He has never been to India before but now that he is in the capital, Paul Booth plans to learn about Indian mythologies and the demons in them. The tattoo artist shares with Shrabasti Mallik how getting his daughter’s name inked on his forearm at the age of 19 changed his life forever
While most tattoo artists look on the brighter side of life and gladly ink whatever their clients want, give or take a few variations, Paul Booth chooses to follow what he believes in. The renowned tattoo artist, who almost represents a walking canvas of his art, does not have any inhibitions is turning down a client if the idea of the tattoo does not appeal to him.
Paul’s tryst with tattoos started quite early in life. He had a daughter when he was 19, barely out of high school. “I was kind of freaking out because I was young to be a father,” he said. A friend suggested that he get his daughter’s name tattooed to help him deal with whatever was happening. “So I got the tattoo and it worked, it actually helped,” he said, rolling up his sleeve and showing us the tattoo on his right bicep.
Following that, he fell in love with the idea of learning how to tattoo. He did not really think of it as a career, just wanted to learn how to do it because he was so intrigued by it. Eventually, he started getting more tattoos from the same guy and finally asked him for an apprenticeship. “He gave me one and I worked in his shop for three years doing street shops and doing all kind of typical tattoos like hearts and roses, Tasmanian devils,” he added. And the rest, as they say, is history.
However, it was not only the stars, roses, butterfly and angels that he inked his customers with rather the darker side of life fascinated him more than anything else. And it is visible in the numerous tattoos of skulls and demons that adorn his hands and the left side of his head. He believes that there is darkness in all of us and that we should embrace it. “We all have a dark side; it’s not possible to not have one. I believe that in order to battle your demons, you need to confront them so I have always been intrigued with the concept of facing your darkness and what it entails. So, my work tends to reflect that,” pointed out the 47 year old artist.
In his maiden trip to India for the Heartwork Tattoo Festival which began yesterday at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium, he plans to learn about Indian mythology and the demons in them.
He has been drawing all his life. He said, “Ever since my childhood, I have always been an artist. It’s always been a direction that I have headed in. So, it seemed pretty natural to continue my life as an artist.” Before he developed interest in tattoos he was a painter. “So I already had art in my life before I got into tattoos,” he put forth his point and continued, “Then it just merged together. I received no formal training and I am a self taught artist. I learnt from art books and used to emulate artists like HR Geiger and learn through that method. And I had a few private lessons from an illustrator when I was young but not that much in college or anything.”
In America, tattoos are considered as an art form and it is a lot more mainstream ever before. “That has heightened the awareness among the public. It’s good and bad you know. It’s good because more people are aware of it and giving it some respect. But at the same time it has kind of become trendy back home and people are even getting tattooed for the wrong reasons now more than before. Before it use to be like rebellious individuals but now it is becoming trendy and fashionable. It’s not what it should be,” he pointed out.
When asked about the scenario in India, he said, “It is still new in India and the public is still learning to accept it as an art. I appreciate that it is getting more respect but it’s a double edged sword – there are more people taking it seriously, some of which are accredited to the industry and some of which are not. But I guess you have to take the bad with the good.”
When it comes to getting something permanently engraved on the skin, people are still suspicious and have their apprehensions. Paul told us that it results from a misconception which dates back ages. According to him, “Tattoos really used to be related to criminals, thieves and the undesirables. It came from a lot of different countries. A lot of old timers still look at it in a way that if you are tattooed then you must be a criminal. People fear what they don’t understand. And I think its really part of the growth as the new people come along, it will take a couple of generations but eventually it will be more widely accepted. But I think that because it comes from criminals, people still look at it as that. They can’t see it as art because all they think of is whether we would steal from them.”
The artist takes the idea of his clients and twists it into his own vision. He develops an idea of what they want to represent and then depicts it. “For some people its trauma in their life that they want to depict for other people, its empowerment or to show their strength and sometimes it’s shock value for the rest, who just want to scare people. I enjoy the shock value because it makes the old ladies super uncomfortable,” he explained with a wink.
Explaining his process of consultation he continued, “I get a consultation and get a fell of what they are looking for and an idea of what they want to represent then I find my own visual way of expressing that. I kind of let them define it and I use their energy to design the tattoo. So their feedback is important. Though I still maintain a lot of artistic freedom to do things my way but essentially it’s their idea.”
There is also one thing that Paul never does – give into his customer’s wishes. “It has to be something that I am into or can understand otherwise I don’t have the need or reason to do it. Most people who come to me want to depict something from their dark side. So, that’s my forte and that’s what I do. If someone wants something happy I wouldn’t even probably know how to do it,” blatantly said the man who is famous for making big tattoos which covers almost an entire forearm.
We come to know from Paul that realism and portrait tattoos are really trending. “People like portraits of characters from horror movies. I try not to pay attention to that stuff because I am not into trends. But stuff like clocks, eyeballs and portraits are the popular things right now,” he wrapped up.