East Village denizen Anil Gupta is one of the best tattoo artists in the U.S. (thanks, Ennis). He’s known for his miniature reproductions of fine art. Here’s Seurat and a quarter. It’s sly, painting pointillism at the pinprick end of a tattoo pen:
Gupta draws a straight line from gaudy to GaudÃ, from Bollyboards to nipple art:
“So how did you end up reducing the world’s greatest masterpieces into miniatures?” … He explained that as the son of a man who illustrated giant movie posters for Bollywood, he used to paint eyes that were two stories high. “Maybe,” he said with a deep-throated chuckle, “inventing the miniature was my form of rebellion…” [Link]
<
p>
The newly tattooed find brotherhood in scars:
I pull up my foot in restaurants to show it off and find myself talking to total strangers, to kids with holes in their noses and navels and pictures of writhing snakes and dragons all over their bodies. [Link]
Gupta’s site suggests bringing drawing research materials…
Q: What sort of references do I need to bring with me to my consultation?
A: … There are many different things you can bring to your consultation to use as reference materials, including all types of books and print media, photographs, rough sketches, physical objects (i.e., a seashell, your child’s favorite toy…)
<
p>… and reminds you that tattoos are minor wounds:
Q: How do I take care of my new tattoo?A: Leave the bandage on your new tattoo overnight. Remove it the following morning and gently wash the tattoo using only your fingertips and warm, soapy water. Apply THIN coats of A&D ointment for four days, twice a day. After fourth days, switch to a fragrance-free skin lotion like Lubriderm, Keri Lotion, or Curel for two weeks, applying constantly as needed. The healing tattoo will be itchy and flaky. The flakes appear similar to the way a sunburn peels… [Link]
Gupta works out of a studio on E. 5th St. between Aves. A and B. He’s rumored to charge between $300-$400 per hour (thanks, Chiraag). Check out his remarkable portfolio.
Also interesting to note, the last I heard I dont think he was tattooed himself. Something about getting tatooed by someone with a clean slate is unsettling. He does great work though.
Holy shit! He’s good!!!! An artist!
Anil rocks 🙂 and I got ink to prove it…especially for desis this is a service not available elsewhere. I sent a friend to him to get the gayatri mantra around his arms and he did a fantastic job. Anytime you have non desis doing sanskrit it can get hairy. Thank god for Anil.
Long live diphthongs. Long live creative Guptas. (and long live Pardon My Hindi and Manish too, very cool posts as of late!)
his work is pretty awesome. i’ve always wanted to get an om tatoo but i can never get a straight answer about how “allowable” it is for a brahmin.
If you’re highly discriminating, why trust a tattoo by anyone else? It’s optional after all, not like a surgeon who absolutely requires surgery by a third party.
This could really apply to anything in life. Alas we all don’t have the kind of spare time it would require to be an apprentice at and clock in experience hours and get licensed in the art of ink. So we all just go to those that are good at it and understand it (hence the freakish feel about a clean slate) It’s like we don’t really need to go out to eat but we do and perfer it to be someplace good 🙂
I’m not saying you, I’m saying it’s perfectly plausible why Gupta isn’t inked.
Ah gotcha…I can’t speak for the hardcore types but for a lot of people it’s all about the utopian feeling of being connected to the tatooer, it’s a little addicting and people who’ve bled and been inked are like a weird cult. Someone who’s going to bleed you better have gone thru the same experience and loved it 🙂 or something like that…
There’s something very Angelina-Billy Bob about all this 😉
Also interesting to note, the last I heard I dont think he was tattooed himself.Something about getting tatooed by someone with a clean slate is unsettling.
I do feel a bit awkward speaking for him, but we discussed while I was getting mine (we had a lot of time) and he says that he prefers to work his detailed tattoos on pale skin, that’s why he moved his business from India to the US. From what I recall a similar rationale applies to his own personal lack of tattoos. He could also have been totally BSing me as he is a pretty funny guy.
(But I know it didn’t have anything to do with the relative talents of other artists)