucks, Why his name’s Dru Bias, set me up with
if you were an idiot with a bad idea that’s don’t you draw something for me that you Time Machine to get some equipment
why you had a bad tattoo. Which, is yeah, want tattooed on you and I’ll set you up?” I and I was doing homemade tattoos,
sometimes the case anyway! When I went to was like, “I’m sorry, what? You mean you’re or I should say doing tattoos at home.
Then, bringing the person in bleeding
and saying, “Okay, I’m stuck here. What
do I do?” They’d laugh and say “How are
you setting your machine up?” They’d
fuck with me too. They’d say, “Did you
sterilize your ink?” and I’d be like, “What
do you mean?” Totally crazy shit, just
unreal thinking back on it.
I continued to tattoo in my house until
somebody saw something like a decent
enough and basically, a message got to
me “If you’re going to be doing any kind
of tattoos, you need to be doing them in
a shop and you’re going to work for us.”
So, that was it, from there I started off
at Slinging Ink on Long Island, it was a
totally different group of people I never
met before and it was miles out of the
way from where I was living, I didn’t have
a car, I was taking trains all over the
place. To try to get to this place by three
o’clock I’d leave home at 10:00 a.m.
it definitely wasn’t easy. They helped
me a lot, I wouldn’t say it was a full-
on apprenticeship, but they definitely
hazed me and they definitely guided me
into doing a better tattoo. Trial by fire.
So who would you say taught you?
At first, hard luck! But I got pointers from
Dru (Allegiance Tattoo TX) I met “Florida”
There’s some sort of look about it that I just didn’t really know how
to explain. Back then I didn’t know what a traditional, old school or a
Japanese tattoo was, I didn’t have a real idea of what any of that was,
but it stuck out as “THE LOOK.” There’s something about it, man—I
had stopped in S&W, I was probably about 19 or 20, and there was
something about the way the whole placed looked, smelled, the way
the tattoos on the wall looked. I didn’t understand that as a traditional
American style. I just saw that it had a certain energy and feeling that
I wanted to capture. When I was a kid living back in Texas, I knew the
Randy Adams Tattoo Studio and Pair’O’Dice where the places to go
and I knew they were really good, but I wouldn’t have been able to give
you a sophisticated answer as to why exactly. I wouldn’t have been
able to really break down as to what it is that I’m seeing. When I saw
Maaske’s stuff, it had whip shading, but I didn’t know what that was,
I thought, “Oh, that’s that look, it’s that fast-looking look. It looks like
it’s a tattoo,” and I hadn’t seen anybody really doing that.

When was that?

I think that was probably around ’99 or 2000. When I went into S&W I
was scared, when I saw an acetate stencil for the first time and it had
Vaseline, ink and blood on it, it was scary, I thought, “I don’t know if
want to get tattooed over here or not.” Looking back on it, I really wish
I had, but there is a lot of that, —a lot of things I wished I had done, I
never even took the time to read through the magazines my dad had, I
just looked at the pictures. There was information that I missed, I just
completely passed over it.

You got the information that was relevant to get you here though.

Exactly.
What tattooist has the most influence on you? Is there a particular
person that plays a huge role in you’re tattooing?
It’s different people at different times, there’s
a long list of people, currently, there’s a group
of people that I’ll run things by, they all have
a different opinion. The guys I worked with
at Invisible have been the biggest influence
on everything that I do in tattooing, they’re
all different in their own way, but they are all
interested in the same kind of thing. Every
one of them has a certain energy to their
tattoos, a real educated formula to it all, a
real specific look they’re going for and they
are encouraging of my take on it too, which
is refreshing. So, there’s a lot of help that
I’ll get, but it really is up to me. There are
some tattooists that have some really, really
strong specific formulas and parameters that
they will work in. I’ll just do whatever I want
anyway and if it works, I’ll work with it for a
while. If it doesn’t, I’ll move on to the next
thing. I like taking risks and mixing things
up a bit. I don’t like to do it so much on
the customer unless they’re into that sorta
experimental stuff. I don’t think there is one
specific artist I’m influenced by the most,
take Chris Garver, I don’t think I’ll ever be
able to achieve the look that he has, but his
point of view on drawing and layout, really
changed a lot of ways about how I approach
tattooing and drawing. I’d be breaking my
ass on a drawing, at Invisible and I’d get
up to take a leak, and when I’d come back,
he’d have drawn the same tattoo exactly the
way it really should look on a napkin in 4
seconds. Well, fuck. How am I going to draw
it any better than that?
The guys at Elm Street, they have a lot to
offer and I’ve been picking up a lot from
them, a lot of technical things, a lot of things
that I have overlooked over the years. So,
sometimes I just kind of throw it out there
to a few people, “What do you think about
this?” And, of course, I’m going to get five
different answers, you know. I like that it
makes me think and keeps me on my toes.
There’s a gamble to trying new stuff and
asking for help in how to do it. While
you want to take a risk, you don’t want
to gamble with it being a piece of shit or
amazing, you want to gamble with it being
amazing or pretty damn good.
Yeah totally. I mean I’m not gonna tattoo you
with melted crayons or some shit! I remember
asking you questions, about things, you never
laid it out, “Do it the way I do it,” or “This is
how I do it.” You said, “I see what you’re going
for here. Maybe you should look at so and so
or maybe you’d be interested in this. Or, this
might be a good avenue for you to take this,”
and I always thought that was interesting
because obviously I wasn’t trying to do what
you were doing, but I respected your opinion
and your eye for a certain aesthetic.
hank you, I always try to think of ways to
approach things, that give them their own
life and little bit of history.
Which artist has had the most influence
on you, an illustrator or painter that’ll fire
you up to make you want to rethink and
look at how you draw and approach your
work? Someone that has nothing to do
with tattooing.
Right now, Virgil Finlay.
He’s amazing.
I’ve always been attracted to pen and ink
drawings, I like different line weights and
his compositions are incredible. There’s a
ton of them really, the one who has always
been influential to me in and out of tattooing
is the late Greg Irons. There’s definitely been
times where I’ve really tried to channel that
look. Definitely not easy, it’s such a signature
and specific look. And some of it I can’t really
make any sense of how he arrived there, he
was extremely prolific. I feel like he changed
everything in the short time that he did
tattoo.
Totally.
With Iron’s it’s more than the tattoos, I think
it’s the energy of his work on paper I get into.
There is this other, illustrator, his name is
Ploog, he was a comic guy, another huge,
personal influence on me. So much style, he
really created a fresh look. Hokusai as well,
I know that’s obvious, but that’s a big one
for me as well. Just seeing how he breaks
things down into shapes. I was never really
taught how to draw scholastically or anything
like that. Breaking things down into simple
shapes and math might be obvious for some
 the fear that everything is gonna go wrong and they end up somehow You want to keep it looking like a human made it.
manifesting a shit experience. There have been times that this kind
of thing has gotten me down and jaded. Oh yeah, for sure, there’s a different interpretation about the way
people but it never has been for me. There’s a
whole bunch of information that I gathered about anything can look, but in my world if some big trucker comes in off
Nowadays I do my best to be harmonious. It takes a lot of energy to the street and he wants an eagle on his arm, that thing has got to
drawing from a ‘How To Draw Comics The Marvel
be patient sometimes but it’s all worth it in the end. Takes all kinds. look like a fucking eagle, I like that guy, who’s just looking for that.
Way’, Stan Lee and John Buscema, that was the
Not every client is good for every tattooer and vice versa. But then, there’s the guy who’s looking to involve all his dreams and
first book that I saw about drawing that didn’t
seem incredibly stiff or stuffy. all those things into one tattoo and sometimes I’m all, “Well, maybe
What’s your future focus in tattooing? you just need an eagle,” I feel like every situation is different and
What’s the most profound experience you I just try to do the best I can with it. I’m not trying to change the
I’m just along for the ride really, I wouldn’t say I’m flying by the seat of world with my tattoos, I’m not really trying to push any agenda with
have had whilst tattooing someone?
my pants, but I do like a bit of a balance between the random sort of tattoos on people either. If they see it and they like it and we’ve had
walk-in-type tattooing and then the more elaborate larger tattooing, I that discussion, then yeah, that’s great. But, I know what I definitely
What Does a gold coin mean to a monkey?
think what I’m focused on is adding a link to the chain of the classic don’t want to do, I can tell you that, I don’t want to spend my time
styles. Into the East meets West ascetic, I know its not new, but I like doing something I don’t want to do. It’s just not fair to the customer,
Our craft is at the same time completely
the way they merge. Western iconography is so broad, to me Eastern it’s not fair to me. I’ve become more and more protective over my
serious and heavy, a permanent drawing on
things are still so mysterious and powerful. I like the idea of a little time, so, if I take something on that I know is going to involve a lot of
a human that is marked by an interaction
more fantasy style western images with Japanese backgrounds and time and effort on my end, it’s going to be something that I want to
between client and artist, how do you feel
layouts, putting that stuff on as big as I can. I like when I’m working do that I can sink my teeth in and I think that its fair to say, “I’m not
about this interaction and what does this
with the person and I can help guide them into a bigger, better tattoo the artist for you,” if it’s not what I want to do.
experience do to your every day view of the
world?
I guess I don’t want to take it too far away from the giants whose You don’t want a customer to have this tattoo where for 20
shoulders I’m standing on so to speak, but I don’t want to just copy. hours or even 20 minutes the tattooist is sitting there going,
If you think about it you might not even remember
I don’t want to just tattoo antique flash designs, but I do enjoy doing “Fuck this tattoo. Fuck this person. I don’t want to be doing
the person you tattooed or even the particular
them when they come around. this.” Even if the person doesn’t pick up on it that sucks.
tattoo you did for them, but they most likely
will remember almost every word you said, the
Yeah, that makes total sense. Exactly, I’m definitely more aware of that now than I ever have been
music you were playing, and every bit of your vibe
right down to your socks! The more a tattooer is about that sort of energy transference. If you’re not nice and if they
But, I also like the person that just wants a name tattooed on them. can tell that you’re annoyed or that you don’t want to do it, you put
tattooed, or the more often they are, I think they
are aware of this sorta energy transference. I’ve that on them and it’s that thought and that memory of that moment
It’s just as meaningful. is with them forever because most people I’ve tattooed more than
been tattooed by people that were in bad moods
and it’s definitely in the memory every time I see once will tell me about the conversations that we’ve had. They
It’s just as fun to do as well. I just really like to do tattoos, almost remember almost every word, probably what they had for breakfast
that tattoo. You could think you’ve done the best
really as many as I can do, I’m not really the type of person who that day and I barely remember that because it’s the daily grind.
tattoo you’ve ever did on someone and if your
wants to do just one tattoo a day, one extremely thought out tattoo a So, I’ve been a bit more selective and particular, fortunately I’m in a
attitude was off it won’t be a great tattoo to them.
day kind of a thing. I like the energy of the moment, I like my tattooing position to be that way too, because there where many years where
to reflect a very human energy, I don’t want to say folky and raw and I would take on everything and anything, any person because that
Some of it can be the client and their perspective,
loose as much, but a little bit of that is a good thing. Maybe even was what I thought you were supposed to do.
sometimes you get a psychic vampire that drains
50% of that is a good thing, you know….
the life outta ya. They’ll go into the situation with
What I’m producing is important to me and if I’m not feeling it, it’s
just not fair to them or me. There’s certainly enough tattooers out
there for all the different jobs and clients.
On average, how much do you tattoo a week?
I tattoo four days a week. I was pulling open to close hours (2pm-
12am and 12pm to 2am) for a year solid. Tattooing just about that
entire time well over 40 hrs in the 4 days. Now, I’m Fortunate enough
to have appointments to do at our private studio, Heart in Hand.
That is amazing.
I’m doing very little sitting on my hands or painting flash or whatever
it is that you do in your downtime. There’s a lot of work for everybody
at the shop, none of us are sacrificing quality for quantity. Every
one of us is putting out the best we can do and we’re looking over
each other’s shoulders for sure, I put all my know-how into every
tattoo I do. And, some of its auto pilot, but I’m never careless. At first
coming to Elm St, I was concerned about burning myself out, doing
tattoos carelessly or feeling the pressure to have to be fast. I don’t
think I’m a slow tattooer usually, but whatever it takes to get the job
done right, If I have to slow down, I will. I’m not just tattooing and
sleeping. On my day off I usually spend a little bit of time taking care
of house stuff, and then I go to the Odd Fellow Lodge.
How long have you been doing that?
It’s been less than a year.
What drew you to the Odd Fellows?
To try to do something positive, and selfless for once in my life.
Tattooing can be kind of a selfish, ego trip, I want to do something
for somebody else, do something good, put some positivity back into
the world. I’ve definitely had my experiences with being a negative
selfish person, maybe I felt some sort of security or strength in
being oppositional, negative or angry.
Being loving and vulnerable, charitable and kind, those are signs of real
strength and they do give me something to look forward to outside of just
tattooing all the time.
To be charitable and to do things for people, to show love for strangers as
well as people you know and people you’re connected to. You have to turn it
inwards as well, otherwise you can’t do it. So, it stops me from being negative.
I’m learning that being selfless to a certain degree does more for you than any
selfish thing you can ever do. You can’t hate yourself and run around doing
nice things for other people. It just doesn’t work. It takes a lot more energy to
be angry and hateful and negative than it does to be positive and then you
gain so much more in your personal life. You can’t be a scumbag and a good
guy at the same time. You just can’t.
No, you cant.
Also, I ain’t trying to preach and I’m FAR from perfect, I’m just trying not to be
an asshole all the time.
If I want to represent myself as a basically good person, then I have to actively
be a good person. Funny that being reckless and self destructive sorta brought
me to tattooing, but now I want it to be positive and enriching.
You used have to be reckless to get tattooed as well……
Yeah, to a certain degree.
There’s a self-destructive nature to the tattooing that when you’re
learning, to do it properly, to tattoo, for 15-plus years and do 50, 60
hours a week just so you can be good, there’s a unhealthy nature to
that, to be a workaholic and just grind, just go work for
12 hours.

