Monday  Oct 03, 2005

INKEDblog Interviews DG Wilson

INKEDblog: I read on your website that you got a full ride at Pratt to study visual art. You were selected from a talent search. What made you decide to attend Pratt? And did you know going in that tattooing would become such a major part of your life?

DG: I took part in a National Talent Search for the scholarship program offered by Pratt. I decided to try out for many scholarships and had a choice to make….. As soon as I walked onto the campus of Pratt (after visiting a few others) I knew that was where I was supposed to go. Destiny? Intuition? I was attracted to the way that the campus was a tiny island of Nature – the grass, trees, squirrels etc. – adrift in a sea of concrete. NYC is unparalleled in the opportunity department, so I decided to stay. I remember growing up knowing that I was going to be an artist, hoping I would be a household name in fact. But I was not clear on the form of art that I wanted to [pursue]… I wanted an art job or career that would enable me to make money, but I had absolutely no concept that I was going to go into tattoos, not at all. Tattoos were a dirty subject in my home growing up. [My] father wanted to have a tattoo all his life, but his wife would never ever let him even entertain the notion. [She’d say,] "The day you come home with a tattoo is the day we get divorced." (I ended up tattooing him. They are still married.) As soon as I graduated college I made up my mind to either "sink or swim." I wanted to avoid the trap of getting a day job to pay the bills [while putting] my own art to the side. No, I wanted to be independent and strike out on my own. Rent came up again in my small sublet apartment and I really started knuckling down. I remembered a tattoo shop I had been in once when I was a kid. There was art all over the walls. Today I know it as flash art… so there I was holding my head in my hands crying about money and then I thought, "Hey, someone had to draw those designs. Maybe I can sell some to a shop." I looked in the Yellow Pages and the only shop listed at that time was a Tattoo Supply Distributor. I contacted Wes Woods at Unimax and set up an interview. I showed him my little portfolio which included some "tattoo" drawings I did just for the interview. Wes loved my work because it didn't look like the tired Flash art that had been around for a million years. We made a deal of $5.00 bucks a page of designs. That night I was charged with energy and immediately went back and set up working. The following week I had ten pages drawn up….It was a series of art that I still feel today is the most incredible, varied and healing work I have ever done. There was a whole "cleansing" thing about the work and the way that I worked to achieve the deeply subconscious imagery. For the next two years I continued drawing up flash for Wes, but at his pace of 10 pages a week. Finally [when Wes] hadn't been in town for four weeks, I took advantage of a few lessons…and tattooed a lady’s butt with her husband’s name…..The lady complimented my work and called to thank me. That’s when [Wes and I] decided that it was time for me to go out on my own. Another year later, I opened up my own shop in Brooklyn and have not looked back since.

INKEDblog: I get the sense that you love working with your clients to really individualize the work. You only do custom tattooing. And you even work with your customers in terms of their budget. I read that you enjoy giving your art out into the world and having it breathe and exist. I think that's amazing, but does that philosophy ever make it hard for you to make a living tattooing?

DG: The philosophy that I am currently aspiring towards is one of "God Provides." Basically, I don't advertise, I don't do much of anything beyond tattooing and relying on the work. Certainly with more money and time there might be a greater turnout each day, but I am fully occupied these days. A few tattoos a day are good; however, the flow is not up to me, but God. Some days I'll do a bunch and others none at all. In that respect I don't make a lot of money, hell most times it feels like none at all. Since I can't work on the customer flow and I don't want to ram tattoos or my art down anyone's throat, I rely on the Universe to send me customers. Furthermore, I don't know how to price my tattoos. If I go by other shops then my customers would not come. If I went by the prices of others with comparable work, then the number drops even more. I'd rather tattoo and give regular people celebrity with their art than cater to the rich. Basically I have a minimum and everything else is "God given talent, pay as much as you can." I do more work, but make a bit less money this way. I don't mind at this time because I am doing a public service in a way by making Brooklyn look better.

INKEDblog: Tell me what's special about working in Brooklyn. Sounds like you are very tied to the community both in terms of the teaching you do and the murals you donate. How important is it, and why, for you to spread art to kids who may not otherwise be exposed to it?

DG: I like Brooklyn. If you can make it here then anywhere else is just that much easier. The people here are sharp. They taught me a few tricks about negotiation, that is for sure. But there is a sense of culture here more than elsewhere, even in Manhattan, because each neighborhood is smaller and more exposed. The spread of good art is important in a huge number of ways. Art is the expression of the artist in most cases. In tattooing it is the opposite: I am the tool that puts the expression of the customer on them [so they can] communicate to the world. Artists build societies and…their art is their expression of the world. As Picasso put it, "Art is the Lies that expose the truth." But in today's world… museums and galleries do not actively promote their art to the young in the hopes of creating art lovers. No, they teach to those that are already interested and to the schools that have enough finances. With my murals I am trying to excite people by showing them art in their every day life. Paintings in a gallery or home gallery are viewed frequently. The owners can experience how a subject will change appearance by way of colors, shapes and their mental interpretation of the art from day to day, hour to hour, with the changing light. Us regular people that don't even have the time to go into a museum can witness these aspects of art on our way to work each day if they are in a public mural.

INKEDblog: You are a painter, you draw & sketch, you tattoo, and you do some amazing work with Bonsai. Which of these, which visual medium, is closest to your heart and why? Or are they much too intertwined to rate them like that?

DG: To me things are compartmentalized. Painting is for fun and future profit. Drawing gets concepts of mine out quickly to others. Tattooing pays the bills. At the same time I constantly mix several [art forms] to get something out of it for myself. For example: I will put up my paintings in my tattoo shop to expose people to art, but I don't expect to sell them. I will do drawings for the customers to show them that I understand what they want in a tattoo. The Bonsai has been a hobby for almost twenty years. I only guide the tree, God does everything else. I just try not to get in the way.

Check out DG’s site for more information and photos of his work http://www.masterpiecestattoos.com/

Related Entries Recommend this! (1) |

Comments

Posted by: Ginger at January 12, 2006 9:24 AM

Post a comment