Being a young introvert I naturally immersed myself in various forms of art, Painting, drawing and a few other experiments, I settled for many years in the custom car culture, hot rods, custom bikes and anything with cool paint and a set of wheels. The custom paint and art on these vehicles drew my interest in art further, occasionally getting into airbrush work and graphic designs. My interest in tattooing began before I was old enough to get a tattoo my self. Often I would drive my older buddy’s north to the tattoo shops along the borders, tattooing was still illegal where I grew up. Being into art and somewhat into the culture it seemed only natural for me to progress towards tattooing. I headed north at 18 just after graduation, landed an apprenticeship and began to get to work, only to have the owner take my cash and split after only a week leaving a small shop and the rent due at the end of the month! So there was nothing left for me to do but turn on the old neon open sign and get to it, This was back in 1993 and things were a bit different then, Styles, techniques, and attitude to name a few, I got away with a lot back then and sometimes not. I eventually met and became friends with some very talented artist, traveled a bit and worked real hard. So here I am with a lot under my belt, but still learning and growing in the best business in the world… Tattooing. -Mathew