Its like you have to do it that way to do it well, starting to

realize you won’t be doing it well for very long if you don’t
take care of your soul. When you’re doing something good
for someone else, you’re facing yourself. And, if you’re doing
it just because you really just want to do something good for
someone, that takes a lot of inward self-reflection to do it,
to do it without any kind of ulterior motive, it’s a really good
feeling.

Don’t get me wrong, tattooing does a lot for me. I like that
it gives people a certain amount of confidence or it makes
them feel part of something, but it’s not all I want to be or all
I want to contribute to life.

It also doesn’t really actualize me, if I couldn’t tattoo anymore,

if I broke my hands and I couldn’t use them like I wanted to
or, whatever it is, if I went blind, it doesn’t make me who I
am entirely. I want to be in touch with myself in a way that
what I do as a person and who I am as a person to another
person is way more important, because you can very easily
lose tattooing or whatever it is that you do, and then what?

You can’t have it define who you are.

The world is crazy enough, I would rather not add to the

problems and be more of a solution if I can. I want to see
other people who love this as much as I do succeed and
have a good time doing it too. Whoever nurtures this thing
deserves it.

What tattooing allows us to do and where it takes us,

I think is incredible. And, I think, you know, when you
get stuck in it really deep, you can end up only ever
caring about tattooing, what you’re tattooing and who
is tattooing what, its dangerous. There’s a larger picture
out there, you can’t just get caught up with the next big
thing on social media. Remember when it was just you
and a core group of friends that were just showing sharing
pictures and stuff, giving critique and advice. Now with
the Internet everything thing is amplified, its gotten out
of control, every week or day, it’s all about what is the big
new tattoo that just got finished, although its raised the
bar of quality and communication, its like tattooing has
been given steroids.

It really has! Happens so fast! Standards have gone through

the roof. People have really used it as vehicle to take it
so much farther in so many ways. Before all this, maybe
somebody put a tattoo, a game changer type of tattoo in a
magazine. It would take a few months for that to settle in.
Just the whole process for it get photographed, developed,
published and then passed around and seen and talked
about. Now, in 10 minutes, somebody’s topped somebody
else’s tattooing, maybe not intentionally but its become a
kind of another rat race. I try to be on my own trip, If I see
something that I think is amazing, maybe it subconsciously
influences me, but, yeah, I don’t ever feel like it’s a worldwide
competition or something.

There’s an overabundance of quality, an amazing amount

of creativity.

Very true. It’s really interesting, I’ve heard it come out of

several tattooers’ mouths that they want to stay relevant or
they feel like they’re forgotten or they’re just another tattooer.
And, I’m like, “You know, maybe that picture of the tattoo that
you did that you didn’t even really put too much stock into, 25
years from now is more relevant than it was at the moment.” I
deleted Instagram probably three times. This last time it was
because I think to a certain degree I put a little bit of emotional
stock in it, It was evoking certain emotional responses, I felt
maybe human beings are not meant to see all that information.

I noticed the difference in the type of people I was tattooing

when I backed out of using social media for a short time.
Some of my best clients, some of my favorite people to work

you photograph that tattoo, your thought is, “Okay, I’m going to post it. How is
this going to be represented?” Whatever it is, there’s all these thoughts of how
it’s going to be seen, but it’s getting away from how does it look right now for
the person, for the tattoo, and not how is it going to look in this public forum. So
without it I was just doing tattoos, I didn’t care who saw it except for the person
that it’s on and the immediate eyes in their life. It was such a good feeling to just
do an honest tattoo for that person and for that moment. I did a couple of what I
thought was really good, if I had an active social media I would’ve posted them, but
I didn’t, it was a good feeling. How many times can you see some amazing shit and
not be desensitized to it, I don’t want social media to ruin the way I see and enjoy
tattooing. I don’t want to be overexposed to it. Its always better in person, it’s so
much better when you’re there and you get to see it alive and real.

Matt can be found here:

@ mattvancura
www.mattvancuratattoo.com
with, some of my favorite tattooing that I’ve done don’t even
have social media. It’s an interesting phenomenon because
it’s almost as if people have let that second life become their
real life, I don’t want to be plugged into The Matrix like that,
as cliché as that sounds. Being in the moment, what’s right in
front of me is the most important thing. But, I do realize that it
is a direct line to the client, it’s a direct way to put yourself out
there. You don’t have to send 15 4x6 35-mm camera photos, to
a magazine and maybe six months later they might go to print,
if you’re lucky.

I thought it was kind of funny because when I reestablished

social media and I just put a bunch of pictures on that were
older. Seemed a lot of folks thought I had just done them and
it was as if they never saw them. I wear it like a loose garment
now, I don’t really care so much, I use it, but I don’t really put
any stock in the reach or response it has. It doesn’t have an
emotional value to me, its entertainment and advertisement.
If you do a tattoo and you don’t post it to Instagram, does
it really exist?

Yeah right!? Exactly! I found myself reevaluating how I thought

about things a little bit because without really knowing it, when
Good evening, this is Matt Howse, and tonight I have the honor
and pleasure of interviewing my friend and colleague Mary Joy
Scott. We’re going to discuss her life, where and how she fell in
love with tattooing, what motivates her and a bit of what’s behind
her beautiful tattoos, paintings and illustrations. Her work has
been shown and published worldwide, and to know her and be her
friend is a privilege. We sat down in the front drawing area of Tattoo
City in San Francisco’s North Beach, the legendary shop where
Mary works, where she started tattooing in 2007, and where she
completed her apprenticeship under Don Ed Hardy himself.
Where were you born? Grow up?
I grew up in Davis, California. It’s a small university town with plenty
of art and culture. My dad was getting his first degree in French at
UCD and my mom did tribal belly-dance. When I was 7, we moved
to woodland and that was a pretty standard suburban place to
grow up. I have an older sister who introduced me to good music
and two younger brothers that I rampaged with.
My dad made me read a lot and took me to museums. He introduced
me to Shakespeare, Poe, Chaucer and instilled a deep love of the
past and classic literature and art.
My mom gave me an abiding love of nature and a strong work
ethic. I got my first job at 10... a paper route with 141 papers. I
think I got paid $1 a month for each paper. I rode a dirt bike and
took karate classes.
Once I hit junior high I had discovered punk rock and started going
to shows. My first concert I went to with friends (no parents) was
when I was 13... the Cramps at the Crest Theater in Sacramento.
Wow what an eye-opener that was! I used to come to San Francisco
for music shows and to shop for band shirts and combat boots.
Haight Street was the place... Daljeet’s, Wasteland, The Anarchist
Bookstore...
Album cover art really lit me up and I copied designs on friends’
leather jackets, designed flyers and drew portraits of my favorite
musicians. I was always good at school. I learned early on that I
could do what I wanted if I got good grades. I spent most of my time
in the art room. I was obsessed with war and dark imagery, piles of
skulls, severed heads hanging on trees, soldiers, that sort of thing.
A lot of this came from the music I liked and a willingness I have
always had to look at the darker side of things.
What are your 3 favorite bands?
I don’t think I can keep it at 3... music is essential to me. Punk
rock, post punk, black metal and classical are my favorite genres.
Siouxsie and the Banshees, Bauhaus, Joy Division, Chopin,
Beethoven, Burzum, Arckanum, Darkthrone, Sabbath, Maiden,
Bad Brains, the Clash, the Cramps. I could go on...
What sort of subject matter did you love to draw as a kid?
I liked to draw animals, people, plants. I got in trouble in first grade
for drawing Wonder Woman every day. The teacher forbade me
from drawing her. So I drew a cat instead with Wonder Woman in
the background. Screw you Ms. Taylor! I’m going to draw what I
want. Haha.
Like I said, my dad took me to museums a lot as a kid. He liked
Impressionism a lot but I was always drawn to the Romantics,
medieval hell scenes and Dutch still life painting. We went to
the Crocker in Sacramento often and the Legion of Honor in San
Francisco. They both have excellent collections and it was key to
see those works up close at a young age.
How old were you when you first got tattooed?
It took me a while to get my first tattoo. I designed tattoos for
friends a lot but I was terrified of needles. I used to black out a little
when I got my blood drawn so I thought I wouldn’t be able to handle
it. So I waited until I had finished college to grow enough balls to
get my first one.
At this time, I was making zines and murals. I
painted signs for money and designed logos for
cafes and small businesses. I was showing my
work in small galleries like Needles and Pens,
Brown Bear Gallery, and Club 6. I worked my way
into shows at the Luggage Store and Yerba Buena
Center for the Arts.
I guest curated shows... the best one was called
Exquisite Corpse. It was at Needles and Pens
and I got people to contribute drawings they did
together by folding the paper and passing it on.
I always enjoyed collaborative works like this.
The transmission of ideas through the paper
subconsciously and the sharing of artistic energy
in interesting to me. I suppose this is why I got
into tattooing and why I continue to work on group
projects like the Breakfast Club book.
What was the tattoo?
My first tattoo was a flaming heart on my sleeve.
Cheesy I know but it has always been relevant for
me. I still love the tattoo. I researched everything
painstakingly and got a sacred flaming heart. At
this point I knew about traditional tattooing but
I loved the idea of tattoos that looked like art. I
suppose these have always been the two looks I
have tried to combine in my tattooing. So often,
you lose the power of a traditional tattoo when you
make it look like “art”. So I try really hard to retain
that look... always a black outline, always plenty of
black, dynamic perimeter... it’s that idea of deep
time. You know this tattoo is going to change and
erode and shift as the person ages. So it has to
have the foundational structure to last.
One day I asked Ed for a dragon tattoo on my arm. He said he didn’t want money for
it... but we could trade for some of my art. He visited my studio and then drove me to
the shop (we were both working that day). On the way there, he asked me if I wanted
to start tattooing. So I said yes. I never expected that and I was sort of in shock when it
happened. He told me to get a drawing ready and that I would tattoo myself on Sunday.
That was Wednesday, so I had a few days to prepare. Haha. Trial by fire. So I tattooed
myself with a Jerry rose and my learning began. I started tattooing at the shop for
money within the year. That was also super difficult. Starting at Tattoo City. Fuck... no
pressure! Aaaaand...I got pregnant a year after I started. So I had to do the whole deal
while becoming a parent. I just powered thru it all. No time to cry...
At what point in your life did you know you wanted to be a tattooer? What were
you doing at that time?
I had vague ideas about it from the time I was a teenager because I designed tattoos
for friends and painted band logos on leather jackets. It wasn’t until I graduated from
college and was getting tattooed every chance I got, that I knew it was for me. At that
time, I was showing art in galleries, curating shows, making art zines and painting
murals. I also painted signs for money and did some illustration projects.
Describe your apprenticeship under Ed:
So Ed looked at every tattoo I did while I was learning and critiqued them mercilessly.
He was also very encouraging the whole time. This was perfect for me. The combination
of critical feedback and support was incredible. He still offers this to me. It is a great
gift and one that I have been so lucky to have in my life and career. Ed’s eye misses
nothing. He set me up Rollomatics and Bulldogs when I started. Kahlil Rintye helped
me with everything else. He is still someone I ask advice of. He’s one of the best
tattooers out there and I am proud that I came up under Ed and Kahlil. Doug Hardy

How did you first meet Ed Hardy?

