This Week September 19, 1990. Page M3

TOP STORY _

Continued from Page 1

A commercial artist for 10 years —
he had his own sign painting and
silkscreenine business in the Yuken
for five years — Briggs is a relative
newcomer to the tattooing business.
He’nly been at it 18 months but he
says it’s not the length of time the
tattooist has been doing it that
counts — it's the quality of the art
get ends up on the skin of the client
that matters.

A certain sensitivity is a prereq-
uisite to the tattoo artist, Briggs says.
Customers come in with all kinds of
zany ideas about what they want on
‘heir skin - it’s up to him to ensure

they get the right tattoo in the right

place. 2

A careful consultation with the
client where he tries to determine the
client’s personality is essential.

Because a tattoo, for the most part
is irreversible, the artist must ensure
the work matches the client’s per-
sonality.

“I consider myself very empathetic
40 my customers. I can usually tell
what the customer has in mind. If
they don’t have a design in mind, I
just talk to them for a while and work
out a design that works for that per-
son.”

Briggs will turn prospective clients
away when they're not sure what
they want.

® “I suggest they think about it. Go to
a magazine store and look around.
Get the right pose and get a feel for
it. Then come back. Let’s make this
for sure.”

Briggs says 65 per cent of his clien-
tele is female. The average small tat-
too costs between $60 and $150.
“Semi-custom” pieces make up the
bulk of Briggs work at present. A
client may choose a design from a
matalogue or a book of tattoo
photographs to give them an idea of
what can be done. Photographs of his
own work bolster their confidence in
the artist.

It’s tough to get rid of'a tattoo. Cos-
metic surgery is an expensive solu-
t tion to a mistake made earlier in life.
iPeople remove tattoos mainly be-
| cause they are “ugly.”
“They got hit by a scratcher. You’re
young - you've just got to have a tat-
stoo. Mom and dad say ‘no.’ So, out in
athe back yard . . . ‘hey, let’s experi-
‘ment.’ A few years down the road and
this experiment is just ugly and they
want it off.”
y There are 13 layers of skin, Briggs
explains. A tattoo goes down into the
bottom layers of skin. The top six or
seven layers reproduce themselves.
When the tattoo is first put on, there
is an image from the dermal layer to
the epiderm. As time goes on, you
view the tattoo image through
several layers of skin. The layers dif-
fuse the image eventually losing
‘some of its sharpness and brightness.
sa Briggs said people with tattoos they
_are proud of often have them touched
up: Briggs does touch up work on his
original work at either no charge or
minimal cost, depending on how long
: it’s been on.
And why do people tattoo their.
! bodies?

“I have, in the last month, gotten
pinto that question. I've asked just
“about everyone that has sat in that

chair and nobody has been able to

give me a definitive answer. It’s a

TATTOO ARTIST Geoff Briggs. originally a commercial artist, believes tattoos
should relect the person. He prides himself in taking time to ensure his
customers know what they want. Front page. Briggs with one of his recent

peices of ar on a cleint’s arm.

Photos by CHUCK RUSSELL

It’s a piece of art he'll
be taking to the grave

e is the owner of a piece of
art that nobody else can see
— unless he chooses to
show it to them. It’s an
original, somewhat erotic, colorful and
he'll take it with him to his grave.

Bob Jones (not his real name) is a
somewhat shy individual. While he’s
very proud of the artwork on his left
arm, he’d rather not be identified. His
elaborate tattoo of a semi-nude framed
by a palm tree with a sunset back-
ground. It has taken many hours of
tattoo artist Geoff Briggs’ time to date
and will take many more hours to com-
plete - it’s a work of art in progress.

Bob’s other arm sports an eagle - the
ultimate symbol of freedom but it’s
nothing much to look at as far as Jones
is concerned. He had it done in
Montreal 20 years ago when he was “a
kid of 18 or 19.”

Back then, it was the thing to do.
Some of his friends had tattoos. He
remembers that his mother and father
weren't exactly happy about it at the
time. He laughs about it now.

“They were rather upset,” he said.

Jones places no stock in the tattoo he
had done for $14 as a symbol of rebel-
lion or a sign of manhood.

“It was just a tattoo — it had no
particular significance.”

Jones said he remembers being
“scared” about the idea of having a
tattoo done.

“It’s like going in for a strange opera-
tion — you don’t know what’s going to
happen. You go into this office and see
all these needles and things and
thoughts cross your mind; ‘Do I really
want to do this?’ ”

“The major difference now, 20 years
later, is that I look at it totally dif-
ferent. I wanted to get something that
I would be proud of - something that in
20 years time I wouldn’t be scared to
show people. The major difference now
is that I look at what I have had done
as art, not as just a tattoo. To me
anybody can be a tattooist, not
everybody can be an artist.”

“It’s a classy piece of art,” said Jones.
“It’s an original and I’m very pleased
to own it. No one else will ever own it.”

ART THAT'S ONLY SKIN DEEP:

personality extension — that’s all I
can bring it down to. I’ve asked
myself ‘why am I doing it.’ It’s a crazy
ining to do! I love it!” said Briggs.

“You're cosmetically enhancing
your body. Why do people put lipstick
and eyeshadow on — it’s silly but
they do it anyway. Why do people
skydive or bungee jump?”

Briggs sports his own tattoo, of
course — it’s basically a tiger on the
left upper arm

“This was my first one. This was
done eight years ago but since then,
I've had it rebuilt. It was a horrible
tattoo.”

Redoing “bad” tattoos is a large part
of Briggs’ work. He gets three or four
a week that need fixing up.

So what's popular with women cus-
tomers these days — what are they
asking for and where?

“The standard places are left upper
chest, hips — I think I do more left
hips than I do right hips — the oc-
casional bum, lots of ankles and the
back of the shoulders - those seem to
be the areas for women.

The arms are the most common tat-
too location for men, followed by
chest and back of the shoulders.
There are some areas of the body
Briggs won’t work on. He won’t apply
a tattoo to anyplace above the neck.

“I did it once and I don’t like it.”

If they don’t already have one on
their hands, he wont apply one there
either.

“As time goes by you get too many
people coming in saying ‘how do I get
rid of it?’ They say they did it when
they were young, ‘I wanted it then
but I definitely don’t want it now.
they say.”

And the guys who get the name of
their loved one tattooed on their
bodies?

“It happens. They ask for it but I try
to talk them out of it. They end up
back here asking to have the name
changed.” :

Briggs tells the story of one man
who had a tattoo done, then, as an
afterthought, asked for his
girlfriend’s initials tattooed in a
heart on his buttocks. Two days later
he came back, asking to have the
initials removed.

Filling in or disguising the letters
with some “squirrely little designs to
hide it”? are how Briggs solves these
problems.

“I can’t even count the number of
names I’ve taken off.”

While Briggs considers himself
quite liberal when it comes to judging
a potential design for good taste — he
does draw a line.

“Tf it’s downright sick, I won’t do it.”

“I had a guy in here the other day
— I played around with him for half
an hour — he wanted a swastika on
his forehead. I wanted to see how
much he was willing to pay for it. I
think I got him up to about $500.
Then I said ‘not a chance — it won’t
happen —I won’t sell myself out.’”

Briggs has to deal with all types of
people in his business, even the “radi-
cal, skinhead types.” He welcomes
them all.

“T get quite a lot of the street kids in
here — the majority of them are great
people. Some of them may look a little
funny but they’re still nice people.”

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