TATTOOIST: MIKE TEA

Ex-pat tattooist Mike Tea currently works at at Sideshow Tattoo and Green Lotus in Melbourne, but he came home for a couple of weeks and has been guesting at Sacred Tattoo.

Apparently he has been pretty busy up on K Road tattooing and doing split sheets with Dean Parkin and Capilli Tupou.

From next week he will be guesting alongside his sister Rachie at Two Hands Tattoo in Ponsonby. The siblings both have crazy mad skills and will be doing a split sheet together too.

Read on to find out about how Mike likes to brown paper bag it....

Mike Tea - Photo by Nicole Reid

How did you get into tattooing?

I watched my friends get tattoos, then I got tattoos, then I drew a lot and I swept the floor.

I would like to say special thanks to Tashi Dukanovic, Wade Johnston, Mitch13, Jane Laver and Dean Parkin for key words of wisdom and help along the way. Many other people deserve thanks too. Thanks!


What were you doing before then?

A decade worth of shit jobs and bad haircuts.


What's the best thing about being a tattooist?

Meeting other tattoo artists who are inspiring to work with who have been tattooing for years. People who I respect, who I see are still pushing themselves to be better.


How would you describe your specific style?

I like to do bold traditional tattoos, as far as me having a specific style within that, well, I hope something of myself comes out in the drawings.


Is there anything you would refuse to tattoo?

I would decline racist tattoos. I would like to politely decline religious tattoos too, if anyone ever asked me to do one.

I get quiet satisfaction from talking muscle bound dudes out of getting the entire lords prayer in script on their ribs. My imaginary friend talks a lot of shit too, I am not about to get it tattooed.

Also, when 18 year old kids come in with the bright idea of getting their hand/neck/face done because some shit band they like has tattoos.


What inspires you?

People doing good things with the time and resources they have.

I think if you are into something, give it your best shot, you can choose to work on yourself, or you can choose to work on Facebook status updates and watching the new season of "insert shit time-vampire TV show here".

I like the underdog who quietly works hard on something the love because they love it.


Can you tell me about your brown paper bag prints??

Hahahaaa well, I used to buy organic fruit and vege for lunch everyday and they would give it to me in a brown bag.
I wanted to do something with them, so I started buying sharpies and just drawing on them while I ate my capsicum and dates.

Little did I know that years later they would be valuable collectors items, and by valuable collectors items I mean they sit in an even bigger brown paper bag with drawings on it in my room under a couch.

Where are you working currently?

In Melbourne I work at Sideshow Tattoos from Sat - Tues, then I do Wed - Thurs at Green Lotus Tattoo. 


You are coming over to guest at Sacred and Two Hands - how did you hook that up?

I got my first tattoos from Dean years ago and still get tattoos from him. I mentioned I was coming over for a while and wanted to do some work over here and he offered me a spot at Sacred.

It's really an honour to work in the space alongside such great artists as Dan, Capilli, Hamish, Mark and Dean...it's been really cool so far, fun tattoos and I have learned a lot.

I am at Sacred until Feb 11, then I move to Two Hands Tattoo in Ponsonby from Feb 13 - Feb 19 or 20 (don't remember which haha).

Stefan has a great crew and I am really excited to work there. My sister Rachie Tea also works from Two Hands alongside Victor, Josh, Lukis, Kieran, Apro and Stefan himself.
It's going to be great to spend time learning from all of them.


Any other plans while you are in NZ?

I am turning 31, so I plan to do a backside 180 over the drain in Milford for old time sake.

QWERTY LOVE

I showed my new typewriter tattoo to the kids at my house and they didn't even know what it was. 

I'm pretty much in love with this ink that I got from Josh at Two Hands last Friday. I dig his super-black steez... and am already planning another trip back. Looks like it's a summer sans swimming for me.

COLLECTOR: SARAH FLORENCE

When people comment on how many tattoos I have (which is not many btw) I think about my friend Sarah. She has to be among the most tattooed women I know. 