I met Ed in 2004 when I was curating an art show

of tattoo history. It was a show called “Gettin’ it on,
the history of the tattoo stencil” and it featured
works from the collection of CW Eldridge and Don
Ed Hardy. I suddenly had hectograph stencils on
tracing paper from the 1890s in my hands... and
original acetate stencils cut by Jerry, Joe Lieber,
Bert Grimm. Ed came in the gallery and painted 4
big rad paintings right in front of me. My head sort
of exploded. He had a big canvas on the wall and
he just freehanded a girl head with eagle wings
and flags... symmetrical and 4’ x 6’. It was awe
inspiring. He asked to see my art and went to see
a mural I was working on. He is always excited to
see new art and we struck up a friendship.

How did you start working for him - and

ultimately apprenticing under him?

I got tattooed by him right after the gallery show.

I got a tiger on my right arm. It was an incredible
experience. A little while later, I got the phone call
from Ed… Kahlil (Rintye) had suggested me as a
front person for the shop. Josh the other front guy
besides Aleph was moving to Portland so I jumped
at the chance. I worked for a while at the front
and I busted ass. I never told anyone I wanted to
tattoo since I never thought it was a possibility.
also has been a mentor to me. I get all the good Malone stories from
him and Doug has an encyclopedic knowledge of tattooing.
What are your favorite things to tattoo?
Girl heads, castles, skeletons, devils, cats, birds, plants. I always love
the classics too. Lately I have had a ton of back piece projects in the
works so I enjoy working things out on a large scale.
Who would you say are the tattooers (alive or dead) who you
draw the most influence and inspiration from?
Ed Hardy, Greg Irons, George Burchett, George Bigmore, Christian
Wahrlich, Pinky Yun, Owen Jensen, Chris Nelson, Tom Berg, Percy
Waters, Fred Marquand, Freddy Negrete, Dan Higgs, Theo Mindell,
Tim Lehi, Chris Conn, Jack Rudy, Good Time Charlie.
How much of Ed’s influence do you see in your own drawing and
tattooing?
Plenty. I have a different overall style than him but he busted me for
years on lazy mistakes and sloppiness which made me grow. I wasn’t
able to get away with the first try on anything. So I pushed harder
every day. I learned how to research and use nature as a guide. Ed
has taught me so much over the years, it’s hard to quantify it. He
really has this special ability to imbue his work with a vitality that
people instantly respond to. It’s alive!! As the monster movies say...
That energy and life is what I always strive for. You have to put some
of your self into every drawing but the important thing is to let the ego
step aside and allow the work to breathe. This comes from years of
hard work. Time and effort are the keys. There’s no way around that.
What non-tattooer artists do you draw inspiration from?
Dürer, Cranach, Moreau, Beksinski, Alan Lee, Theodor Kittelsen,
Rosaleen Norton, Marjorie Cameron, Ruth Marten (although she
tattooed in the 70s) Caspar David Friedrich, Pushead, Bosch,
Grunewald, Mike Mignola, Frank Frazetta, Caravaggio, damn...I
could go on and on. I studied classical art in Italy at the Accademia
di Belle Arti so Italian Renaissance has a special place in my
heart. Anything medieval, especially illuminated manuscripts and
armor. Victorian die cuts, mourning and cemetery art...endless. I
pore over art books and online archives like a fiend. Don’t we all?!
How massively influential is it working at Tattoo City - from
Ed himself, to the roster of amazing artists who came through
that shop?
Oh it’s beyond...I mean...it’s like working in the ultimate cathedral
of tattooing. So many aspects of modern tattooing originated
there. Higgs, Leo Zulueta, Ed, Grime, Conn, Freddy Corbin, CW
Eldridge. There is insane reference you’ve never seen before for
everything you could want. I feel extremely honored to be a part
of the legacy. I always try to show people around a little when they
come by the shop. I want to share the history with tattooers. It is
part of us all.
What other projects - other than tattooing, are you working
on at the moment?
We just wrapped up The Breakfast Club Book, a collaboration of
tattoo flash and paintings together with you (Matt Howse), Derick
Montez, Mike Giant and Paul Dobleman. I’m very proud and excited
about this one. It’s a beautiful set of flash that grew naturally
out of our true friendship. I am also working on painting a half
size human statue for a tattoo show at the Jewish Contemporary
museum in San Francisco. I am painting a traditional bodysuit
on him. I have a series of pencil drawings inspired by tattoo
imagery that’s just ongoing. One day I would like to do a show of
them. I also make a version of jailhouse paños (ballpoint pen on
handkerchiefs) but I use Victorian wedding handkerchiefs and my
imagery is based in traditional tattoo and the occult.
Mary Joy’s work can be found on Instagram
@maryjoytattoo and on the Tattoo City website tattoocitysf.com
Also: maryjoytattoo.com

What are your thoughts about gender in the industry?

Being female in this industry has been helpful for me but also
difficult. People didn’t and don’t take me seriously sometimes.
This allows me access to situations I wouldn’t have otherwise
since I am not seen as a threat. But that is a double edged sword...
since I am often not treated with respect. I feel a heavy burden to
be strong and set a good example. I once had a photographer ask
me to pose for the cover of a tattoo magazine and I said I would do
it as long as I could pose with my machines in my hands with my
arms crossed like that old picture of Paul Rogers that is one of the
best tattooer portraits ever. I didn’t want to be a “tattoo model”
or cover girl. I wanted to be seen as a tattooer and I thought that
would detract from my work. I’ve always approached it like that
because that is my personality. I know there are many other ways
but this has always been mine.
 It’s easy to forget that we’re playing for all
the marbles. It’s easy to forget in tattooing,
and with art in general. The way the world
is today, Rather than battle for a higher
truth, it’s all about the amount of likes on
Instagram, or how many tattoo fans and
tattooers dig our shit. It’s easy to forget
that it’s art. I mean, most people are just
taking older designs and regurgitating
them to the oohs and aahs of their peers.
Forgetting that life is fragile. No one is
promised tomorrow. But every time a
tattooer stubs his toe, they immediately
set-up a GoFundMe page and throw a
benefit. Now, there’s nothing wrong with
taking care of our own, but then you get
a lot of people doing it just to let people
know they’ve donated. And this is just one
of many examples in our midsts, it’s the
attempt of appearing to be “good dudes”
or “good people,” and it so easily turns
into just a lot of grand standing.
I have always created, ALWAYS, and those
who know me, know, I have many irons
in the fires, creatively, and tattooing is at
the bottom of the pile. But, I was taught
during a time when it was not about self-
creativity, it was about copying a design
off a wall, and I love that. But, in general,
be it my paintings, which, those of you
who have seen my oils and watercolors
hanging at art shows, know, my paintings
have very little to do with tattooing. Sure,
there are a few nods to it, but none in my
oils. And music, well that’s a whole other
photo by Emil Orth
animal, which does involve a little from
tattooing, and tattooers do tend to go to
my shows.
You see, if this is the only time we’re
gonna be on this planet, if there is no
life after death, then the only way we
get everlasting life is in the memory
of those we’ve touched. So, we better
get touching, people. And the best gift
we can give anyone is love. It costs us
nothing and once we give love, it cannot
be given back, it can be reciprocated, but
the love we give, cannot be returned. It
lasts for an eternity. It is forever with the
person we gave it to. I am known as being
generous to a fault, in fact, those are the
exact words from someone who has given
me a lot of love. And to me, this is very
important, but I digress. However, now
stay with me, who has eternal life?
Abraham Lincoln does, right? J.R.R.
Tolkien, Tolstoy, Faulkner, Michelangelo,
Da Vinci, Picasso, Velazquez, Vermeer. I
believe the Beatles have it, Hank Williams
sure does, Robert Johnson, though he
didn’t make a cent, he seemed to have
attained it. My grandfather has it, if I’m
alive, and maybe a little longer, though not
as strong in my kids, who I share stories
with. And with some people, eternal life
gets stronger the longer they are gone,
living on through their body of work. Their;
paintings, songs, books, inventions, live
on, you get where I’m going here?
I am fighting for my soul’s eternity,
seriously. I may do funny ass videos on
Instagram, true, but its only one facet
of my creativity. I am trying to reach as
many people as I can. I want to give as
much love as I can. In 100 years no one is
gonna care who did the blackest tattoos,
except maybe other tattooers. Walk into a
library and say Owen Jensen to 10 people.
If they are not tattooers or collectors, they
will have no idea who Owen Jensen is.
But, we have the biggest egos, and I laugh
about it, only because it’s such a shame.
It’s so sad, because it’s not eternal life,
and most of us are not driven by the need
to have eternal life, money yes, and fame,
in the smallest sense, compared to world
leaders and great thinkers.
It’s so easy to lose sight of why we create,
or why artistic people feel the need to
create. When I first picked up a guitar, I
was not making the conscience decision,
that I was battling for life after death,
when I first picked up a paint brush or
even wrote this article, for that matter.
No, I learned it along the way, I learned
that love is the best gift we can give, even
to our enemies. Because, we win without
fighting, I watch our tattoo community,
and its broken down into a few groups.
The most ridiculous one are tattoo fans,
and I see tons of them. And yes, they
are important to us, sort of, but their
self-importance obviously comes from

some spin off dust they get from the tattooers they admire.
Otherwise, why would they think it’s so important to have a
back piece by…or a sleeve done by… Now I just get tattoos from
my friends and people I like and love. I don’t care how perfect
they are according to the tattoo world.
I came up, before this new order. My tattoos are real, they are
real gangster tattoos, they are real Pike tattoos, they are real
punk rock tattoos. But, that’s me and my opinion of what a
good tattoo is, and should mean. And I am sure with as much
validity to an observer their tattoos are as real.
Mark Mahoney is one of my oldest tattoo friends, ask him
some time, we go back to the Pike. And he told me, “Shane,
people love their tattoos.” And he was right. It was a lesson I
never forgot. I was around tattooing in the 80s, took a break in
the 90s, and came back around 2003, giving me such a clear
view of what was and what is, and to a degree, where we are
headed.
When a person dies, so does their tattoo. After they’re gone, no
one is going to be talking about their tattoos, what they were
mark mahoney, shane, freddy negrete, tommy brennan, rick walters (r.i.p.)
and who did them. They will die with their owner. They will not
live on. And in a world that gives emphasis to the permanence
of tattoos, it really is all so temporary. I mean, it ain’t as
permanent as the Sistine Chapel turned out, is it? It ain’t as
permanent as Hemingway’s “The Old Man and The Sea,” no!
It’s sad, in a world that exudes so much creativity, there really
isn’t as much as one would think.
There are tattooers now that seem to be going for a deeper
thing, and I notice, ask me sometime. But, try to remember this
when ya get lost in the self-important bullshit, tattooing is the
most temporary art form of all, save, the sand paintings of the
monks, or… You tell me? But whatever the case is, love is the
answer to it all, I learn it every time I lose another friend. And I
am grateful that I gave that person love, even if we had a falling
out. If he or she accepted, it can’t be given back, because it’s
forever.
But hey, these are just some thoughts of a creative man battling
for an eternal soul…
- Shane
@shaneenholm

