“You get the tattoo you deserve.” Kevin Campbell, Will Rise Tattoo
The Drake tattoo raises important questions about the rights and wrongs of tattooing, and the tattoo artist – Kevin Campbell – who created the now infamous ‘Drake tattoo’ highlights some of the key issues about consent and informed decisions.
In his interview with Vice magazine he states that people get the tattoos that they deserve. Here’s a snippet from the interview:
Wow. Do you feel sort of bad about it after the fact? My whole deal with people wanting completely outrageous and potentially life ruining tattoos is this: I’ll ask them 3 times if they really think that it’s a good idea, I tell them what the potential consequences of getting a tattoo on their face might be, and after that, the bad decision is on them. I believe that people get the tattoos that they deserve.
Visibly high?
I am not sure I agree with Kevin, and the girl with the Drake tattoo was clearly high when she came into his studio, as Kevin states in his interview with Vice that she was visibly coming down by the end of her experience. (She had also shaved her head and eyebrows in preparation…)
Girl with the Drake tattoo
However I do think the quote about getting the tattoo that you deserve is interesting…and I do believe in freedom of expression. I also believe that is important for a tattoo artist to have a big amount of input into the tattoos they create for their customers. At the end of the day, tattoos are art and there is a reason why not everyone can sit behind the needle. When I get tattooed I want the expert advice of an artist and I want something that is going to look as amazing as it can possibly be.
I also hope that no one would ever tattoo me if I was clearly drunk, or my judgement was in any way impaired.
What do you think? Do people really get the tattoos they deserve? And is anyone in contact with the girl with the Drake tattoo? Does she regret it or is she loving life with a forehead tattoo? And I guess we should ask how Drake feels about this, too…
Ryan tells me how he needed to find something to do with his life, that wasn’t a shitty job after dropping out of art school, and what’s it’s like tattooing in Portland.
Jo Harrison
Jo talks about punks, rockers and what it’s like being in the tattoo world as a woman. She was actually pregnant at the time of filming and has since given birth to a beautiful baby girl called Marley.
Since Steve has been able to hold a pencil all he has really done is draw, he sees tattooing as one of the strongest and most permanent ways to put your imagery into the world.
Steve Vinall
Brian tells me how he got lucky by being offered an apprenticeship and was ‘pretty bad’ for a long time. Now he loves the symbolism of fairy tales in his tattoos. (I think in this part of the film you may be able to hear my stupid laugh in the background!)
He works with Ryan at Scapegoat, and as you can see from the film, they really love each other, ahh. (I LOVE you guys)
Ryan and Brian
Words by Alice Th’ink as seen on Zeitgeist.
Photos by Papercut Pictures
I have just discoverd this lovely young lady’s work – Cassandra works at End Times Tattoo, in Leeds City Centre.
Another artist to add to my ever-growing list of people I would like to get tattooed by – I love her artwork too.
I first fell in love with the work of Claudia De Sabe at the Brighton Tattoo Convention in 2009. So, imagine my excitement when my phone starts ringing and the number that’s flashing before my eyes, is the JOLIE ROUGE (the shop where Claudia works her magic). I have managed to get myself a consultation for next week, ridiculous excitement.
a Think Tank for the Inked Generation. 