Just like in any other artistic genres like fashion and painting, do you see tattoo trends evolve out of different time periods?
I’ve traveled a lot, and I’ve seen trends come and go because of time, but also because of location. People in Europe generally have a different taste than people in Asia or the US, but the motivation behind getting tattooed is the same everywhere. People will get their boyfriend or girlfriend’s name tattooed on them, but each place has it’s own preference of how it’s executed. Europeans will get a lot of black and grey– soft and really flowing. In Japan, they prefer designs that are very hard, crisp, and colorful.
Do you ever get invested in someone else’s tattoo while you were working on it?
Tattooing can be pretty exhausting emotionally. You have your hands on someone and there is an intense exchange. After you tattoo someone a few times, you’re friends. You can’t help but sympathize or connect with them. I connect emotionally with a lot of my clients, which can be good and bad. There are people I met that I’ll love until the day I die, whereas there are other people that I poured my heart into and realize after that they’re dicks.
The fashion world seems to have adopted you as their tattoo artist of choice. What are some of the memorable pieces you’ve done for fashion figures?
I am embraced by the fashion world because art and fashion have kind of blurred. Marc Jacobs is probably the biggest name I tattoo regularly, and he’s been a huge inspiration. I’ve learned a lot about art through him. Dash Snow is one of the first people I met when I moved to New York, and in getting set up here, he opened my eyes into how big New York can be. I’ve tattooed half that kid’s body. I did a huge “Beast of Burden” written across his shoulder and an eagle carrying off a little girl on his forearm. I’ve done Olivier Zahm, of Purple Magazine, and all the European guys. I did a series with a bunch of famous characters wearing 3-D glasses. Marc Jacobs got Elizabeth Taylor, and Jake Sumner got Frankenstein.
