Tattoo Nation
A look into tattoo history and the growing nature of tattoo culture
By Dann Dykas
Otzi the Iceman is the oldest known human with tattoos, said to have lived some four to five millennia “before Christ.” The Neolithic, scruffy, sloped-headed knuckle dragger was doubtlessly not the first person to get tattoos, but probably bears a striking resemblance to the image that many conservative business professionals conjure up when they think about tattoos. But thanks to hard working artists (and maybe MTV) inked flesh is taking on a decidedly different appearance.
Much of the modern American style of tattoos can be traced back one way or another to Norman “Sailor Jerry” Collins. Born in 1911, Sailor Jerry brought Far East tattoo culture to the states with his impeccable precision and his own nautical theme. Sailor Jerry later passed these skills and styles along to a pupil that would soon become a household name in the tattoo industry who would later trademark and market Sailor Jerry’s signature style, Don Ed Hardy.
Ed Hardy, now more prominently known for his apparel, blended traditional Japanese “Tebori” style into his work and created a signature look that began to quickly take over Southern California. But in the early ’80s, after producing a five-book series known as tattootime, cataloging the work of himself, Sailor Jerry and other alternative art subjects, Hardy moved away from the art of tattooing, making room for one of the earliest and most well known GLBT artists, Kari Barba.
Barba began tattooing at the age of 19. Having worked as a donut baker and a maid, Barba saw the world of tattooing through rose-colored glasses.
“Young and naïve, I thought I could do whatever and do it without the hardship,” Barba told Echo Magazine.
Diving headfirst into the business of tattoos, Barba moved intrepidly fast. By 1983, as Ed Hardy stepped back from the art of tattooing, Barba opened her first shop, Twilight Fantasy, in Anaheim, Calif. It was here that she began working with the county health department on sanitary standards that later became industry standards.
“Within the first few moths of tattooing regularly, I began to hate the feel of dry blood on my hands, so I came up with the idea of wearing gloves to help stop this feeling,” she said.
Barba carried this idea over to placing baggies on her bottles as well as covering her countertops.
“I felt it would keep things cleaner and be easier to clean at the end of the tattoo,” she said. “At that time (1983), my doctor and dentist weren’t even doing that.”
As the Gen Xer’s grew from the shadow of the Baby Boomers, they brought with them a world of rebellion and counter culture. Embracing their freedom and expressing their marked difference from the generation of their father, they began to change the face of the modern world.
The tattoo subculture developed and thrived in this new revolution. While piercing and multi-colored hair began to become the statement of a generation, it was the true punks, bikers and anarchists that embraced the tattoo culture. At the same time, the Stonewall riots breathed to life a different revolution, equally as controversial and even more root shaking to the conservatives that were currently in power in the states — the Gay Rights Revolution.
However, for a small micro-culture, the two movements were one in the same. Sexuality was just another branch of freedom of expression and individuality. Tattoos and the desire to get them grew out of their need to be expressive of themselves and their newfound place in America.
Around this time, Barba was married with a son, Jeremiah. Her daughter, Nakia, came along soon after. However, shortly after Nakia’s birth, Barba and her husband were divorced.
“During that time and turning point in my life, I realized I was gay,” Barba said. “My kids were great with it and the people in my business overall were not bad.”
For Barba and many of the GLBT community members that followed her, there is still some bigotry that still exists within the tattoo culture. The male-dominated world of tattoo culture was built on intimidation and a general sense of bad ass-ness that wasn’t ready for female tattoo artists, let alone lesbians or gays.
“I did find,” Barba remembers, “that while I was bisexual, that it was OK to be with my same sex, but gay holds a totally different meaning to them.”
But for the truly dedicated, conviction drives the soul, and through her persistence and amazing talent, Barba carved a name for herself, despite those that would hold her back.
“When I got into tattooing,” Barba recalls, “I only knew of a few gay people in the business — two in England and only one locally. I believe it was very tough for the men, even more so than for the women.”