When I met Sarah she was working as the receptionist at Tattooed Heart on K Road, surely a great way to yield many a free tattoo. This self-confessed bogan with an affinity for strip clubs has some epic pieces of ink, including a full sleeve dedicated to the master surrealist Dali. But she also has some cool 'mongrel tatts', for lack of a better phrase, like the 'WEST SIDE' lettering she tattooed on her own toes. After meeting for a beer it didn't take any convincing to get her to take her stockings off so I could take some snaps of said sweet tattoos. 

We also got to talking about what it's like when people on the street comment on your "body art", but seriously, old dudes, please stop using that phrase it's kinda creepy.

“I went to Sydney about a year ago and I was with my Dad walking around the town, and because I’ve looked like this for awhile I don’t really pay attention, if someone looks at me I generally don’t notice. But my Dad was like, 'People are staring at you constantly.' He was like 'It's really weird, don't you find it annoying?' But it’s kind of fair enough, you can't really expect to get as many tattoos as that and not expect people to comment. Some people can be real dicks, but some people are lovely. I love it when old people say something, because you expect old people to be quite conservative, and generally disapproving. I kinda get the evil looks from old people, and then you get some really cool old people who will be like, 'Oh, don't you just look amazing,' and totally genuinely really impressed by you, and think you look really cool and go out of their way to tell you that.It's better than (does gruff voice) 'Hey girl nice tits'. Except for this one time this old woman was like, 'Oh, I hope you get a man looking like that'. And, well I haven't... (laughs)." 

"I don’t really think of myself as having that many tattoos for a chick, which kinda sounds strange and stupid. I guess maybe because when I started getting tattooed I was working at Illicit and everyone there had lots of tattoos. Everyone had more tattoos than me, or the same amount. And then I kept getting more because I would talk to the tattooists. Like, this one on my thigh came about from having a conversation with Liesje (now at Tattooed Heart, K Road) where she was like, 'I haven't tattooed you, what should we do?'... I really love her style. She puts so much time into a piece, like really dedicates herself to it, and it really shows.”

"I try to base my tattoo ideas on an actual thing, I don’t like it when you watch LA Ink or one of those shows and it’s like, 'I got this tattoo to represent this time in my life’... but everything I've got has a reason for getting it, not really having like a deep meaning or anything like that. But this one is based on The Highwayman, the poem. I remember my Dad reading me that poem when I was a kid and just thinking it was really fucking cool, and it’s just always stuck in my head. So it’s something I can always have."

As well as being a talented artist and chef, Sarah is also writing a novel, some sort-of murder mystery deal as far as I could tell. You can check out some of her more auto-biographical work at notwhatwemeant.com

SUMMER EQUALS SLACKER

Ok... so i'm starting to catch some shit because its been a month since I did a new post. But bear in mind that its summer freakin' holidays and apparently we all should be out in the fresh air enjoying ourselves. Frankly though that's kinda bullshit, and I have been inside watching all four seasons of Breaking Bad. I haven't even been for one swim coz I got tattooed on Christmas Eve and therefore banned from bathing.

The good news is I have some posts on the brew, which should be up REAL soon. In the meantime, enjoy this picture of some pasta-eating badasses.

Note the perfectly symmetrical tattz. I know nothing about this picture... my pal Top Cat sent it to me one time and I thought it was pretty rad.


Also, check out this article about Josh Solomon's latest round of Black Friday tattoos. I didn't attend this time, mostly because I am too damn lazy to queue up at 6am, but dude did some sick flash. I did get a rainy umbrella in the previous round and it remains a steadfast favourite among my collection.

A LESSON FOR THE KIDS

Dominic Hoey, aka Tourettes, is undeniably a man of many talents. Well... at least three: rapping, writing and making tofu scramble. Like most creative-types Hoey wields a certain amount of self-loathing - a portion of which is aimed at the league of tattoos he has acquired over the years.

Not so long ago I read a post by you which said you hate having tattoos, obviously you have a ton of them, when did you start feeling like that, and why? 

I guess I always knew I’d regret them eventually but you know when you’re young you think 'fuck it'.

