Marilyn_01

Bryan Brady of Conspiracy Ink Wagga Wagga has been tattooing for 20 years, travelling between Australia, the Netherlands, Germany, Holland and the States. Working with some of the Best tattoo artists there is such as Brian Everett at Route66 as well as Greg Skibo in Fort Collins in the USA and working for Marco Bratt in Noordwijk and Ian Dykstra in Arnthem, The Netherlands. Bryanís unique and custom designs have earned him national and international acclaim. I caught up with him in his shop, which was more like an art gallery than a tattooist to ask him the important and not so important questions. When did you first discover your talent at Drawing? At school, a long time ago (laughs). On a really bad wet season when we couldn't go out and play sports. We got told we could do anything we liked as long as we kept quiet... I started drawing the cover of a book. It was the first time I've ever tried to draw anything and it all went from there. I read that you didn't actually do a tattooing apprenticeship, how did you actually get into tattooing? I taught myselfÖ Yeah, I just taught myselfÖThereís no such thing as an apprenticeship in tattooing. Itís not really recognised by anybody. What kind of art works best in tattoo form? Hard to say, thereís a lot really. Japanese stuff does. Itís pretty timeless, itís been around a long time over there and itís still getting done, so that must be something. Lots of different sorts of stuff nowÖ [Tattoos now] Theyíre pretty much like paintings. Theyíre like really wild paintings. Since youíve started tattooing, how much has the art form and industry changed? Lots. Yep. Really massive amounts. The art in itself has changed a lot, the techniques; the machinery is still the same thoughÖ What tattoo styles are you NOT a fan of? Tribal shit- Well thatís what they call it anyway- Shit. Big, black texta lines. Itís different if itís like Polynesian, Marquesan or M?ori, all those patterns and stuff, but with all those big black lines all over your body, you look like the Rock or something, you know, out of wrestlingÖ And all those other wankers out there that use it. Dusk and Dawn wannabees. I just canít get a grip on that shit. Whatís the weirdest part of the body youíve tattooed? A guyís face. What did he want on it???? We had this really weird floral pattern. He annoyed me for about three months, every day. Every day for three months and by the end I got sick of it and I said ërightoí. I thought he wouldíve said no but he didnít. So I tattooed the side of his face! The following week I was sitting there, having dinner watching the local news on channel 9 up in Brisbane, and here he was getting dragged out of a service station in handcuffs for armed robbery! Do you like to travel at all? Yep. The States. Europe. Been to the states three times. You went over to the states to work with Brian Everett, what was that like? B: Good. Really good. Heís was one of the top tattoo artists in the world. It was good to sit there and watch him work, ask him questions, he was good for that. It wasnít too bad, going to the states, though I prefer Europe better. Itís a bit more cultural, more art places over thereÖ All of their art museums are amazing over there, Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, stuff like that. Itís awesome when you get to have a look at all that, especially when you only got to see it in magazines and stuff like that, to see these tremendous works of art, to see it in person is pretty amazing. How does the Australian tattoo scene compare with the rest of the world? Itís improved lots over the last 10 years but before that it was a pretty long way behind. Although there were quite a few guys who would go overseas working like that, but you never heard much about them. They were just normal guys over here. They were interested in tattoos of skulls, wizards, dragons and castles, shit like that. It was pretty one track stuffÖ But now itís gotten better in the last ten years. Thereís a lot of good artists, a lot of young guys, Iíve seen them do pretty amazing stuff, and theyíve only been tattooing for something like 5-10 years. There are some pretty talented young fellas out there. Finally, what do you think youíd be doing if you werenít tattooing? Oh Iíd probably be in a mental asylum or something like thatÖ (Laughs) Not on the dole thoughÖ Actually, that would be alright, on the dole, smokiní cones all day playing PlayStation (laughs)Ö

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