I originally wrote this article with both different language and with
the intent of discussing a very difficult topic. It is a subject that
has been on my mind for some time, as I had been discussing
it regularly with friends prior to an unexpected phone call which
became a personal catalyst. The call came from someone to
whom I used to be very close. She disclosed that she had suffered
a sexual assault by a tattooer known to both of us. This happened
many years ago, but to hear about her experience filled me with
deep anger and frustration. Anger, because I recommended her to
this person we did not know was a predator. Frustration, because I
felt that on my part I had failed her in a number of ways. She said
that she was unable to tell me about any of this for, among other
things, fear of my reaction toward her assailant. She explained
she was certain that I would react with violence and end up in
trouble because of it; that perhaps I would have judged her for her
perceived part in it; and that maybe I would not see her the same
way because of it.
Imbued with a litany of emotions I stumbled through my thoughts,
dazed by what I had just heard. Trying to reflect on her words
reminded me of my other failures throughout the years, in the
tattoo community particularly, where I saw behaviors that did not
reflect my code of conduct or morality. These actions were directed
towards female clients or coworkers, and I did nothing to intervene
or stop those words or actions.
When I began tattooing, I worked for an archetypal predator.
As a very young man, unsure of myself and my own power and
privilege, I regrettably became a silent witness to his methods
of abuse. I was threatened with his actions constantly, and I was
afraid of him. He was not only my boss, but possibly one of the
most abusive people I had ever met. His behavior towards women
was grotesque, at best. While I knew what I was seeing was wrong,
I was afraid to lose my job or get the shit beaten out of me, so I
continued to remain silent. I have later realized that my silence
and fear stemmed directly from my own experiences with sexual
assault and abuse.
At 16 years old, I was sexually assaulted by a police officer for
smoking a cigarette outside of a busy mall where I grew up. During
his disgusting commentary and laughter, he patted me down and
decided that only searching my pockets and shoes wasn’t quite
enough, so he thought it best to have a little fondle session while I
was arm-barred across my throat, pinned against a wall. To make
it worse, no one believed me or took it seriously, including my
family and the judge to whom I went to for sentencing. Prior to
that, I was subjected to regular, overtly sexual comments from a
female middle school teacher of mine who ultimately lost her job
over her abuses of students. My experiences extend well beyond
these instances and are in no way a reflection of the experiences
of others, but they are salient examples of my reality.
According to the National Sexual Violence Resource Center, one
in three women, as well as one in six men have undergone some
form of sexual violence in the United States. Throughout their
lives, one in five women and one in 71 men will be raped. Only
nine percent of the victims of rape and assault are men, whereas
91 percent are women.
To say that these numbers are staggering is a gross understatement.
I do believe that sexual assault is a humanitarian problem, one
that spans all races and genders. But to deny the severe and
explicit impact on women, and in the case of this writing, within
an industry such as tattooing which has been historically driven
by misogyny, would be a total misrepresentation of the facts. In no
way do I assert to speak to the experiences of women, but I hope
to be able to speak to the people in our community, especially
men, about something that affects us as a collective whether we
are the survivors of assault or not.
When I began this endeavor, I found myself writing an open letter
to the predators in our community that use tattooing as a platform
to prey on women. These women are our coworkers, clients,
significant others, and friends. However, I still felt as though my
words were dominated by my anger. Through this process and
with the council of friends who are survivors of sexual violence, it
became clear that my anger had no place in this discussion if my
goal was to enact change on any level.
I spent month after month, revision after revision, and attempt
upon attempt to try and find the best way to approach this topic
with the sensitivity and in a manner that does not paint me as an
expert or overstep. I have spoken with many women, both tattooers
and those involved in the tattoo community, as well as my friends
and family. I have spoken to many men as well. Some of these
people are survivors of assault, some are close to those who have
survived assault, and some are folks who have witnessed these
attitudes and actions. All of these people led me to a question. Is
this a subject I can approach, and if so, how?
Throughout this process, I have learned about how I can grow
beyond my own ignorance. I have realized the necessity for growth
is both dynamic and profound, and that it is predicated upon the
experiences so many women have shared. It fosters a need for a
greater dialogue in which we all participate. I am more aware that
men have the responsibility to educate other men in the ways that
we can evolve. Part of this is asking men to critically examine their
own actions, words, and behaviors. Are your attitudes contributing
to a culture that endorses sexism, inequality or violence towards
women?
There are a number of resources for men who have questions and
seek solutions. There are organizations such as Men Can Stop
Rape, on the web at mencanstoprape.org, National Organization
For Men Against Sexism at nomas.org, and Men Stopping Violence,
menstoppingviolence.org These are not the only folks out there
trying to make a difference, but they are part of an effort towards
changing how we see ourselves as men, and how we can define
our idea of masculinity in a healthier way.
We also need to encourage ourselves to come
together collectively, regardless of gender, and work
towards change. I feel that using the resources,
voices, and platforms we have to further divide and
separate ourselves, as opposed to finding productive
and effective ways to make an impact on our
communities at large, in no way contributes to our
betterment.
The tattoo community is comprised of all manner of
people, from all walks of life. If that community is the
macrocosm, then the tattoo shop is the microcosm.
The tattoo shop is such a unique environment in re-
spect to the rest of the world. It prompts all sorts of
senses to fire simultaneously, trapping most of us
deep within its belly from our very first visit. One of
the things I’ve appreciated most over the years has
been the conversations with clients. I have grown
as a person and become far more curious thanks to
my clients. The topics span all fields: art, sciences,
religions, humor, literature, language, music, rela-
tionships, sex, and so on. Most of those subjects are
relatively easy to talk about, though not always nec-
essarily light chats. We still need to be aware in those
conversations that we are not creating a situation in
which our client ever feels that their safety is some-
how compromised.
Many of us strive to create an environment in which
no one should ever feel anything other than comfort,
save for the tattoo itself. My shop has a very open
floor plan. We do a lot of large scale work as well. With
things like privacy screens, we do our best to make
sure everyone is getting worked on at their comfort
level. It isn’t hard to take a few extra steps if it means
ensuring the client doesn’t feel put in the spotlight,
or like they’re lying naked in front of strangers, even
when they are. It’s not hard to be compassionate
and recognize discomfort or fear, and help by taking
precautions and courses of action to minimize those
feelings as best as we can.
Those of us who work in this industry need to step
up, particularly men. As a community at large, when
we see sexual misconduct in a shop, when we hear
of sexual misconduct in a shop, we need to address
it immediately. This awareness encompasses not
only actions, but comments made as well. I believe
we have a responsibility as professionals to do what
we can to stop abusive, predatory people– hopefully
before they start. PEOPLE TRUST US. We owe it to
them to honor that trust as best we can.
I have also come to understand more about the
reasons women do not come forward, one of which
being that the aftermath and the reporting of the
incident can be equally if not more traumatic than
the assault itself. To anyone reading this who has
been a victim of sexual violence, if you are in a space
where you are ready or able to speak out about your
experience, there are endless numbers of caring and
sympathetic people who are ready to help you.
One of the best resources I know is The National
Sexual Assault Hotline, 1-800-656-HOPE (4673)
or on the web at www.rainn.org/get-help. RAINN is
not only the nation’s largest anti-sexual violence
organization, they also have an almost endless
amount of resources, not only for victims of sexual
violence, but for friends and family members as well.
There is also the National Sexual Violence Resource
Center, www.nsvrc.org Both offer services in English
and Spanish.
Filing a police report can also be a very effective tool
in helping to stop assailants, but it is not a guarantee.
Your rights vary from state to state. Unfortunately, in
some states, things like touching have a very short
statute of limitations. Rape does not.
If you know someone who has been sexually assaulted,
support and friendship goes a long way towards
helping them heal, but it isn’t enough. Fortunately,
that is why organizations like RAINN exist. Fear is a
very real feeling. Regardless of how, many of us have
felt it in one way or another, and even though it may
not seem that way, there are many people here for
you. Seeking help is a positive way to assist in moving
away from the cycles and patterns that can follow a
traumatic event. There are a great many qualified
folks available to help you on your path to healing.
Lastly, despite the efforts that we at my shop, and
most of the other artists I know and respect take
to maintain professionalism, WE as a community
still have an uphill battle to face. As much as I wish
this was not the reality of the situation, most of the
offenders in these instances are men. It is my hope
that through education and a more open dialogue,
our community is able to help one another evolve as
people, as individuals, and as professionals through
a very challenging time in our history. And, as a
community, it is my hope that we start with respect for
all people, gender notwithstanding. I aspire to remind
us all that we need to be patient in recognizing that
evolution does not happen overnight, nor does it
happen without resistance. I would also like to thank
all of the people who have helped contribute to this
article, through their resources, opinions, ideas and
critical thinking. It is deeply appreciated.
Thank you,
Dave Regan
www.traditiontattooing.com
@dutchraven

When and where did Raking Light Proj-
ect start?
Raking Light Projects was started in Los
Angeles seven years ago. The company
was started by myself and Eddy Deutsche.
What was the idea behind the project
when you began?
The general idea was to create a platform
to publish and promote artwork created by
a select group of tattooers. Our goal was
to establish a collector base for their prints
and originals and to help their artwork
reach a wider audience of people who ap-
preciate contemporary art. 
Do you feel that you have followed that
same path and are happy with where it
has lead you?
Yes, I think Raking Light Projects has fol-
lowed the original path that we started on.
The overall goals are still the same, we’ve
expanded beyond prints to publish fine
art books, but goals are the same. We’ve
formed long-term working partnerships
with an incredible group of artists and we
continue to release great works of art, so
I am very happy about where we are and
how we’ve gotten here. That said, I am not
complacent and know that there is a great
deal more work ahead. I believe in the
cause more now than ever so things will
continue to move forward.
Who are some of the artists you have
had featured in this project?
We have been very fortunate to work with
a great group of artists. Since inception,
we’ve published artwork by Michael Aul,
Alex Binnie, Steve Boltz, Steve Byrne, Nick
Chaboya, Freddy Corbin, Deno, Eddy Deut-
sche, Virginia Elwood, Rudy Fritsch, Tim
Hendricks, Thomas Hooper, Horizakura,
Timothy Hoyer, Jondix, Chad Koeplinger,
Bert Krak, Tim Lehi, Walter McDonald,
Eli Quinters, Alex Reinke, Mr Went, Rob-
ert Ryan, Dan Santoro, Zac Scheinbaum,
AP Shrewsbury, Derrick Snodgrass, Liam
tim lehi
chad koeplinger
Sparkes, Stephanie Tamez, Tomas Tomas,
Toothtaker, Gregory Whitehead and Dun-
can X.
Can you tell us a bit about the process
you go through with each artist that is
involved? How they are picked, how you
decided on what is printed and the me-
dium it is printed on, etc...
Each artist that we’ve worked with is in-
vited to be participate. We have an in-
formal selection process and Eddy is the
last word. Once an artist is selected, we
contact them and describe the way we
work and the different print options that
are available. Part of the process is evalu-
ating each artists work and seeing where
they would work best from a print-making
perspective. From there, we find the right
printer for the print we have in mind and
help to facilitate the production process.  really surprise and impress people when they see it, as
greg whitehead
Over the past 7 years, we’ve developed
good relationships with a number of tal-
ented printmakers who specialize in
specific types of prints. In general, we try to support tra-
ditional printmakers and techniques, as compared to dig-
ital reproduction. The printers we work with are willing to
work with artists who may be new to their print medium or
work virtually with artists from around the world. We want
everyone to feel comfortable and be informed because
that’s going to result in the best artwork being created
that truly suits the specific print medium.
We also invite certain artists to create monotypes at Mas-
ter Printer Paul Mullowney’s studio in San Francisco which
allows them to work in collaboration with expert printmak-
ers over a number of days using traditional techniques.
The results are often incredible and kind of bridge the
gap between print and original art. There is also a risk to
this type of work as there isn’t prep work done ahead of
time, the artists come ready to work and hopefully that
can translate into strong editions of prints. Thankfully,
the artists have thrown themselves into the process and
created great prints. It’s a real challenge and I’m always
impressed with the results and appreciative of the efforts
that everyone puts in.
I know you like to work with different mediums to fit
the artist artistic style. Can you tell us about that?
When we first started, we focused on giclee prints,
high-quality reproductions that were printed as limited
single editions. They were a great starting point, but we
started experimenting with different print techniques as
we developed deeper relationships with the artists and
the results were really good. Part of our long-term plan is
to develop a collector base for the artwork that we publish
and braching out into different printmaking methods (li-
thography, letterpress, etchings, monotypes, etc) that uti-
lize traditional techniques and skilled printmakers allows
us to publish true collectible work. Thankfully, our artists
have been willing to take the time to learn how to create
art that will work well with different mediums and that has
made the most difference.
What are some of your favorite pieces that have come
out since inception?
I’m invested in everything that we do so it’s all import-
ant and all my favorite in a sense. If I had to identify a
few favorites, the first things that come to mind are Chad
Koeplinger’s 50 States book, Robert Ryan’s lithograph,
the Smith Street etchings that we published a few years
ago, Freddy Corbin’s monotypes, Tim Lehi’s hand-painted
tiger etchings. 
Are there any projects in the works that you are excit-
ed about?
Yes, as I mentioned before, we’ve started to focus a bit
more on publishing books and we have a few projects in
the works that I am really excited about. We are working
on a book of drawings and tattoos by Eddy Deutsche, a
book of paintings and writing by Robert Ryan, an incred-
ible book of abstract paintings by Jondix that’s going to
well as a book of prints created over the past decade by
Alex Binnie.
 freddy corbin

Zac Scheinbaum
Derrick Snodgrass

jondix
robert ryan el monga

thomas hooper

ap shrewsbury
 We are going to be publishing prints by Luxia-
no, Teide and Onnie O’Leary - new participat-
ing artists for us which is exciting and a bit
stressful. 

