Long before Tara Dakides was an X Games champ and leading lady of snowboarding, she was another 18-year-old having doubts about her next tattoo. "He had a twitchy eye," Dakides remembers of the tattooer who took a turntable in payment for a tattoo. "I should've known from that point that he probably wouldn't have done good work." She took the plunge anyway, and the artist left her with a giant mushroom design that spanned the side of her torso and ribs. Dakides never felt the image reflected who she was at the time. She always considered herself an outsider and spent her teens at basement punk shows and partying with ...
Sitting down with artist Tara McPherson you’re likely to get a lesson in physics these days: “When you take a super bright object, like a quasar, and place it in front of a massive object, it creates the illusion of four identical objects surrounding the original. That’s called Einstein’s Cross gravitational lens.” To hear this pouring so fluidly out of the mouth of an artist who is known more for gothic characters and insanely beautiful rock show posters than for having a keen acumen for science is surprising. McPherson, a California native who transplanted to New York three years ago, speaks of this as she sits in her storefront studio ...
Co-owned and operated by venerable artists Ed Hardy and Fip Buchanan, Tattoo City, in the heart of the historic North Beach area, is at the apex of the tattoo world. Hardy himself hand picks each of the store’s artists to carry on the tradition he began more than 40 years ago. “Everyone has an individual style, but they all work under Ed’s eye,” says Tattoo City manager Aleph Kali. “It’s quite an honor to work here.” Small and covered from wall to wall with antique flash from Sailor Jerry, Hardy, and other legendary artists, Tattoo City is also part “ink museum.” “A lot of the flash is older than most of the customers that come in here,” says Kali. But don’t head there expecting to pick up any Hardy gear. ...
Opening up a shop in Chicago’s Little Italy wasn’t easy for Keith Underwood. In fact, the Taylor Street owner has become almost as famous for the battle he faced trying to get his business open as he has for his art. “You can’t just rent and open here,” says Underwood of his difficulties. Strict laws about property ownership, coupled with ambiguous, antiquated licensing and regulations edicts in the state of Illinois, meant that attempting to open a business centered around tattooing was not only a hassle, but a big gamble as well. Then, there was the trouble with the neighbors. “It was a real us-versus-them-situation,” says Underwood about the college-prep and Catholic schools that showed up at his community hearing to voice protests and air concerns that the shop would ...
"Shit, where am I?" furniture designer Ted Nemeth mumbles into the phone before asking to reschedule our interview, blaming his confusion on a booze-fueled night out. Apparently, a pre-noon phone interview on a Saturday is a ridiculous request for this Brooklyn-based designer. You see, Ted Nemeth Designs is no Ethan Allen. Both make ottomans and end tables, but only one creates a wild line of "hot rod-slash-chopper style," as Nemeth explains it. His career in leather tooling began three and a half years ago when Nemeth couldn't find one of his favorite bags. "I made a replacement by cutting up an old piece of leather and bolting it together into ...
When Th’ink Tank Tattoo Studio and Art Gallery opened in Denver it gave the ink-loving folks in the Mile-High City a quality place for tattoos and a stellar gallery space. It almost didn’t last. “When we first started, we opened up in a neighborhood that was just too pricey,” says artist Jef Kopp. “Luckily, we figured that out pretty quickly and we moved over to our current space on Broadway. We’ve been here for four and a half years now and it’s exactly the right location for us. So much so that we’re now undergoing a complete remodel.” The changes weren’t strictly cosmetic, either. In 2005, Kopp sold the business to longtime associate and tattoo artist of 17 years Scottie DeVille, who’s now at the reigns. “It felt right and ...
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