Tattoo artist and owner of Black Lantern Tattoo in Glendale, Katelyn Walsh, agrees with Barba. When asked, she couldn’t think of a single gay male artist, despite having attended many trade shows, and even being raised by gay parents. To Walsh, the idea of being discriminatory against someone doesn’t even register. It wasn’t until high school that she knew people thought differently of GLBT people.
Collectors
Angela Riccibono, owner of Cherry Bombin Wear, isn’t a tattoo artist, but she is a collector. To her, her body is like the walls of a private gallery. Each inch of skin is infinitely more valuable than any square foot of wall, because the images are permanent. There is no rotation of shows here.
Identifying as queer, Riccobono has seen the stigmas of tattoo culture from a different side of the fence. She acknowledges the male-centric nature of the culture and the often-intimidating feel of shops and conventions.
“I’m a little lucky because I’m pretty fem and I don’t really stand out as a lesbian,” she says as she chills poolside at the Clarendon Hotel.
For her, it’s easier to flash a smile at a shop owner or artist and get accepted. Some shops have been known to refuse work to anyone they suspect or know to be GLBT.
But the intimidation doesn’t stop Riccibono, a.k.a. “Raccoon.” A lei of bright flowers is tattooed across her clavicle and is flanked on both arms by bright yellow sunflowers. Her right arm is a dramatic sleeve of a stunning desert flower landscape, and her back is a brilliant work in progress filled with flowers and insects emanating from a large, detailed heart. Her work is strong and well balanced and its beautiful detail draws the eyes of men and women around the pool.
Raccoon is a true collector of works. Each artist was thoroughly researched and each piece was designed with the artist and their style in mind. To her, building a connection with the artist is as important as the artists’ work. Her connection with shop owner Muriel Zao led to the large back piece that will be submitted into a contest at this year’s Hell City tattoo convention at the Biltmore in Phoenix.
Walsh, of Black Lantern, and many other artists and collectors alike feel the same as Riccobono about the connection with artist and collector. While many shops in high traffic areas rely largely on walk-ins and draw heavily from Flash (printed images of popular tattoos), there is a quickly growing trend of custom shops like Zao’s, who won’t take just anyone off the street.
Matthew Daniels, cocktail server at Kobalt and Apollo’s and rad-music guru, is also a collector. Recently, he began the work on one of his full sleeves. Having met Walsh through a friend and loving her work, the two quickly developed a great rapport. Walsh began working with Daniels to develop his sleeve based off the album art of a Decemberists CD. For Daniels, his love of music and appreciation for art lead to the beautiful scene. The sleeve sits opposite another piece lifted from the cover of an amazing CD by the Arcade Fire. Similar in unique style and color, the two pieces complement each other well.
For many collectors, there is a new aesthetic developing. Unlike some who collect tattoo after tattoo until they eventually fill the available space, or those who have sleeves or back pieces designed to fill in the gaps between older tattoos, there is a large number of collectors who plot and plan whole pieces with a unifying theme and style. The result takes the art of tattooing to a new level and helps builds credibility among the skeptics and the conservative.
Tattoo collector and shop owner John O’Hagan says that people should choose their work carefully, especially visible tattoos.
“Being visibly tattooed, you become an ambassador for the tattooed community,” he said.
Conventions and Convictions
This coming September, the Frank Lloyd Wright Ballroom at the Arizona Biltmore will be transformed into the mother of all tattoo conventions. Hell City 8 “Tattoo Vacation” will be taking over the Biltmore Labor Day weekend with Arizona Derby Dames, the Suicide Girls and the best tattoos and artists from around the world.
Muriel Zao has been attending and tattooing at Hell City for years in Columbus, Ohio, before it expanded to Arizona.
“It is the premier tattoo convention, and the artist lineup is always the best of the industry … Durb Morrison, an amazing tattoo artist himself, throws the phenomenal [Hell City] show,” Zao said.
Zao books all her clients for the festival ahead of time and has a pretty established idea of what she will be working on. As a custom artist, she meets with her clients beforehand and usually draws on the body to get an accurate custom fit and flow. But again, she works with the collector to find out their background, interests and belief system.
“All these lead to the visual outcome of the tattoo,” Zao said noting that’s an issue many artists stress to their clients.