I don’t take any of this for granted and truly

appreciate the opportunity and trust extend-
ed to us by the artists that we work with and
collectors who purchase the artwork that we
publish. Thanks for including Raking Light
Projects in your publication, I hope your read-
ers enjoy it.

www.rakinglightprojects.com
@rakinglightprojects

tim lehi and derrick snodgrass

rudy fritsch
walter mcdonald
Zac Scheinbaum

tomas tomas
 portland
‘The Nomadic Creations of Caratoes’
Interview by Palehorse
Caratoes is a female muralist and gallery
artist hailing from Hong Kong and growing
up in Belgium. She is one of my favorite
humans and an all-time creative hero of
mine for having designed her life in such
a way that allows for an incredible amount
of freedom and flexibility to follower her
bliss full-time. She is a shining example
of someone who is fearlessly living life on
her own terms and has been on a non-stop
adventure, traveling the globe, meeting
interesting people, seeing everything
there is to see on planet earth and leaving
behind a wake of beautiful works of art
that inspire cities, communities, schools
and villages.
I got to catch up with Caratoes on a phone
conversation while she is currently in LA,
creating studio work and taking some
time to pause, look inward and find out
where her creative path will lead next.
PH: Your travel schedule is always so
incredible! Can you tell us how many
different places have you traveled to
this year alone?
CT: Including December of last year, I’ve
been to Costa Rica, Peru, Brazil, Shanghai
China, Nepal, Japan, Canada, Sweden
and I’m currently in Los Angeles USA.
What do you think was the catalyst
that initially sparked this insatiable
wanderlust and powerful drive to travel
and paint murals?
My upbringing and the limits that my
parents had on me when I was younger
were so crucial and necessary for me to
build up all that internal energy to burst
out. Growing up, there were so many
rules. I felt like I wasn’t allowed to be my
own person around my parents and I think
because of all of the suppression when
I was younger, now I want to find out the
limit of my freedom. How free can I get
without anything at all holding me back? I
want the complete opposite of before.
In the same way that I only use black
and white in my work… How dark the
darkness can be, depends on how light
the lightness can be. I’m always trying to
find that opposite limit and I think that is
what is driving me in my career. I want to
find out how light I can get.
How do you decide on where you will
go next and how often are you in a new
location?
I travel to a new location about every
two weeks. Usually, when I choose my
locations, I let fate decide where I go,
because these days opportunities will
show up in my in-box and I think, okay.
Sure. I’ll go there. No problem. I surrender.
I give total faith to what life will bring me. If
I just take the first step, a snowball effect
will happen. And whatever happens, I
can’t stop it, but I can be there. I can live
it. I can see it. I can take it in and enjoy
riding the wave. It’s like the ultimate love,
to surrender and trust. If I cannot have
hope and trust that things will be okay
somehow, there’s no reason to be here.
Continually venturing out into unknown
parts of the planet can sound like an
intimidating experience for a lot of
people, especially for those who are
tuning into world news currently. Do
news reports ever play a role in your
decisions to go to a certain area?
Going to a new place is almost like meeting
a person for the first time. You can hear
certain rumors about them, but it’s better
if you can actually get to meet the person
and make the decision for yourself about
what you think. I don’t watch the news
and often times, I actually don’t know
much about the place I’m going, or what
is happening there. But that’s also part of
 sweden
worchester

malaysia
thailand
 why I go. I hear and learn about the issues and
what is going on in the country from the people
that live there and it is something that I can
interact with immediately. I can listen. I can share
my vision and I can take in what’s happening
with them. That’s my news. And it keeps me in
constant awe of everything, because I learn so
much from the local people. I think this is really
important… that we don’t take things for granted.
Staying grateful and always learning. I think that’s
a great motivation to keep pushing further.

How does having a language barrier effect

you in places where you can’t communicate
verbally?

I’m so grateful, because I don’t think that I’m that

good with words. This is because of my upbringing.
I was taught that I wasn’t really supposed to have
dc a voice. But a simple drawing or a painting can
say so much more, because it’s a feeling that you
are trying to spread. If a person shares the same
feeling, they will recognize it immediately and
hopefully that person will feel a connection where
they know that they are not alone. And that’s
what my work is mostly about as well. Because I
was feeling so alone when I was a kid, I see other
children as a version of myself and I want to give
them a sense that everything will be okay in order
to ease the burden a bit. It’s my wish for kids that
they can imagine a better future for themselves
and for their community. It’s so important for
them to know that they have the power to change.
When I paint, I try to paint a person from that
place, combined with my own message of what
I’m going through and that is how I communicate.
I’m basically translating my feelings to them and I
use them (a local person) as the example.

What is your creative process for bringing to

life the image that you will be painting?

Feeling is so important to paining, so I come and

get a feeling for the place, so that I can portray it.
That’s the part that I enjoy the most. When I paint, toronto
I will have a specific face that I will break up after
taking the pictures. (At this point) I don’t really
think about the story behind it. But while I paint, it
will slowly come to me. Sometimes I will start with
an idea, but it will always change, because the
wall will have taught me so much new information
about myself and about the place, that I just go
with it. I create a lot of chaos in my work too.
Because I feel that there’s a lot of chaos in my
mind and I try to order the parts that I find are
interesting. And that’s how I can handle the chaos
and find balance… Or attempt to.

I saw that you recently painted a skate bowl

in the middle of a jungle in Cambodia. How did
that project come about?

I went to Cambodia to visit my friend Sheryo who

was there. She asked me to come stay with her…
And she said she was staying at a place called

hong kong
taiwan
 bali
art basel

brazil
 ‘Hotel Cara’, so I was like…okay…that’s my
name…Cara…Let’s go! Haha. And when I was
there I met the people from Skateistan, which is
a non-profit organization that goes to third world
countries like Pakistan and they build skate
parks for kids. They help them to forget about
all of the shit that is going on in their lives and in
their country, so they can just focus on learning
something and not be scared to fall or to fail
and just to get back on the board and skate
again. Learning how to skate is so important
because it teaches you to embrace the pain
in order to get better. When I was a teenager, I
saw their video on Vimeo and I was like.. Oh my
god! That’s so cool! I really want to work with
them! I had no idea that they had an office in
Cambodia. When I met them, they gave me a
link to go to this other village, where I would
Detroit
travel through a jungle. And they said that in the
middle of the jungle, there will be a skate park
that I can paint! (Amazing) And that’s just how
it goes, I will have no plans. Someone will invite
me. And I will just go. And things will happen. It’s
really weird… Really weird… It’s almost scary to
think about what you want. Haha.
Even my lifestyle right now, I remember that
I actually envisioned this when I was like 7
or 8 years old. Not as a visual artist, but as
a musician. Because when I was young I had
to choose a musical instrument to learn and I
thought that I would choose an instrument that
was light, that I could travel with and play on
the streets, get some money and go from one
place to the next. And at some point, maybe 2
or 3 years ago, I walked out of the metro crying
because I realized that’s exactly what I’m doing.
art basel Except I’m painting murals instead of playing
music.
I think that opportunities will never stop coming
to you. If you are ready to see it, then you will
see it and then you can just grab it if you want it.
If you become really aware of your environment,
then you can filter out all of the unnecessary
things and it becomes like a glowing red lamp
saying “go there” and I’m like… Okay! Haha. You
just have to give up everything and trust that it
will be okay. It’s easy! Haha.
Do you listen to music while you paint? If so
how does it effect and motivate you?
You know what I’ve been doing with music?
Because I travel so much, I cannot think about
the past or the future. I only have 2 weeks to
be in the place and I really want to be there in
the moment, so I really try to record the place
into a song. I’ll listen to one song over and over
again when I’m in one specific place so that I
can capture all of the emotions and things that
happen there. It’s almost like a time machine.
Because I music really triggers memories
You are currently staying with some friends
seatle in LA. What have you been up to during your
time there?
I’ve decided that I want to take some time to Yeah. It’s like a blossoming flower and it’s
focus on myself in LA rather than traveling really interesting to see that it’s happening
to a new location right away. Right now, I everywhere. I feel very privileged that I get
have some studio time, which I’m really to go to all these places and meet all of
grateful for, because I can experiment on a these amazing females being super strong
smaller scale to better my next murals. It’s and doing their thing. I’m like Yeah! Yeah!
actually kind of scary because I’m so used Go for it! Go get it!
to doing murals, which are for other people,
so it’s easier to find a narrative there. But in Do you ever purposefully try to conquer
the studio, it’s only me and I really need to fears that you have? Do you ever take
think about what it is I want to say. So, I’m things that you are afraid of and challenge
just ordering my own chaos. yourself to get over it?
What is does your studio set up look like I am afraid of jumping off of things. I’m afraid
when you are paining inside? of taking leaps. I over think it too much. I’m
not brave enough. Haha. But sometimes I
I couldn’t do it inside, so I actually moved think that in a way I’m just tricking myself,
myself outside in the alleyway, so I can feel because I do get a kick out of conquering
the sun burning my back. I’m like yeah! my fear. This is where I’m stuck right now.
That’s what painting should feel like! Haha. I don’t know what I want… so I ask myself,
I’m outside, burning my ass off. Painting what am I afraid of? I really dig in and ask
this small, little canvas. If it doesn’t burn, it myself. Because this is the great pool that I
doesn’t work. Haha. can plan my future with when I don’t know
what it is that I want.
Does gender ever provide obstacles for
you to overcome on your travels or career What I’m trying to do right now, because
as a female artist? I’ve had four years of traveling by myself,
to all of these random places in such short
The way I live my life, I don’t really see my periods of time, I’m trying the opposite of
own gender to be honest. I never really think that. Which is living in one place and being
about it too much that I’m doing this as a in a community where I am with people for
female. I just do it because I do it. But at long periods of time. And I’m trying this out
some point, after reading about the low right now in LA and it has been very scary.
percentage of females in the art scene, I I have been freaking out. I’m like, ah, real
was like oh, wow, I guess I am a female and friends! This is scary! Haha. Because when
it’s pretty cool that I can do this. I realized I just see people for short periods of time I
what I am doing could be more difficult can show just like the beginnings of me. I
because of my gender, but I never really can polish myself nicely. But when I’m with
worry about it, because I’m only thinking people for long periods of time, I can’t keep
about if my wall is looking good or not. up being shiny. I’m actually a turd! Haha It’s
so scary! I feel like such an alien. I’m also
Do you get a sense that the percentage like, what it this? A washing machine? How
of working female artists is balancing does this work? Haha
out or growing in the time that we are
living in currently? @caratoes
iceland
 Have you ever drawn on an iPad before?
I’ve tried it. Yeah. I have an iPad Pro. And I thought, “Well, I need
a computer anyway, and I’ll just get that.” And Zac Scheinbaum
- who else? - Some people, different people were showing me all
the virtues of it. And I was like, “Okay. I got it.” And I got Procreate
and played around with it, but I just don’t like the way it feels. I like
to have the artifact of the paper left over. I’ve got boxes filled, you
know? And for them to all just be on a thing now, like everything
else in the world, just bothers me. But really, I just don’t like the
way it feels. And I think, like what I was just explaining, it goes
contrary to that. It would make me tighten up and draw smaller
Andrew Stortz Chris O’Donnell and not-- I mean, I draw way too big all the time. I’ll have a tracing
of a rib or back, and then I’m drawing a thing [laughter] a third
too big because of just trying to get power into it. And I think that
would really counteract that. But I just don’t like the way it feels.
But I feel like when I started drawing on an iPad, it actually helped
me loosen up a bit. I kind of had the opposite experience. I’ve had a
hard time overcoming my left-handedness as far as being messy and
smudging things. And doing even layer and layer of tracing paper,
which I did for a while, something about the iPad, it made me less
inhibited just because I know I could just wipe it and start over or do
whatever, and I don’t have piles of paper next to me and everything,
so.
I mean, yeah. There’s a lot of pluses to it, like you can just fade something,
like you can draw and then fade it out so you can trace over it easier. And
then you’ve got the layer-- it’s right there. I mean, it’s done. I mean there’s
definitely pros, pluses to it, but.

