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 deVita Tattoo 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.