Raccoon will also be in attendance at the Hell City Tattoo Fest, as she enters her beautiful piece by Zao into the “Best Back” competition.
Another of Riccobono’s artists (and one of Zao’s inspirations), Nick Baxter, will also be in the house from Austin, Texas, tattooing and potentially competing in the festival’s many competitions.
Baxter’s desert flower sleeve is an important piece for Raccoon. Having met Baxter via MySpace, Raccoon fell in love with the way he rendered flowers. The desert flowers in her sleeve represent her growth into adulthood and the acceptance of her sexuality.
Artist and shop owner Kari Barba will be tattooing at Hell City alongside her son Jeremiah. Together, mother and son, both award winners and phenomenal artists, will be bringing along their wife and fiancee, respectively, to the convention. For Barba, who had been an established artist and won more than 300 awards before she came out and eventually married her wife, being an out and open tattoo artist is still hard. 
“The further I come out, the harder it becomes … I have a beautiful wife that I love more than most men will ever love their wives. I hate that I, in front of some people, feel scared to show that,” she said.
But ignorance be damned, Barba will continue to be herself in her life and her work and her convictions are what make she and her shops stand above the growing juggernaut of tattoo shops across the country.
Shops
After leaving Twilight Fantasy in Anaheim, Barba moved to Outer Limits Tattoos in Southern California. With a total of four locations (Anaheim, Orange, Costa Mesa and Long Beach), Barba’s Outer Limits Tattoo and Piercing LLC in Long Beach is the oldest tattoo shop in the U.S.A., and the second oldest in the world.
“Outer Limits stands above the rest over the test of time, talent, kindness and willingness to help. We have won hundreds of awards, and still do everyday. I have been tattooing 30 years, 26 years in one shop. Most businesses don’t even make it that long,” she said.
Each location has a different theme, ranging from Big Top to Nautical, and boasts the amazing service and cleanliness that Barba developed with Twilight Fantasy.
“My shops are themed, and I do this to reflect some of who I am,” she said. “To make people feel comfortable and welcome in a clean and friendly environment. When I first opened, a clean shop wasn’t really heard of much.”
Barba’s shops are not only clean and welcoming, but Barba also goes out of her way to make sure they are welcoming to all.
“We hire all races and religions. I don’t even care if you’re from Mars if you tattoo well and are kind. We only hire people that are OK with that. If we hear otherwise, they don’t last long. We are all one people … it’s the way the world will survive,” she said.
Locally, John O’Hagan is in the process of opening up Golden Rule next to Carly’s Bistro in the Downtown Phoenix Art District. O’Hagan and his business partner Jsn Anthony have been working diligently to get the city to change the zoning requirements to allow the parlor to open.
Golden Rule will be one of the only parlors to open in Downtown Phoenix. Strict zoning requirements and permits were established as a means to deter business owners from opening “those kinds” of businesses in Phoenix. A $4,000 permit is required, and you must apply to have the building rezoned from C-2 to C-2SP. Despite the need for the rezoning and permit, there are actually no special city restrictions, aside from the state restrictions that apply across the board. Yet they still make shop owners jump through hoops.
In recent years, however, cities outside of Phoenix have changed their zoning requirements to stimulate business growth and allow parlors to open more easily. Black Lantern in Glendale is one of those parlors. Located in an area called Tattoo Alley, Black Lantern is one of few all-female parlors in a densely saturated stretch of road.
“It just happened that way, “ says shop owner Katelyn Walsh, explaining that to her, women were just easier to get along with. “They required less babysitting.”
Black Lantern, like many new shops, is a custom shop. While walk-ins are accepted, Walsh has gone out of her way to discourage it and encourage more of a connection with artists and their customers. Minimal Flash adorns the walls, and the shop feels more decorative and traditional than the typical catalog to pick and choose from. Artists’ portfolios line the counter to establish style and help customers pick their artist. Walsh has even had the parlor’s phone line disconnected to help keep the shop more custom.
“The artists here all work on referrals and they all have cell phones. There is no reason to have a landline,” she said.