Yeah. I can see that. I think the true value is if you were
working in a street shop on an iPad. The ease and just the
efficiency of it is great. But I think if you really are trying to
develop and work on custom drawings and ideas and stuff, it
may not be the way to go for everybody.

Yeah. If I did walk-ins--

It’s the jam.

I mean, they all do it at King’s Ave. They all use it.

Yeah. I bet.

Sure. No-brainer. It would cut the time down into nothing almost.
But for what I do-- I mean, I only do this stuff. I only do my style
and fun subjects these days.

What if they made an iPad that was three feet, the size of an
actual back piece, and it felt like paper?

It’s something about the pen on the glass, I just don’t like it.

It’s different. Yeah.

I just don’t like it. And I tried-- I was like, “Oh, when I go on
vacation, I can just draw a bunch of small stuff, and blow it up on
a copier, and trace over it in paper.” But I don’t know. I sit down,
and it’s just like I’m not into it. I think it’s a great tool. I mean, I’m
not against tools. Even Instagram, I’m not against Instagram, per
se. I think it creates its own value. But for that one, I just don’t-- I
still try it periodically, but.

I can see that. If you’ve got your process kind of set in stone
and you’re comfortable in it, then there really isn’t a reason
to deviate from that especially when it comes to drawing. If
you can do this on paper, why wouldn’t you? To me, that’s
like the finish line.

For 18 to 20 years now, I’ve been drawing with marker, marker

brush, and pens. So I’ll just take tracing paper, rough out a real
quick sketch with a light color. Then I’ll go with a slightly darker
color and do it again more refined. And then I put a piece of
tracing paper over it, and I get a more refined version, and it’s
done. It’s so quick and simple. Another thing is if I do have to look
at some kind of reference for something, to go search it out, and
then draw it up, and then put it up on the corner. And it’s already
encroaching on the space that you’re going to draw on. To me, I
would have my iPad next to me and like, “There it is. All right.” So
I don’t know. Just it’s not for me.
 before, and I was like, “Okay.” But I don’t really like them. And then I use a
lot of coil machines, of course. But then there’s the wand thing or whatever.
I don’t even really know what it is, but.

Have you ever used one of those things?

No. I haven’t even seen one in person.

Me either. I’m not sure they actually exist [laughter].

But people have been talking about it. I was talking to one guy, and he’s like,
“I tried it. I was just going to try it, and I can’t stop using it because it works so
well.” And I’m like, “There’s no way.” It crossed some kind of cheese line for
me. You know what I mean? I can’t get past the-- I can’t just hold this little--

Well, let’s say you did use it, which color would you use [laughter]?
I’d go with green maybe.

I would definitely match it to the tattoo just for the overall--

I’d match it to my shoes [laughter]. You’d have to start wearing really

loud basketball sneakers and matching them to your whatever those
things are.

Yeah. I don’t know. I have that, “I don’t care how good it is. I just cannot be
holding a wand.” And it’s not--
There’s probably a middle ground that would be perfect for everyone. But
Yeah. I was thinking it appeals to a certain type of person. People who
what’s the point [laughter]? It’s one or the other. We’re splitting hairs
like to customize or have cutting edge shit all the time.
here. Yeah. I feel like a lot of people are critical of iPads. I think your
opinion on it is pretty logical, and it’s kind of what I expected. But some
It’s funny. I used to talk about Eddy Deutsche and Ed Hardy and those guys.
people get so enraged by it, and they think that it does the work for you
But for me, I started in ‘93, and I started working with Timothy Hoyer. Luckily
almost or that it’s cheating. I don’t think it’s really cheating, personally.
within two years of starting to tattoo, he moved to Richmond. So suddenly, I’m
working with him, and I’m going to San Francisco and going to conventions
I don’t think it’s cheating. I mean, if you’re tracing everything, then you’re just
and hanging out with all these guys. And I’m seeing them in person, and it
tracing everything. You don’t get the benefit of drawing something--
was just like the cool factor was through the roof. I mean, everything was just
so cool. It’s what attracted me to tattoo, what really made me fall in love with
Right. Which you can do with tracing paper anyway.
it. Guys like Eddy, just dark tattoos, and gold Rolex, and - you know what? -
Om necklace, and prayer beads with motorcycle grease on it, whatever my
Yeah. Yeah. And you don’t get the benefit of creating something new, and that
imagination-- just gnarly, and the Gods & Gangsters kind of thing, and all
was your choice. It’s a tool that’s good for a lot of things. I don’t really get why
this Eastern calligraphy matched with all this cool-- everything about them in
someone would be upset by it.
Tattoo City was so cool. They were these dudes that just [crosstalk]--
Me either. I feel like it’s an opinion that I hear or that I see people writing
Like every cool thing just collided and exploded.
about, that they’re like--
I know. It was unbelievably cool. I remember one time I was-- my first trip to
Or that it’s cheesy or something?
San Francisco, me and my friend, Dave, we went to stay with Jeff Rassier.
And they were building 222 at that point. And he was doing like painting
Maybe. I think people just don’t like change.
the-- they did these collaboration sheets that were hung on the wall. Each
one, as it got higher on the ceiling, got bigger so you could see it. And he was
Yeah. Yeah. That’s interesting. I wonder why.
working on this big one, and he had spilled black ink on it. After all the other
guys, Eddy, Scott Sylvia, all those guys, they had finished their part, and he
I think people feel threatened. And I’m sure it happens all the time like,
fixed it by putting-- it was a guy in a plane, so he put a little bomb underneath.
“Oh, you have this machine that makes the stencils for you [laughter]?
But he’s like, “Oh, Eddy’s coming by,” and I had never met Eddy. I had seen
Stupid kids. Why would you ever want that? We make them by hand.”
him in person, but. And sure enough, this motorcycle, this super loud, black,
Japanese motorcycle thing pulls up. And here he comes-- Jeff lived in an old
Yeah. Etch them in.
bank, and he had a courtyard with a cinder block wall and a gate. And he
just hops over the gate, and he’s just like, “Grrr,” like this hulking-- “[Yo?],
So I think it’s just another version of that. When someone feels like
what’s up?” And he was just picking up a couple of shirt designs, 222 shirt
they’re being left behind, they got to blame it on something. It’s not
designs. But I was just like, “Man, this is--” I don’t see that now. You know
because they’re just not doing anything.
what I mean? Everybody’s just got their head down, drawing on their device,
and they got their sticks [laughter]. It does exist, but I don’t see it out in the
It’s like Sailor Jerry. He was a super techie guy. He would have been probably-- Well, it’s like the rotary. For me, I do get-- there’s the Shagbuilt,
regular world. And it was just--
they say he would have been into all these advancements because it’s which I use. But to me, it feels like a machine. And it puts it
interesting. He was into computers and stuff. in twice as fast, and it heals twice as smooth. It doesn’t swell.
You know what I mean? And then you got the regular rotaries That might have been true back then too. You were just at the right
place at the right time.
It’s interesting to think how people like that would play into how things that are quiet. And that’s kind of weird because it kind of takes
are now. something out of the tattoo process for me. But I’ve used them
Yeah. But it just seemed like tattooing-- and I wasn’t one of them.
But it seemed like tattooing attracted guys that had a background,
some kind of prehistory before they started tattooing. And they
brought that stuff with them when they started tattooing. You know?
Mm-hmm.
And now it’s just like, “Oh, I don’t know. I guess I’ll start tattooing.”
And like me, I graduated--
It’s one of the options out of art school now. People are like,
“Oh, well. I like to draw. So, I mean, obviously, I’ve got to be a
tattooer. It’s a great job.”
Yeah. It’s on TV. Why not? If those guys on TV can do it, I could
do it [laughter]. But yeah, it was just a different thing. It’s just so
hard to convey that kind of vibe that was around at that point and
what made tattooing special to me and exciting. And I was saying
the other day, I was like, “I’m not sure that I would be attracted
to tattooing if I were just young and saw Ink Master because, in
my mind, there’s nothing cool about it.” The way it’s presented on
that show, I have zero interest in what they are doing. I don’t have
anybody particular in mind because I don’t watch the show. But I’ve
seen it enough to go, “This is some of the more cheesy aspects of
tattooing all just displayed out on television.” And that’s not what it
was. It’s just such a different thing now.
Do you think it could return to some of the old ways once the life
of these TV shows is cycled out and maybe some time passes?
I don’t know. I don’t think--
It could take a while.
Like with maybe post-apocalyptic [laughter]-- when they get the
drinking water back, squared away, and people start making art
again, that kind of thing.
Tattooing just to survive [laughter].
So you know which tribe you’re with. It’s like can music go back to
being just mainstream and punk rock or--? I don’t--
Yeah. That’s true. I guess it’s just a different thing.
It’s kind of gone. You can’t really-- like I said, you can’t lament these
things. You can’t just go, “I wish everything was the same.” I’m just
lucky enough to have been there when it was this really cool thing.
What makes it uncool? That’s what I mean. If you kind of create your
own little world, it can be as cool as it was here for me. It doesn’t
have to be that lame to me because I can just-- like I got good books,
and I got my memories. I got drawings that I’m doing. Eddy Deutsche
can come work here. So it still exists in little tiny places. And there’s
other people that it exists in like [inaudible]. He embodies that old
thing, where it’s like [used to do?] big gnarly work, and just be as
creative as possible, and everything looks different. That was a big
thing, like we always say. You would hear somebody be like, “Oh,
man. I saw this Marcus Pacheco tattoo and it’s amazing.” And they
would describe it to you. And no matter how much they described
it to you, you wouldn’t know what it looked like because everything
always looked different. Now everything always seems to look the
same like, “Oh, yeah. So-and-so did this big tattoo on someone.”
Okay. I pretty much know exactly what that’s going to look like, and
I’m probably right. And that’s not even a bad thing. I’m just saying it
was an age of creativity.
It’s a different--
There was no point to doing anything unless
you could try something different. And I was
never really good at that. I’m better at that
now, but it’s taken me 25 years.
Right. Well, that’s why it’s so cool because
you can’t just stumble onto that sort of
ability.
Yeah. It’s almost like they don’t even know
they’re doing it. It’s just natural and you
couldn’t force it.
Yeah. I feel like a lot of what fuels people
is to have their thing or their style known,
and that’s all that they need, whether they
have a feeling towards it, or a desire for it,
or a purpose.
Well, if it’s a style that gets them attention--
just like a band that hits it big with their first
album. They’re like, “That’s what we’re doing
because we hit it big.” And then they’ve got
this issue of trying to do the same thing but
better. Instead of being like, “Well, no. Let’s do
something radically different because that’s
where we want to go,” it’s like, “No, no, no,
no, no. We got to recreate our album sales or
our popularity.” If you start posting a couple of
tattoos that make everybody freak out, then
you’re going to develop an attachment to that
freak out and try to like, “Well, what did they
like? Well, let me think. Well, what did I do?
Let me do it again and see if it works.” That’s
no way to live. You got to just be completely
detached from that outcome, only think about
what the client wanted. And if you served them
in a good way, then you’re good. But if you’re
starting to think about the massive opinions
out there and how to trigger the best response
from this brain sac of nerves, it’s insane. You’ll
drive yourself crazy. You just got to-- you got
to be-- I always say, “If you’re too popular, or
if you have too many followers on Instagram,
or too many people like your work, you’re not
doing anything particularly interesting.” And I
particularly don’t really care for color portraits.
I mean, I can be impressed once in a while
like, “Oh, wow. That’s really technical.” But I
don’t think they look that great. I don’t think
they’re going to age that well.
They’re tattoos for people who don’t like
tattoos.
I say that too. They’re exactly for those people
that go, “I don’t even like tattoos, but I would
have that.”
“But that’s beautiful. My grandmother even
loved it.”
“That’s beautiful” Yeah. Exactly. That’s the
thing. I probably shouldn’t name names. But
there’s a guy tattooing in the city for years,
and he didn’t have tattoos, and he was super
popular, charged an extravagant amount of
money, and celebrities [inaudible] tattoos. He
did the little postage stamp--
I remember.
--portraits and stuff. And it was all stuff that
was not going to age well, and it was super
silly but would impress people that didn’t like
markings, “I don’t want black markings on my
skin, but I would have this little guardian angel
painting in miniature on my upper arm.” And--
What do you think motivates people like
that to get tattooed at all?
I don’t know. I don’t know--
Do people just feel that they need to get a
tattoo? I mean, now, I can see that. But 15
years ago, I don’t think it was that same
pressure. Because now, everyone has a
tattoo, so I can understand that it’s just a
herd mentality.
I don’t know. I don’t know why they would
say-- like if you don’t like-- like Tattootime, all
those Thai prayer tattoos and stuff, all those
markings, just the rawness-- half the stuff in
there is just like a crude marking, and I just
love it. That always really attracted me. And
I feel very lucky to appreciate that stuff. But
if you don’t like that stuff-- I mean, you see
people all the time getting these super slick
comic book graphic, like shiny-- you know
what I mean? It’s like arms of a comic book
page, but it’s like the slickest graphic comic
book page.
Yeah. It looks wet.
Yeah. Like, “You don’t like tattoos. But why
do you want it on your skin if you don’t like
tattoos?”
Because everyone wants to define
themselves by what they like. Because
that’s the whole Internet is we’re curating
what we like, and that becomes our identity.
Listen to the rest on:
www.booksclosedpodcast.com
 petty jealousy and unwarranted competitiveness. I’ve been told by one
coworker to not speak with his customers and by another to “shut the
fuck up!” when offering my opinion- though the men working with us
were never discouraged from speaking or sharing their opinions.
With a straight face and without provocation I’ve been referred to as
a cunt and a twat- I think even more offensive because of the casual
manner in which they were used.
In the beginning of my career I was often asked if I did massages on the
side, later they would just ask if I turned tricks and if tattooing was a cover .
Also, something that has followed me my entire career, and bothered
me, is the assumption that, because I am the only female in the shop
that I must be the receptionist or counter girl.
I was considered a cock blocker by my male coworkers and a
disappointment to sexually adventurous couples seeking an exciting
night out at the tattoo parlor.
I’ve had to deal with jealous wives and insecure girlfriends when
tattooing their men- And have had to tattoo women simply to appease
their jealous and insecure men.
On a regular basis my male counterparts would barter their
tattoo work for the sexual favors of their female customers.
But, in their defense, female customers would barter their
sexual favors for tattoo work with the same regularity.
Interestingly enough, I have never been offered sex in trade for
my tattoo services.
Once, a motorcycle club offered to purchase a shop that I
worked at as long as I went along with the shop as part of the
deal!
Through the 1980s it was common practice of many of
the men that I worked with to try and dissuade, and even
refuse to tattoo women requesting tattoos on their arms,
offering their opinions that it would ruin their looks, mar their
appearance and instead try to persuade them to switch the
tattoo to a more “feminine” and “ discreet” area of the body.
On the other hand, male customers were very often ridiculed,
refused service or overcharged for requesting tattoos in the
very same “discreet” areas - or they were referred to me.
Women were often asked to, and expected to, remove more
clothing than necessary to do their tattoos

