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.
Here are parts two and three of the Mutsuo profile from season
2 of New
Era and Vice’s
series Tattoo
Age. Part two focus’ on the Japanese artist’s personality and the
origins of his entrance into the tattoo world and working at Three Tides Tattoo. We hear from Mutsuo, Chris Garver, and Masa Sakamoto, who is a rare example
of a tattoo parlor owner who doesn't actual tattoo himself. We get some insight into how western-style
tattooing gained ground in Japan after the 1999 Tokyo Convention. We also hear
about all the guest artists who have contributed to making Mutsuo the artist he
is today.
In part three Mutsuo wraps up his Tattoo Age series
by taking a little trip to his hometown where he provides a brief tour of the
local temples and a visit his house where we meat his mother and father. Mutsuo also provides his philosophical take
on what tattooing means to him.
Here is the latest video in season 2 of New Era and Vice’s
series Tattoo Age focusing on artist Mutsuo
who tattoos in Osaka, Japan at the world famous Three Tides Tattoo.
Mutsuo went from being one of the shops first customers, to the shops first
apprentice, and now he is the most senior tattoo artist there. While at
the shop he learned from the many American tattoo masters that visited Three
Tides to work, and got what Chris Garver says, "a 90's style tattoo
education." In-between footage of Mutsuo
working on clients he shares stories of his working relationship at Three Tides
Tattoo with his fellow artists and vice versa as well as some history on the shop. Featuring
interviews with Nami, Masa Sakamoto, Hiroshi Hirokawa.
In the 3rd and last part of Tattoo Age’s profile
on Valerie Vargas we get a closer look at the tattoo power couple that is
Stewart Robson and Valerie Vargas via stories on how they met, working
together, inspiring each other’s work and more.
Tattoo Age is back with season two and they start things of
with artist Valerie Vargas. Valerie grew up in Scotland, but has lived and
worked in London for the last five years. You can find her at Frith StreetTattoo in SoHo, where she's known for doing the prettiest "lady
heads" in the world. Valerie has only been seriously tattooing since 2007,
so she's proof that talent and hard work will never fail you. In part one we
are introduced to Valerie and get her back story featuring interviews with her
fellow Frith Street artist and boyfriend Stewart Robson as well as Stafano C
and shop owner Dante DiMassa. Valerie briefly discusses some of her influences
hailing from not only the tattoo world but also from her childhood love of
Disney.
In the second video we get a closer look at Frith Street,
Valerie also gives us insight into what it took to develop as a tattooer, and
why London will be home base for the foreseeable future. Check back for a third
and final video in the near future.
