Big, Bigger,
Texas-Size
In America, everything is always bigger, taller, and faster – increasing till the only way to describe it is “Texas-size”. And Tex from Dallas is no exception. With a height of 1.80 meters she already stands above the norm, and her tattoo designs reflect her appearance: they are strong (“stark” – which means strong literally but also cool in slang).
Deeply rooted in the so-called “bible belt” lies Texas, a United States state, that fundamentalists and right wing politicians call home, and attribute “liberal” is a fighting (dirty) word. This is the area where Tex grew up. Together with a small, but tight knit growing group, this surrounding provoked her to one thing: protest. The life of a heavily tattooed person in Texas in the 90's was not only unusual, but also dangerous. “Of course I had a lot of trouble,” explains Tex, “people threw things at me and I was hunted down on the street, I even received death threats.” In the meanwhile, the reaction to tattoos is not so extreme, but people with colourful skin are still not left alone. “That is part of the Texas personality. They talk to you directly on the street or in a store and ask why you are tattooed. You can't just simply say – because you like tattoos. They want to give you a long tirade about how a proper Christian doesn't have tattoos and how horrible you are, and what an idiot you are.”
Apart from this pragmatic view, the elite art scene in New York seems to have furthered her work. “When you are a painter, only a few people can see your work. The approachability of tattoos is a lot easier. You can see tattoos everywhere, you can get a tattoo everywhere and everyone can afford it.”
Her first try at tattooing was done without guidance, she began her professional career 8 years ago in Scotland – the studio owner, Morag Sangster have her this chance. After she met the Maori tattoo artist, Inya Taylor, she decided to travel to New Zealanc, where she worked for some time in a studio, tattooing in Auckland. After a short layover in Holland, she came back to the States. After working in various studios, she finally landed at Cold Steel in San Francisco. “I have been here since the studio opened, four years ago. Height Street is a perfect location, visitors come here from around the world to see the birthplace of the hippie movement. Height Street is maybe the body art capital of the world these days. It is a magnet for the crazy and the wonderful.”
A Question of Sex
The problems that Tex and others of her sex experience stir Tex's opinion on the lack of female role models in the art and tattoo world. The situation is different for women with tattoos. Because in the mean time tattooing has become socially acceptable (at least outside of Texas), there is an increase in women getting tattoos.
Many customers come to Tex because she is a woman and the few that only know her name are sometimes surprised that they are not getting a tattoo from a big beefy man. She is amused by comments like “I didn't know that women could give tattoos.”
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Stylistically, Tex uses her talent to create vibrant glowing colours in her themes. I am fascinated by the female body and my passion belongs to pin-ups.” Aside from tattooing, she still has the Muse of painting. “There are many intersections between painting and tattooing, but both mediums have a different energy. With tattooing, you spend a lot of time trying to figure out what the customer wants. In painting, the power flows from realizing your own vision.” Naturally, many customers come to specifically because she is a woman. Many times, this is the case for when people want tattoos in intimate places. The thought of spreading your legs in front of a tattoo artist (male) scares a lot of people. People also take into consideration the though that women tattoo artists cause less pain. “That is of course totally wrong. When a tattoo is pricked, it just hurts,” explains Tex matter-of-factly. |
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Future (view)
“In the near future, the imbalance between male and female tattoo artists will level off. In the last eight years, since I began tattooing, many women have taken up this occupation. They are slowly catching up. It just takes time before someone can make a name for themselves. If you start today, then maybe in five or ten years you would have earned a name. So pay attention, it is only a question of time until women have closed the gap.
