In the final two episodes of the Thom deVita Tattoo Age series we get to explore the neighborhood in which Thom live and worked, the
Lower East Side of Manhattan. We also get to see the types of tattoos
Thom did, and what it took to talk someone into getting tattoos that were a
little out of the norm. Episode 5 explores the days before people wore gloves
while tattooing, to the odd folks that frequented deVita’s store including
customers, apprentices and colleagues, finally rapping things up with Thom's
current state as an artist.
Something quite inspiring and different in the latest profile from Tattoo Age featuring Thom deVita. Even though Thom has been tattooing and creating art for almost 50 years, there is not much in the way of information on him, now in his 80’s and suffering from Parkinson’s disease Thom is still doing his thing and influencing other artists.
Thom began tattooing in the mid 1960's in New York City's Lower East Side (tattooing was illegal from 1961-1997) and quickly began to forge his own style.
He drew influences from everything from Puebla indian designs to Lord and Taylor shopping bags for his tattoos designs, he also is one of the few artists who approaches tattoos as a collage of sorts implementing layering like you might see with billboard wheat paste’s, new images on top of older with bits and pieces poking through. Thom also began to form relationships with other tattooers around the United States who were revolutionizing tattooing as art form by bringing in influences that went far beyond the usual array of images found in most American tattoo parlors at the time.
In the second part of the Thom deVitaTattoo Age series we focus on the touching and often hilarious relationship he has with Nick Bubash. Thom and Nick met in the early 1970's and soon after Thom started to tattoo Nick, he also started to teach him how to tattoo. Over the past 40 years their relationship has gone way beyond tattooing, or even art for that matter, but they still continue to create together.
In part 3 of Thom deVita's epic Tattoo Age series we take look at his personal history, past jobs, and how he came into tattooing. We also hear from tattoo legend Angelo Scotto on the history of tattooing in New York City including a time when they were illegal and had to deal with police raids.
Check back for the final two parts in the profile in the upcoming weeks.
