-In the few years we’ve been making tattoos out of this shop, what stands out the most by far are the people that make us what we are. We are artists. A younger me would cringe at the brandishing of such a title, but he also smoked a pack-and-a-half a day and had a penchant for putting his foot in his mouth on more than a few occasions.
Unlike the elitist youngster filled with angst and an angle for making things harder on himself for the “experience”, I now find myself and the company I keep comfortable with the designation. For many years the idea of calling oneself as such was for lack of a better word—trite. An artist was a master, a Renaissance person of Da Vincian stature. Now in an era of “phoning” it in, almost literally, with the use of image generation, prolific marketing tools, and the ever present use of software to edit poorly executed work; maybe we’ve earned the right to consider ourselves at least in the realm of tattooing, artists.
Those I surround myself with create out of need. Not only to feed ourselves and our families, but to nourish our exigency to make things. In the years I have had the pleasure of figuring out how to make a solid tattoo, I have also forged the ability to refer to myself as whatever I want. An almost more daring feat by becoming completely comfortable with my role in an industry that appears to have been spinning out of control since long before I was born let alone enthralled with it. Rest assured there will always be someone there to look down on you. The beauty is that it’s totally up to you waste your time caring. Sometimes that person is yourself.
-J.S. Johnson - Tattoo Artist