When I moved to Melbourne the last time (2010) and did a tour and everyone was covered and I just thought this is meaningless nowadays. Not that I think it was ever that crazy and rebellious in the time that I’ve been getting work done, but it felt like it was something that set you apart from certain groups.

Now everyone and their dog has their hands and neck done. I should have listened to my dad when he was like “don’t ruin your life getting that shit on your body” hahaha.

What is the most regrettable tattoo you have?

Pretty much everything I got before 25 is pretty shocking.

I got an alien smiley face on my forearm which is surrounded by some space mess. I have a flaming leg piece on my right calf and loyalty across my back in 90’s graff style. I have to stop listing them now it makes me want to cry hahaha.

How do you decide when and where you are going to get tattooed?

Now days I’m just getting writing and joke tattoos. I’m getting lines from my writing and other peoples on the insides of my fingers. I guess now it’s more just finding where I have space.

You must have some tattoos that you still really like, for example that little hula girl on your arm is pretty sweet. Tell me about some of your favourites?

I like the writing on my hands and torso. I have “day dreams start fires” written around my collar bone which I still really like. I have “fuck you” on the inside of my lip which I always forget I have but makes me happy when I remember.  

I don’t want to come across like my shitty tattoos keep me up at night. Most of the time I forget I have them.

If you had a time machine, would you go back and tell past-Dominic not to get tattooed??

Yeah but he wouldn’t listen. I don’t have the sense god gave a mule.  

Do you think the public still with the “stigma” of tattoos...for example, I work in a newsroom and sometimes get strange comments from colleagues (Jim Hickey) that think I'm going to be really staunch or something... how do you think your physical appearance reflects on how people see you as a rapper or a writer?

Yeah I think with writing it totally does. Whenever I do poetry performances to a new audience or do writing classes there’s always a period of adjustment before people are like “oh he looks like a piece of shit but he’s talented”. 

I think with music it’s so common to be heavily tattooed that it doesn’t really make any difference. Everyone seems to think I’m crazy anyway despite the fact I spend most of my time listening to depressing music and writing poetry. 

You are moving to Australia this week... what triggered the move and when can we expect you back?

I broke up with my partner of 4 years and instead of awkwardly bumping into her every second day I thought it would be better to leave. So I’m off to Europe and Cambodia and it’s much easier to save on 25 dollars an hour rather than 14. 

I’m in two minds about going back to Melbourne but it’s only for a few months. Unless something drastic happens I won’t be back in NZ for at least a year I’d say.

Recommend a Tourettes' video we should watch...

This is the video to my song ‘Tonight’ which was on my new album Tigerbelly. It’s the first time I got NZ on air funding so we decided to try and do something exciting.

I had the idea of the kids smashing shit for ages. Tanja Jade art directed it, I kinda had the whole thing except the ending and she was like “let’s make them fly off in a hot air balloon”.

Originally we were going to hire an actual balloon but common sense prevailed and we did it in post.

It was heaps of fun making it, the kids were so cool. Little Charlie who howls at the beginning was especially cool as he’s only 6 and was so professional. 


You can follow Dominic's misadventures on his lovely new website Filthy and Beautiful, where he posts his writing, video, photos etc etc.

ART FROM THE HEART

One of the awesome things about custom tattoo studios is that the tattooists are actually killer artists, as opposed to people who can simply trace a line. Clients can get a unique piece of art on their bodies - not just something photocopied from a book or chosen off the wall.

Exhibitions like Art from the Heart, at K Road's Tattooed Heart, are an ideal way to showcase this ace talent of tattooists and pals. It is also an opportunity, one imagines, for the artists to extend themselves further than they may be able to working with skin as a canvas, and ink as a sole medium.

For tattoo-fiends and virgin-skins alike, it is a chance to snap up some amazing work for their walls.

My choice picks from the exhibit included the work of Tom Tom, who has been tattooing a number of years now, but started his creative career as a graffiti artiste. The remnants of his street style still present in his dreamlike paintings, although they are awash with neo-traditional tattoo imagery.