When magazines started publishing articles about tattoos and

tattooers do you think they cared if the men were handsome
and muscular? Not so for us ladies. I’ve watched my tips
rise and fall with the numbers on the scale, my age and my
attractiveness rating.

If a female tattooer was considered pretty, and dated her

customers or the other tattooers, she was called a whore - and
if she wasn’t and she didn’t, she was called a dyke!

deb tattooing paul rogers

First,let me begin with a warning or disclaimer.back then without a male partner or perhaps I was still a young girl when I began my career.
Some may take offense at what I have to say, a trusted male mentor. I was free spirited and a bit wild for the time
or think that I am making generalizations- but and tattooing seemed like the perfect outlet to
these are just my opinions and observations Tattooing was not the politically correct, strip express myself and my creativity, and while the
based on my own experiences and some of the mall, family outing destination that it has business of tattooing attracted the outliers of
challenges I’ve faced as a woman tattooing in become. A female tattooer had to be able to society, those who thought for themselves and
the latter part of the twentieth century. hold her own amongst her male coworkers, as chose not to conform or belong- unfortunately
well as maintain in a shop full of outlaw bikers that didn’t always equate to gender equality,
In issue #one of Heart’s Eye I mentioned that or drunken servicemen. Which, was often the open mindedness or acceptance in the tattoo
I was introduced to tattooing by an ex-partner. case. workplace for women.
This was the case for most women in the
business. Most single women, regardless of While I’d like to think that many of the men From the time that I started tattooing in 1979
how strong or independent they were couldn’t tattooing at the time were gentlemen and till 2001 I worked exclusively with men and
safely and successfully enter the business respectful of women- many of them were not. early on I experienced a lot of open hostility,
So often I’ve heard it said that if a woman was a good tattooer, “She Tattoos The few women tattooing then, separated by distance, just
Like a Man.” But female tattooers were so few and far between that there didn’t have the opportunities that men had or women have
really was no point for comparison and the camaraderie that exists today today. It’s those opportunities, forming relationships with like-
between men and women tattooers did not, for the most part, exist back then.  minded, creative people from whom one can feed off of, that
allows one to learn and grow- not only as an artist but as a
person.

Anyway, almost forty years have passed since I first started

tattooing and for both better and worse the whole tattoo world
has changed.

Three of my sons are tattooers and my only daughter will begin

her apprenticeship this year. And I sincerely hope, and I’d like to
think, that most of these biases, prejudices and bad behaviors
have been left in the past where they belong.

Deb can be found here: @DebYarian

www.eaglerivertattoo.com
Hey to all you jabronis out there! Lucky you, you’ve stumbled
across my first article up in here!
I was originally going to write about some bullshit about why
should I have to cut all you motherfuckers in on my slice of pie
when I realized that Kadillac Tattoo has turned 25 yrs old!
So the question is, how do you stay in business especially in the
cut throat world of tattooing for 25 yrs?
There’s a few aspects to this because I sure as hell did a lot of
things during my career where I most definitely could’ve lost
my business. Not because of scumbag type shit but for trusting
other untrustworthy people or on my own part of just making
poor business decisions as well as having a pretty hefty drug
habit at one point.
From the start I opened Kadillac with a partner and for awhile
we were on the same page, but further down the line shit
just fell apart as we grew apart. One thing I never did in this
business was try and get over on people or take anything that
wasn’t mine. I fucking hate a thief and I’d never associate my
name with any kind of dirty handed horse shit like that!
But we had a good run and at a certain point we went our
separate ways. Early on I was lucky enough to realize my
tattooing had to get better because at this point you could see
the big changes happening in tattooing and if I was to succeed
I’d better tighten my shit up.
Guys like Sailor Eddie, Dave Gibson, Mike Wilson, Sonny
Tufts, Freddy Corbin, and Hanky Panky were super helpful in
becoming a better tattooer and artist as well as opening up
the world of tattoo history to me but it all changed when Eric
Inksmith agreed to mentor me.
I thought I was just going to get a tattoo education but what I
got was so much more! He was integral in making my tattoos
get better by leaps and bounds, but the way he explained the
business aspect of tattooing as well as ethics really made my
own business flourish. Everything I had learned from him I
always tried to share with the tattooers that worked with me
throughout the years.
He showed me a lot about passing on and sharing info with
other would only make tattooing better for everyone. He was
lucky to have been mentored by Paul Rogers and I swear to god
that in all the years I’ve been tattooing I’ve never heard a bad
word uttered about that man. He was about bringing tattooing
forward. And he was right, if we are stuck in the past how can
we move forward? Each generation should be better than the
next!
I’ve always been willing to help someone out that’s really trying
to get this thing. I love watching artists grow and having played
a part in that. I know how great it felt when someone opened
up the tattoo world to me. I didn’t sit back and wait for shit to
happen, I went out and traveled to wherever I had to, to gain
any kind of tattoo or business knowledge that would help make
Kadillac Tattoo a better shop and make me a better tattooer.
Tattooing has never been just a job to me, it’s been a 24/7/365
religion, lifestyle, relationship for me. Sometimes the greatest
thing ever, sometimes crazy and dysfunctional, but never once
was I going to give up on it. I was (and still am) in love with it.
And if you’re not well then you need to fuck right off and leave
to people that are serious about it?
Tattooing has taken me everywhere in the world and I’ve
spent more than half my life promoting good tattooing through
Kadillac Tattoo and making it a name known throughout the
world! I’m sure there’s dick heads out there that may not have
heard of us but I haven’t found one yet, and that’s saying a lot!!
Here’s a simple piece of advice to gain and keep a new
customer. When anyone walks into your shop, merely say hello
with a smile! I’ve walked into countless shops worldwide and
the most successful one do this very thing!
Every place I’ve ever been in that treated me shitty or ignored
me is GONE! It takes a lot more energy to be a dick than it does
to be nice and the rewards are three fold, the customer feels
welcome, you don’t feel like a dick, and you gain a client and
possible friend.
Throughout the years Eric Inksmith has guided me through the
ins and outs of tattooing and the business world and without
his help Kadillac may have been gone long ago. We’ve also
been able to have some of the best tattooers in the world come
through our doors to Tattoo because this is a tattooers shop, it’s
run by a tattooer that knows what it’s like to sit in a shop 10-12
hrs a day for years. I’ll never have so many tattooers working
that I’m the only one profiting from the business. We all put in
a lot of hours here because we love tattooing and we should
all profit from it monetarily as well as spiritually. By that I mean
we work as a team and look out for one another, we don’t take
money out of each other’s pockets by ganking jobs or under
cutting the next guy. We all have a strong set of ethics and if
anyone fucks with that, they’re gone! I’ll never let a cancer
fester here, if it’s not good for all of us, it’s gotta go!
There’s so many things that has made Kadillac successful for
all these years, customers, tattooers, location, ethics, talent,
knowledge and a whole lotta luck! But please if you’re not
in tattooing for the long haul and can’t commit to upholding
the highest standards, please get the fuck out and let the
professionals deal with it!!
So with that being said, if you come to Philly on your travels
and you love tattooing as much as we do, make sure you stop
by and hang out! The door is always open if you’re not a dick!
Thanks to everyone that’s helped make Kadillac Tattoo the
Tattoo Institution it is and here’s to 25 more years! I’ll be back
again to answer my own questions real soon, Yer Pal,
ERIC PERFECT
@eric_perfect
@kadillactattoo_deuce
www.kadillackolors.com
When I received the title Horiyuki from Horiyoshi 3 in
2005, it was conditional. The condition was that I devote
myself, and my work, to Japanese tattooing. Although
my relationship to the Master has since dissolved, I
have faithfully continued to honor that vow. I have been
fortunate throughout my tattoo career to have had the
opportunity to study with and work alongside some of
the most inspiring Japanese artists in America. Not only
did these experiences structure my understanding of
Japanese tattooing, they lit the path to my own style.

