Kari Barba (1960–) is a distinguished, award-winning tattoo artist with more than four decades of expertise in the industry. She is a co-owner of Outer Limits Tattoo & Museum, the oldest continually functioning tattoo studio in the United States and the second-oldest in the world. This establishment was founded in 1927 by an unidentified person […]
Category: Celebrities
Kari Barba: The Queen of Modern Tattooing
Kari Barba has been tattooing for four decades. She was one of the few female tattooists in the 1980s and has devoted herself to promoting gender equality and advancing tattoo hygiene standards to what they are today. She is tattoo royalty and the co-owner of Outer Limits, the longest-running tattoo studio in America and the […]
Interview with Celebrated Tattooer Tommy Montoya
Tommy Montoya has seen firsthand both the underground and the mainstream of the tattoo scene. Recognized for his 20-year commitment to West Coast black-and-gray tattooing, Montoya, a California-based artist, rose to international prominence after appearing on the television show “NY Ink” (2011–2013). Tommy Montoya and Ryan Ashley Malarkey headlined the 2019 “Feather Falls Tattoo Expo” […]
Interview with Tattoo Goddess Ryan Ashley Malarkey
In just a few years Ryan Ashley Malarkey has soared to international fame by winning the 2016 “Ink Master” and starring on the 2017 reality show, “Ink Master: Angels.” In 2018 she was the most sought-after tattooist—headlining conventions in many countries including the United States, Mexico, England, Spain—and on the cover of top magazines Tattoo […]
Nikko Hurtado: Work Smart and Be Grateful
We met up with tattooist Nikko Hurtado at the end of a warm-winter day at the conference hall, a building located across the Golden State Tattoo Expo in Pasadena, where he and other prominent colleagues Joe Capobianco and BJ Betts conducted workshops to aspiring artists. Hurtado, the event co-host and studio owner of Black Anchor, […]
Nychos’ Trademark Dissection of Idols and Creatures
Graffiti artist Nychos grew up in the forested state of Styria in Austria. His dad and grandfather were both hunters; smelly animal corpses, guts and bones were commonly in sight and part of the artist’s everyday life. He once killed a fox, but it was the first and last time, as Nychos was not destined […]
New Living Sculptures by Marie-Lou Desmeules
Using thick layers of paint and plastic, Marie-Lou Desmeules performs “surgery” on her models, turning them into living, ephemeral (and oftentimes grotesque) canvases. With an eye for truth and a touch of satire, she explores identity, beauty, and the public image. Featured here are some of her newest works, which include creative icons such as […]
Kazuhiro Tsuji’s Realistic Sculptures of Famous Artists and a U.S. President
Based in LA, Kazuhiro Tsuji (from Japan) has made a name for himself in Hollywood, working as a special effects makeup artist for 25 years. Just to name a few things he’s done: the aging makeup on Nicole Kidman for her role in “Hemingway & Gellhorn” and subtly transforming Joseph Gordon Levitt into a younger […]
10 Nude Sculptures That Caused a Stir
What makes art controversial? Could be politics, or perhaps it’s to do with the subject portrayed or the themes explored. But very often it is because of nudity. There is something about seeing the human body in all its naked splendour that whips elderly churchgoers into a frenzy. This is very often the case when it […]
Illustrating Famous Faces
The delicate, pastel-tinted illustrations of Irish artist Denise Nestor are a joy to behold. Her speciality lies in rendering celebrity portraits in light colours and hand drawn pencil, as you can clearly see on this page. Her portrait of Joaquin Phoenix for “The New Review” and of J-Dilla for “This Greedy Pig” bear testament to her […]