INKEDblog takes you beneath the skin of today's tattoo culture. Our mission is to celebrate tattooing as a modern art form which incorporates art, fashion, style, and pop culture. While paying homage and respect to the past, we look to present a contemporary take on the present and future of skin art. getinked@inkedblog.com

Temporary Tattoos and Safety Portland Tats: by Jessica Lund Every BODY Has A Story - THE DOG-FACED BAT "Seen At The Clubs" - Photos by Mark The Cobrasnake Every BODY Has A Story - Erica Followwill January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005

Tuesday  Jul 05, 2005

INKEDblog Interviews... Jason Kundell

Jason Kundell first explored the potential of the tattoo world as a graffiti artist. After getting tattooed by the likes of Eddie Deutsche, Marcus Pacheco, and Elio Espana, he began painting graffiti with Paco Excel of New Skool Tattoo. He managed to convince Paco and Adrian Lee to give him an apprenticeship. Since then, Jason has climbed remarkably high in the tattooed ranks.

Today, Jason’s shop, Art Work Rebel, has become ground zero for the San Francisco Tattoo scene. Perched on Market Street, it houses the talents of Jason as well as Grime.

This world-class tattooist has been traversing the globe for most of 2005, practicing his craft at different shops and conventions. Stops in Rome, London, Madrid, and Milan have helped to showcase this first-rate talent.

It is clear Jason has reached his stride: he is quite comfortable in his heavily tattooed skin, living off of his talents, and enjoying life every second along the way... Logan Hicks

Check out Jason at: http://www.artworkrebels.com

INKEDblog: How'd you get into the tattooing field?

Jason: As soon as I turned 18 I started getting a lot of tattoos. I was lucky cause I had a friend from Venice who I knew from painting (graffiti) who gave me some really good people to start getting tattooed by: Elio Espana, Marcus Pacheco, Eddie Deutsche. So anyway right off the bat I saw how good tattoos can be. Especially then,(92-95 or maybe 1996) those guys were doing some great stuff. So I was instantly hooked. I always did art, mostly graff but I really wanted to do tattoos. About 2 years later me and Paco (Excel) started painting together and I eventually convinced him and Adrian (Lee) to give me an apprenticeship. The rest is history.

INKEDblog: What makes a tattoo "good"?

Jason: Lots of things can make a tattoo good. I guess just being done good makes a tattoo good, but it takes a little more than that to impress me. I guess good attention to detail really pays off. I don't mean cramming everything into a small space and making it detailed. I mean having a good design sense to make things look nice, making shapes work well together. It's also very important for me to have things remain somewhat simple but really interesting which is not always easy to not over due things. Also having good contrast weather it be in black and grey or color. Those are some things that are very important for me and things that I look for in my tattoos as well as others.

INKEDblog: What is the best and worst thing about being a tattoo artist?

Jason: Some of the best things are getting to create something new everyday for people. It's very flattering that people want you to draw things that are going to be on them and a part of them for the rest of their life. Of course there are people that don't give a shit if you tattoo them or some hack down the street. The other great thing is traveling, being able to tattoo all around the world is something incredible that I feel very fortunate about. Hell, almost everything about this job is great. For those tattooers out there who had shit jobs before (like me for sure) this has to seem like heaven. Of course not everyday is perfect but what is. Worst thing is people who don't give a shit about what your doing. They just want a fashion tattoo or something. When you finish they just look in the mirror like they just bought a new dress and it's just 1 of many to through in the closet and complain about. Also one of the worst things for me is tattooers who don't have any tattoos, or barely any.

INKEDblog: Describe your favorite tattoo of all time?

Jason: It changes, so I can't really pin point any one in particular. Grime is really probably the most incredible well rounded tattooer I know. No matter what style you want he can rock it. There lots of tattooers I look up to for different reasons though. I can't type that long so I'll just give you a few names. Mike roper, Chris Coon, Chris Trevino, of course Chris Garver. Horiyoshi2 and 3, horitomo is incredible. Filip Leu and Mick. Luke Atkinson, Ed Hardy, Scott Harrison, I don't know there are too many to name. Some people I think are great for reasons other than how they can put on a decent tattoo and others just treated me really good in the beginning just because they are good people, and that says more to me than anything else. People like Marcus Pacheco, Elio Espana, Chris Conn, those people were great to me, even if it was just little mannerisms, they say a lot for people.

INKEDblog: What's your thoughts on Old School vs. New School styles?

Jason: I don't really give a shit about old vs. newschool. What does that mean anyway. I've been traveling a lot this last year or 2 and I see so much regurgitated shit. What most people would call old school, you know a key a torch a coffin a hand, whatever, then all mixed up with a rose and shaded from the lines out and it's traditional. To me that's new school. Everyone is jumping on that and there is absolutely nothing impressive about it. There are plenty of people who do awesome traditional shit that doesn't look like that. Snodgrass, Rollo Banks, Craig Toth. There are lots of people who make traditional look good for what it was, simple design images. The same can be said for new school, whatever that means too. There are lots of people trying to do what Marcus Pacheco, Timothy Hoyer, Adrian Lee do. The same effect happens I think. Who knows, let everyone do what they want. You can tell who does their homework and who doesn't. Their are also people who I think are awesome tattooers who don't fit in either of those categories so what do you argue about then. People like Phil Holt and George Campise do awesome shit that I don't think is particularly old or new school? What do I know? I do the same as everyone else, I try and make a decent tattoo I just don't look at other tattooers tattoos for my reference.

Comments

Posted by: Steve Chase at November 18, 2005 12:13 AM

Posted by: Rob Tucker at January 7, 2006 03:47 AM

Post a comment

Name:

Email Address:

URL:
Remember Me? YesNo

Comments:

 © Electric Artists Inc. All rights reserved.