Walsh doesn’t tattoo for the sake of money, but rather for the sake of art. While its true that she is a shop owner for a living, she has actually moved more toward the barter system. A good half to two-thirds of the work that comes through the door is actually done on trade. She’s traded from everything from haircuts and clothing to cartons of cigarettes.
Reality Vs. Reality T.V.
Kat von D is a woman and she is a tattoo artist. This much can be said unequivocally. But here is where reality strays from reality television. High Voltage Tattoo, home to Miami Ink’s spin-off L.A. Ink, was opened and run as a television show by von D. Artist Muriel Zao warns that shows like L.A. Ink and Miami Ink inaccurately portray the realities of shops and their culture. 
“I have people that come to me with ridiculous ideas, that some of these television shows have given them,” she said. “One thing is for sure, you are never going to get a back piece tattoo in two sittings.” “Oh,” she warns, “and just because you went to a ‘famous’ tattoo studio does not mean you received a good tattoo!” Which brings things back to what every artist will tell you: research, research, research.
But the popularity of tattoo shows is a double-edged sword.
“I feel that the shows bring tattooing more into the public eye, which is good,” Barba says, “But they also create an unrealistic view how tattooing really works.”
When asked whether she thought shows like L.A. Ink exploit women, Barba said yes.
“But what show doesn’t?” she refutes. “It also pays those girls a lot, and helps them get more business … if it would help me pay my bills, I would probably do the show. The shows have helped to open the tattoo culture up to more people in the long run, and made it more accepting, in my opinion.”
Acceptance
While shows like L.A. Ink and networks like TLC and MTV have definitely done their duty to increase the visibility and acceptance of tattoos throughout popular culture, when it comes to the mysterious micro-culture of the GLBT-tattooed there is still the question of where do you go?
Many collectors are willing to travel out of state to visit an artist they truly love. Raccoon has waited for artists like Baxter and Zao to come to town for Hell City or other conventions to get work done.
When in SoCal, Outer Limits Tattoo LLC is a must. And if you can garner a coveted spot with Barba, (either there or at Hell City) it’s well worth the patience and money, assuming you’re down with her style. If you’re not completely satisfied, she usually keeps five to seven artists per shop, all exceptionally talented and extremely accepting.
“You are wearing this forever,” Barba warns, “So wait if you can’t afford to … you are worth the best.”’
While the idea of waiting for the best of the best to come to town seems like the equivalent to waiting around for Mr. Miagi to turn you into the Karate Kid, what you might need could actually be right around the corner. You just have to look.
Black Lantern and The Golden Rule are two of the few shops in the Valley that boast being openly gay friendly (aside from being remarkably talented). Walsh says that at least half, if not more, of her clients are GLBT, and she welcomes them to Black Lantern.
O’Hagan of Golden Rule says that he and business partner Jsn Anthony decided to open the shop after disagreeing with how some of their previous shops were run.
“We always did our best to make sure everyone was able to be who they wanted to be and not worry about being judged,” he said. “But since it wasn’t our shop, we couldn’t speak for everyone in the place.”
Until now, that is.
Despite some shaky roots, the tattoo community is growing together and becoming more accepting.
“I feel that as artists, most of us are open free thinkers,” Zao says. “I think we can relate to feelings of being different, whatever different may be, because ‘normal’ is different to me!”
Barba added, “Today, it seems I hear of more (gay artists) everyday. It’s a growing subculture within another. Although we don’t often talk of being gay or different with each other, which I like, we are just part of the larger group.”
As each generation grows up and the tattoo culture changes and grows, artists are finding that more often than not, new shops and artists are leaning toward direction and acceptance, giving hope to aspiring artists and tattoo collectors alike.
“I think its ridiculous notion in this day and age that we even have to say anything,” O’Hagan states. “It’s horrible that it even has to be addressed. However, since it does, Golden Rule Tattoo supports same-sex marriage, we support the GLBT community struggle for human rights, we support the idea that love is love, and that no one should now, or ever be judged on who they want to spend their lives with.”
Thank you to those artists, shops and collectors that have stood up against a less-than friendly industry and worked their hardest to make everyone feel accepted and help the progress of an amazing art form. As a community, we thank you and embrace you with open arms. Now please tattoo them.
Top
