Mr Fix It

By Tsering Tenzing Ghale @ Story Of My Tattoo

You are on the top of a 100 stores building with wings to fly, would you fly? Would you do it? Or you would not? The choice is yours. But remember there are outcomes (unknown) in both situations. Will you not trust your wings? Or would you trust the KARMA and fly? What? What? What would you do?

Let’s say you did not, then what? Let’s say you did fly, then what? What are you thinking? You are thinking about the possibilities and all the outcomes in both situations but why? Why? Why are you making all the outcomes when you have not even begun the first stage of your action? We are all confused and our confusion drags us to outcomes that we don’t even have a hind, is it not? Yet we all assume this and that before we even did something?

Life is funny and always like that. It makes us think and drag us to that corner of the world where we have to decide whether to stay or come out. Is it not? I think so. And so does artist Edward Swanson who has been in the industry since 2012 and have traveled across oceans and mountains to flourish the art (tattoo). Artist Swanson said, “Tattoo changed me into a whole different person, a better one; happier and stronger me.”

My option - Deadbeat artist or Scumbag Tattooer?

Growing up, I was always surrounded by the arts and myth. My mother is a potter you see, and was a bit of a hippie. It still remains the family business in fact.  Our whole house was a huge studio where she made her crafts. We also had a lot of dusty old books. Some had tales of otherworldly things and bizarre illustrations. Others were catalogs of old ceramics and historic art.  There were of course a lot of National Geographics lying around. It was the synergy of these influences that may well have put me on this path, or at least dictate aesthetics that interest me. But what were particularly fascinating for me were those patterns and symbols found on old ceramics. How these black shapes and lines interacted on three dimensional forms.  And also what they signified. It is a visual language. It may not be obvious to an intellectual, but on a visceral level it makes sense. Though it may not be a literal picture (sometimes), it tells a story. It is these stories that ignites the imagination and defines our humanity.

Before I even had the inclination to be a tattooer, I was living in a warehouse squat and doing odd jobs, mostly construction, and some book illustration on the side.  Sometimes I would get gigs hanging art at galleries.  Even more rare, a few of my paintings managed to get into shows at those galleries, but I never really had luck selling anything. It was a fairly squalid and chaotic existence.  But I was alive, and I got to make art.  Eventually however, I felt like I needed more.  I had fire but no direction.  I needed to cultivate a discipline.  That is how I met my first mentor. She suggested the idea of tattooing and offered to teach me a few things.  So there was the crossroads: to continue as some deadbeat artist, or do something slightly more respectable like a Scumbag tattooer.  The choice was obvious.

When I was first learning to tattoo I hated it. I was arrogant for sure. I had just completed my traditional training in fine art, and I was used to soft mediums like painting and drawings where you could be loose and erase your mistakes. The technique was more harsh, unforgiving and brutal than any medium I had encountered up until that point.  And it intrigued me.  When painting and sculpture came so easily, tattooing had my number and it pounded me into the earth like a tent peg.  It made me mad with frustration and anguish.  But it also cultivated an obsession to figure it out. So even when I struck out on my own and had no real guidance at all, it was my stubborn will and my desperation for survival that kept me on this path. And I continue to survive.

Tattooing to me:

Well, tattooing to me is a collaborative work between the artist and the customer. I believe communication plays a vital role.  As an artist, I want to advance my sense of aesthetics and design, but still remain respectful to the patron and their conceptual needs. After all at the end of the day, they have to wear the damn thing, and I want my people to be stoked on what they have for years to come. People are not paper.  They have feelings, and it is important to hear them in the design process. I should also note that I have never had the opportunity where somebody requested that I just "do my thing" on them and in some ways I do not know if I would do anyone any good with that request.  I feel like the work should be inspired by the nature of that person whether it be a intellectual, emotional or spiritual.  Enforcing too much of your own inner workings onto someone else just seems wrong.

It is not always a perfect arrangement though.  Everybody has their own ideas about what this sort of work entails. So ego tends to get in the way of this process a lot and that always leads to trouble. I will admit sometimes I get a little too carried away with an idea and the person I am working with is not as ambitious.  And sometimes the client has some instincts about a piece that aesthetically are not congruent with how I like to work. Hence the need for clear communication. And keeping your ego in check. Hahaha!

So in short, tattooing for me is like building a house. You do have to build it how the owner would like it, but you have to use your skills, judgment and expertise to make it livable and functional.

My Tattoos:

We live in a strange world where we hold identity in such importance.  Most folk know who they are. They know where their people are from, who their ancestors are, and what culture they should participate in, whether it is something traditional, indigenous or capitalistic. Then there are those who are lost.  And we are lost because we are disenfranchised by those who feel like they know better.  And because our voices are perpetually judged and drowned out by the majority, we are forced to create new identities for ourselves in order to navigate the world around us.  But though we are a lost people, we are strong as individuals. These tattoos serve to reclaim and define identity.

My tattoos are of a metaphorical and symbolic nature. They are the synergy of myth and stories, form and function.  They are representative of my bloodlines, and my affinity for the land that I hail from. I am of Chinese and Swedish ancestry and I was born in the city of Oakland, California, ICECITY.  I have had to fight my whole life in America to justify my existence to many who would not accept me for what I am. These tattoos are defiance to anyone who would wish to challenge me on this. Some are merely abstractions of my land: our rolling hills, our strong oaks, great red wood trees, the warm sun, the dusty earth and the rugged crash of the Pacific Ocean against our rocky coast. Some are reflections on the harsh nature of living in an urban environment and the ignored social ills that come with that life. They are songs of blood, struggle and memory. They are the embodiment of how I have lived, and my will to survive.

Tattooers are not Rock-stars:

I am pretty happy with what I am doing and all but I feel like I still have a lot to learn. I am very grateful for this trade, because in a lot of respects, tattooing saved my life. It changed me into a completely different person; I feel happier and stronger. I am way more confident.  I have a place to lay my head that is all mine. And I have more respect and stacks that I have ever seen in my whole life. But what is that worth if your work becomes stagnant? I still want to be challenged by the work. I want to make art that has substance and that is appreciated by my clients and not of a shallow depth just for making money or petting my ego.  I desire to constantly improve my technical skills and understanding of tattooing. I want to never stop learning, and keep the excess in check.  If you think you have mastered it, you get complacent. You get complacent with the trappings of this line of work, you get a big head. And when you get a big head, you loose sight of what is important and then you will eventually cease to produce work that challenges others.  And even though you surround yourself with people who worship the very ground you walk on, you know deep down that you're full of it.  Your life is a lie. And then you die.  And what is it all worth then?

Mr. Fix It:

Tattooers have all kinds of catchy stupid slogans that they fling at clients to help them earn a buck and look clever. I do not remember where I heard this but “When in doubt, Black it out." definitely applies to what I do.  Most of my work is heavy black tattooing and it has been my style since day one.  And incidentally, because of that most of my clients come for cover-ups. So I guess you can just call me Mr. Fix It: repairing broken lives and erasing bad decisions one big mag at a time...