In Japan, as in the West, there are many ways in which

tattooers can learn the trade, but most notable is the
practice of a Master tattooer passing down his or her
knowledge to their apprentices. The Sensei’s work is
reflected in the work of their “tattoo family.” Each tattoo
family subscribes to a unique body of information, and
these guidelines inform the individual style of the family.
At times, there may even be conflict between different
Masters’ ideologies. For instance, one Master may prefer
maple leaves in combination with a koi fish design to
indicate that the fish is at it’s peak strength, reminding
that fall is their spawning season. While another Master
may not be particular about the flora enhancing a koi
fish design reasoning that logically the fish is alive year-
round. For Westerners who study Japanese tattooing
on their own, without the benefit of a Master mentor,
observing these inconsistencies can be confusing or
present information as overwhelmingly inaccessible.

This column is an ongoing investigation into the identity

of the modern Japanese tattooer. I plan to probe topics
that relate to deepening ones’ study of Japanese
tattooing through art, history, culture, and spirituality.
My intention is to encourage the professional Master-
less, Western tattooers with the tools to build a solid
foundation in the Japanese tradition so they may
respectfully contribute and engage with it.

Take it from me: It’s easy to fall in love with Japanese

tattoos. For artists, collectors, and admirers of Japanese
tattooing, nothing compares to seeing a horimono
bodysuit in person. Astounding in scale, mind-blowing
in detail, and seemingly illuminated from within... no
book or Google reference photo can ever recreate the
experience. But even in Japan, the opportunity to see
a horimono bodysuit is rare and special. Unlike in the
West, where tattoo conventions and events are relatively
common, Japan keeps its tattoo culture underground.
Shops are rarely street level, and many artists work in
private studios by appointment only. Even on the body
itself, Japanese tattoos are practically invisible to the
outsider, designed to mimic the silhouette of one’s
clothing so they can be easily hidden. Residents of
smaller towns in Japan may live their entire lives without
ever seeing horimono in person.

Japan is a country that prides itself on its etiquette, and

tattoos, in a word, are impolite. Miho Kawasaki (former
editor of Tattoo Burst magazine) describes the public
display of tattoos as “disrespectful.” She explains, “to
show irezumi in public is seen in the same vein as taking
a piss in public...it’s an offense to public sensibility.”
From the Edo period until recent history, tattoos could be
seen publicly at sento bathhouses or matsuri festivals,
however today they are mostly outlawed. The frowning
on the public display of horimono hasn’t stopped the tradition of the
Sanja Matsuri street fair, which has received international recognition
for proudly showcasing Japanese tattoos in public, despite its own
website renouncing them. I caught up with several peers and friends
that have attended the event, which takes place each May, to hear
first-hand, their experience participating in the thirteen-hundred-year-
old event.

Sanja Matsuri is a massive extravaganza that attracts over one

million people to one of downtown Tokyo’s oldest and most traditional
neighborhoods, Asakusa. The spirit of the festival is celebration. People
come to drink, let loose, and escape the constraints of everyday life. A
Shintō tradition, matsuri festivals honor the gods, seasons and other
aspects of the natural world. At the heart of the Asakusa district is the
Buddhist temple, Senso-ji. Built in 645 AD, it is the oldest temple in
Tokyo, constructed to house a golden statue of the goddess Kannon
that was pulled out of the Sumida River in a fishing net by two brothers
in 628 AD. The Sanja Matsuri begins with the head priest of Senso-ji
performing a religious ceremony in homage to the fishermen. It may
seem confusing that a Shintō festival would be celebrating Buddhist
gods, but that is not unusual. Unlike other widespread religions,
Buddhism doesn’t require exclusivity by its followers. It cohabitates
with other religions throughout Asia and America.

The festivities run for three days, and last from dawn until dusk. Flutes
and taiko drumming enliven the atmosphere and the sweet smell of
festival treats permeates. There are many smaller neighborhoods in
the Asakusa district, and groups of mainly men, representing individual
areas congregate in the street. These groups can be identified by
matching happi coats of different colors and distinguishing symbols.
Geisha, a longstanding tradition of Asakusa, make appearances
throughout the weekend dressed in their finest kimonos for the
celebration.

The feature of the Sanja Matsuri is the parading of mikoshi. Mikoshi

are brightly painted portable shrines constructed of wood that has
been finished with black lacquer and gold leaf. They house statues
from the temple. The larger mikoshi can weigh up to a ton and require
teams of over fifty men (and sometimes women) to carry. Carrying
the mikoshi is hard work and being nominated to carry is a coveted
position. Several years ago, German tattooer, Andreas Coenen, was
among the select few chosen to carry it. “There’s a special thing about
holding it,” he explained. “There were many people waiting to get
the chance to carry it.” Coenen witnessed fights break out between
disgruntled matsuri-goers with hopes of receiving such a privilege.
The crowd that participates in the matsuri reflects the spirit of
 restaurant where they were seated next to a group of Japanese
men that were heavily tattooed and baring their skin. One of the
men came over to say hi. Without the luxury of a shared language
to communicate, the two tables bonded by showing each other
their tattoos. Eventually, one of the guys motioned to follow him
and so they did, for nearly forty-five minutes, through streets and
alleyways, a mile and a half across town. They arrived, at last, at
a shady plaza. They could see tattooed men in festival garb and
tattooed women in bikinis. Soon, the square started to fill up with
tattooed people. Their new friend brought over older men to show
them their full scale horimono bodysuits. One gentleman even
removed his wig to reveal his head fully tattooed with snakes and
skulls. They had found what they had come to see, and did their
best to take it all in.

Surrounded by masterpieces tattooed by horishi artists like the late

Asakusa. Coenen describes them as, “working class, tough
guys,” lots of construction workers, craftsmen and yakuza;
“hard working, hard drinking men.” With the party (and sake)
starting up at 7am, the occasional fight was to be expected.
The image of the tattooed yakuza energizing the crowd with
fans and whistles while directing the mikoshi from atop is
iconic. Coenen mentioned seeing what he identified as
a yakuza boss get down off of the shrine, surrounded by
tattooed bodyguards, and address the cheering crowd while
posing for pictures with the civilians, or katagi. Yakuza, who
are often heavily tattooed, are treated as local celebrities.
They are recognized by the public and represent some kind
of relatable success for blue collar workers bound by their
social status. The Sanja Matsuri provides a moment for the
katagi to drink and rub elbows with these working-class
heroes.
Horikazu of Asakusa and his eldest son, Horikazuwaka, Arriola and
King were taken aback. King noticed that the colors of the tattoos
had settled into the skin with a density and a brightness that he
didn’t feel was possible with electric tattoo machines. The volume
of fully tattooed bodysuits around him was staggering. Before they
arrived, Arriola felt he had a handle on the stories and techniques
associated with the Japanese images he often tattooed on his
clients. Now, after spending time on this trip, he questioned his
knowledge, and began to calculate how far he should delve into
the Japanese style with his work. King was similarly conflicted. He
pondered scaling back his efforts, which had been totally inspired
by Japanese tattooing up until that moment, in favor of a more
“Ed Hardy” or Western-infused-Japanese approach. As Americans
passionate about Japanese tattooing, both left the experience with
new questions about their responsibility to the art form: Were they
doing justice to the great tradition of Japanese tattooing with their
humble efforts?
I believe there is always room to grow artistically and intellectually
in tattooing, regardless of age and seniority. And it seems to me
that the questions that shake us to our core, like the ones King and
Arriola faced on that shady plaza, are often the ones that force us
to grow the most.

Jamie King and Matt Arriola attended the Sanja Matsuri

for the first time this past May. Even though they had both
grown up in tattooing and had seen images of the festival,
they were overwhelmed by what Arriola described as “a huge,
crazy ordeal.” Both, however, were also somewhat initially
disappointed: While a tattooed person is not an uncommon
sight at Sanja Matsuri, you have to know where to find them;
sadly, they saw none. Jet lagged and hot, they contemplated
navigating the crowded streets back to their rented
apartment. As they wandered they realized they themselves
had become a kind of tattooed attraction when young girls
stopped them on the street, asking for pictures.

As fate would have it, King and Arriola and a few other
Westerners in their group randomly wandered into a
Sometimes, confronted with the enormity, complexity,
and even deliberately clandestine nature of Japanese
tattooing, it feels like the more you know, the less you
know. The truth is, we can only do the best job we can
with the information available to us at the time we are
doing our tattoos. In my experience, it’s when we let go of
our expectations, and surrender to our ignorance, that is
when we can truly learn to embrace new ideas and points
of view.

Western tattooers form their vision of Japanese tattooing

from afar. One of the most enriching and important things
a tattooer in the pursuit of the Japanese style can do is
visit Japan. Seeing with their own eyes and experiencing
in person what cannot be described by books and photos.
The humbling of hundreds of years of tradition steeped in
hundreds and hundreds of years of art and culture. When
Arriola returned to the US, although he felt small in the
grand scheme of things, he also brought home with him
newfound inspiration and enthusiasm for his Japanese
style tattoos.

And yet he still hesitates now and then. Even with this
new, more focused sense of direction, he sometimes
doesn’t feel qualified to put out Japanese tattoos, in the
strictest sense.

“I understand a lot for a Westerner... but I will never wrap

my mind around this shit.”

@jillbonny_horiyuki
www.noliesjustbullshit.com

“I’m going to start y’all off with something easy and doable to get your feet wet but next issue
we gonna really step this game up and cook!”

Yo! This is Nick from the No Lies Just Bullshit podcast. If you don’t know, it’s a storytelling pod-
cast that’s closely related to tattooing. We’ve been doing the podcast for nearly two years now
and in addition to releasing the shows I started an instagram page to keep people informed
about episode guests and so on. When I figured out I could reach people through the story as
well I started posting cooking videos. I’ve been cooking for about sixteen years now and it’s
something I really enjoy and it gives me a very personal way to care for my family and friends.
Some of the best tattooers in the world have reached out and said that they dig the podcast
but really love the cooking videos so when the opportunity came to publish my recipes I jumped
at the chance. I decided to start with a comfort dish that’s a real crowd pleaser and something
great for this time of year to take to a cookout or get together. My Ma’s Mac-N-Cheese! There are
two styles of mac, one is rooted in French technique with a béchamel sauce and the other what
I call “country style” and its a little sweet and has eggs in it. This is an easy one so give it a shot!

What you’ll need:

-1 lb of your favorite pasta,
I like Cavatappi which is just spiral macaroni
-12-20 ounces of evaporated milk
-1 teaspoon salt
-2 teaspoons black pepper
-1 teaspoon sugar
-1 stick unsalted butter room temp
-2 large eggs
-1 lb sharp cheddar cheese cubed
-1 lb colby jack cheese 1/4 cubed 3/4 shredded

The Pasta-
Bring eight quarts of water to a rolling boil and salt heavily with kosher salt and cook until al dente,
meaning firm to the bite. I don’t care what the box of pasta says. Just bring to a boil pour in the pasta and
wait 5-6 minutes stirring occasionally. Taste the pasta. It shouldn’t be hard in the middle just firm all the
way through. Then strain.

Wet ingredients-
In a large bowl combine the eggs, sugar, salt, pepper and 3/4 of the evaporated milk and
whisk until the eggs are thoroughly beaten. Spray a casserole dish with non-stick spray and combine the
pasta, cubed cheese and butter (I cut mine into 8 pieces). Pour in your wet ingredients and distribute
evenly.

Cooking-
Place the pan in a 375-degree oven on the middle rack for 10-12 minutes. At this point put it on
the stove top and mix thoroughly. Check to see if all the liquid has been absorbed (not likely). Place back
in the oven for another 10-12 minutes and repeat. Now would be a good time to turn on your broiler to
high. At this point you may need to add a little more of the evaporated milk if all or most of the moisture
is gone. Top with the shredded colby jack. For the wow factor, I like to place the pan on the top rack and
let the cheese get gooey and slightly browned. Some of the past will get a bit crunchy, y’all know what I’m
talking about! This process should take 2-6 minutes depending on your broiler. When mac-n-cheese is
GB&D (golden brown and delicious) remove from oven and allow to rest for 10 minutes.

That’s how my Ma taught me and that’s how I’ve been making it for as long as I can remember. I hope you
all enjoy! Please follow No Lies Just Bullshit on instagram and I will make this recipe the same week this
issue comes out. Thank you!