Because I am a long-time fan of the work of Ed Roth, I was really drawn to the twisted Rat Fink figures painted by Benjamin Raddatz, whom I don't know, but am keen to check out more of his stuff.

The dark work by apprentice Aziel was also epically impressive. He had gone all out and put the pictures up in some stunning frames which was the cherry on top for these intricate depictions.

In contrast, the straight-to-corrugated-cardboard drawings of international artist Destroy Troy (who guested at the studio earlier this year) were so simple, but still incredibly bold and eye-catching. When the dude comes back I will be first in line to get tattzz from him.

I only managed to get a few snaps of the artwork, as there were gangs of pesky people standing in the way, but look how cute and happy they all are!

Logan and Sam Rulz.

Aaron, Lucy and... onlooker.

Adam Craft and friend.

Destroy Troy.

I don't know these people's names (dope tee though)

... or these ones.

Liam AKA Gasp and a pal.

Such a pretty dress.

Oh hai.

Benjamin Raddatz and pal.

Rat Fink Rulz.

Tom, Fats, Tanya and another lady.

Fats.

Lucy and Naomi.

Work by Aaron. SOLD!

Mr Hat.

Lovely ladies Lucy and Naomi.

Work by Tom McMillan

How cute is this family?

Some more people I don't know. I should start asking names.

Work by Tom - conveniently placed by snack table. 

Night night.

Art from the Heart Exhibition

The Tattooed Heart, 202 Karangahape Road, Auckland
Thursday November 24

FEATURING THE WORK OF: AARON (AZIEL) - ADAM CRAFT - BEN O'GRADY - BENJAMIN RADTATS - DESTROY TROY- KIWI MATT - LIESJE - NICK VON K JEWELLERY - PORK CHOP - NAOMI SMITH - TANJA JADE (MISERY) - TIM DYWELSKA - TOM TOM.

MY FIRST TATTOO CONVENTION

Here's a tip for new players: Just because it's Sunday, it's hot and you feel lazy DO NOT leave your best camera at home in favour for a novelty point 'n' shoot just because it's easier to carry. Especially when you are paying 20 bucks entry fee and the lighting of the location has all the charm of a shoebox with some pinholes poked in the top.  But after swiftly making use of the pop-up bar I crossed fingers and hoped no one would move, or even dare breathe, while being photographed... of course, they did.

I really had no idea what to expect from the Auckland International Tattoo Convention. Like the massive geeks we are, we had come to the ASB showgrounds a few weeks earlier to attend the Armageddon Expo, which was so incredibly packed I was on the verge of claustrophobically-induced panic attacks every time I went inside. However, the tattoo show was by comparison pretty chill, and there seemed to be a number of people taking advantage of flash sheets that had been prepared by some of the tattooists.

It was excellent to see the diverse range of people that are attracted to tattoo culture hanging out at the convention. In particular, I liked the old dudes wearing sawn-off tee shirts to exhibit their patchy and faded tatts. I always have a fondness for those fuzzy green markers of time.

Anyway, after much bitchin about the camera, here are some of the better pics from the day.

Dig this entry stamp.

I keep getting distracted by fez-dude in the back.

I was pretty scared she was gonna tell me off.

Hardcore is tattooing Linda Blair straight onto your doppelganger, sans stencil. 

A so-serene Amy Trouble being tattooed by Capilli Tupou.

Ho fucking hum.

My favourite sci-fi inspired flyer of the day.

Clare! Show us your tatts!

This photo speaks for itself really. Mad keen.

She hated me for taking her photo. Soz Dee!

Tims, bandanna, hotdog = all kinds of awesome.

Lady tattooists rule.

Luck Diamond Rich - the world's most tattooed person.

Santa Muerte: saviour of the working class.

I am saving the photo of his front for a special post.

Just another rad old dude.

Auckland International Tattoo Convention

November 26-27, 2011
ASB Showgrounds, Auckland

Photos taken on a Samsung MV800. A fliptop fucker that is no use to anyone unless you are a narcissist.