The year 1969 marked the birth of Steven Johnson in Chula Vista, California. In the early 1970s, his father, a senior chief in the navy, got tattoos by legendary Bob Shaw at 22 S Chestnut Place in Long Beach (currently known as Outer Limits, the longest continuously running parlor in the United States). His father’s […]
Category: Interviews
Interview with Lena Fedchenko on Botanical Tattoos
Lena Fedchenko, born in 1987 in Yartsevo, a small town in the far Western region of Russia, relocated to the suburbs of Moscow at the age of 17 and later to the city itself at the age of 22. She graduated from Dubna International University in 2010 with a Sociology degree. After working in the […]
Looking into the Soul: Q&As with Tattooist Yoshi
Yoshihiro Sakaguchi (Yoshi) was born in 1988 in the coastal inlet city of Kagoshima, Japan. His family relocated to South Korea when he was only one year old. In primary school, he was a wrestler (in the traditional style of Ssireum) and left the team in middle school, which resulted in significant weight gain and […]
Interview with Joe Truck, a Veteran New York Rocker and Tattooer
Joe Truck, born in 1961 in Manhattan, New York, has over forty years of expertise as a musician and over thirty years as a tattooist. His father, film producer Charles D. Kasher, was connected to 1960s films starring Michael Caine, and his mother, Lodi Carr, was a jazz singer. His background was far from glamorous, […]
The Tattoo Art of Chou Chou Incorporates Enigmatic Eyeballs
Chou Chou’s mother stated that during her childhood, she had no other interest besides drawing relentlessly. She completed her secondary education in art and subsequently earned a degree in Western painting from a Korean university. Her initial job was teaching high school pupils art as they prepared for collegiate entrance exams. Afterward, she instructed middle […]
An Essential Interview with Tattoo Legend Big Frank
Frank William Harrison was born in 1959 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Known as Big Frank in the tattoo community, this nickname was derived from the fact that there were numerous Franks in the industry, and he stood the tallest at 6.3 feet. Big Frank has legendary status, with over three decades of experience in tattooing […]
Inno’s Liquid-like Creature Tattoos
Inno is 28 years old. After earning a bachelor’s degree in 2019 with a major in video design and gaining employment at a fashion brand, he pursued an alternative career path. He enrolled at Sol’s Tattoo Academy in South Korea in 2020. The latter assisted him in learning the fundamentals of becoming a tattooer. Despite […]
Dareum’s Tattoos Feature Oil Pastel Depiction
1994 marked the birth of Da Hye Lee (aka Dareum) in Cheongju, South Korea. Her family relocated to Seoul during childhood, and she has remained there ever since. After deciding early on that visual and fashion design was not her calling, she abandoned her undergraduate major to pursue a career as a tattoo artist. She […]
Dearly Departed Tattoos: An Interview with Mark Clifford
Mark Clifford spent most of his life in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where he was born in 1975. He held various jobs and played in a band, which led him and his bandmates to get tattoos and ignited his interest in this art form. Clifford started working as a tattooer in 2001 and co-owned a tattoo shop […]
A Dialogue with Gigi Regarding Her Line Art Tattoos
Gigi, a 35-year-old native of Seoul, enrolled at Suwon University to study apparel and textiles but left after the first year to become a fitness instructor and then a tattooist. With only three years of professional tattooing experience and a strong desire to learn, she has received plenty of advice from skilled Korean tattooers. Her […]