By Kaleb Lind
@Kaleblindart
Leading up to meeting them, I was nervous. I know they’re about my age and have been tattooing for a similar amount of time, but seeing how amazing their work is made me a little self-conscious. Right after meeting them, that all went away.
I was blown away by their humility. The emotions that come with beginning your career in tattooing are mostly the same for everyone. In that way, it was cool to see two incredible artists from the other side of the world recalling similar emotions from their time learning to tattoo. The drive, obsession, passion, and insecurity we all deal with. However, their schooling while learning to tattoo couldn’t have been any more different from how I came up. My apprenticeship of a few short months is the polar opposite of years of tattoo art school. I think it definitely shows in their work. It feels very intentional. Though, I guess none of it is necessary, since as the interview was taking place, I noticed that everyone in that room learned to tattoo differently. We all have very different backgrounds and roads to tattooing, but we all ended up in the same shop for a brief moment in time for the interview. I think it’s fascinating.
I feel I’ve brought back an even greater appreciation for tattooing and the process behind it. I’ve also slowed down a bit… in everything. I’ve started taking my time with the things I enjoy. Whether making drip coffee in the morning or putting on a stencil. So far in my life, I’ve always barreled through my day. I wanted to do as much and get as far as possible with every second. I think going to a country like Italy, where the pace of life is so different, and meeting such incredible artists with such stunning work makes me realize that the all-American fetish for constant work isn’t always the best. It’s not right or wrong; it just isn’t always necessary.
I think I’m moving in a more specific direction with the art I make. I think it partly comes from slowing down during the design process. I also work at a studio with some amazing people and artists. Since returning from Italy, I’ve been taking better advantage of the help I can get from them. I want to make tattoos that give a nod to the master artists who lived hundreds of years before me. I want to leave behind the egotistical idea that I need to create something that’s ‘new’ and ‘sensational.’ Something that’s completely unique and ‘my style’ every single time I design a tattoo. How? How would I even do that? Everyone is ‘ripping off’ everyone else. That’s not that unique of a realization, but the trip to Italy made it more obvious to me. I don’t think it should be something negative. It’s a beautiful thing that we can take from other artists before us. I suppose the hard part is figuring out what artists you should take from.
That being said, that was one of the coolest parts of traveling. Finding original and REAL references. It’s a dream to have my own folder of reference photos that I took myself! Even things that aren’t directly ‘references’ but just seeing inspiring things. As artists, we all take from what we see, but most of us stare at Instagram all day. It’s no wonder every tattoo is starting to look the same. We’ve watered ourselves down by spending more time looking at tattoos through a tiny screen than going out and seeing the references life has to give us.
Pinterest is another one. I love Pinterest for what it has to offer, but it’s to a point now where I’m seeing tattoos from around the world that use the same reference of a female face! It’s like every ‘cool neo-trad tat-wizard’ went online and typed in ‘female face with long eyelashes’ and used the first one that popped up. It’s just funny, and I’m just as guilty as anyone else. Until this year, I have done that exact thing pretty often. This amazing opportunity to travel has lit a fire in me to gather better references. Making tattoos that reference pictures I took feels so amazing and authentic. If not that, then books. Any tattoo artist who’s been tattooing longer than 5 years already knows that books are the best place for references. Still, there’s a whole generation of tattoo artists that don’t own a single reference book.
I want to travel more, gather references, and open my mind to the world. Having been given this amazing opportunity to travel to Italy, I want to expand my views continually and get better tattoos. I feel like I’ve found my mountain in life, and now I enjoy climbing it… I’m beyond grateful.
To see the world, things dangerous to come to, to see behind the walls, to draw closer, to find each other and to feel. That is the purpose of life.
— Life Magazine’s motto in The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.
