Interview with Tattoo Artist Mike Austin
by Damian McGrath

Mike Austin began his journey in 1987, designing flash for a local tattoo studio which led to tattooing a short time later. In time he realized there was a growing need to offer people custom designed tattoos instead of the typical pre-drawn designs hanging on the walls of every tattoo studio, in every city, in every country. With that thought in mind, he opened his own studio in London, Ontario in 1992.

This was at a time when custom designed tattoos were virtually unheard of with the exception of a handful of leading tattoo artists. With time, Mike turned his business into a family based one, bringing in sister Leah as manager in 1997 and apprenticing brother John in 1997. Everyone at the studio is extremely proud of how successful the business has become over the years, constantly striving to maintain a high level of customer satisfaction while still managing to be creative and original.

In his 17 plus years of tattooing Mike has been fortunate to work with and learn from some incredibly talented and respected tattoo artists, including The Dutchman, Vinnie Rocco, Dave Shore, Jerry Swallow, Dave Long, Mack Bregg, Lannie Glover and the late, great Kerry Irvine, all from Canada. England’s Kevin Shercliffe, Micky Sharpz, Ian of Reading and Darren Stares. Alex Wegner and Sabine Nagel of Germany and Japan’s Kazuo Oguri. Mike credits all of these people with helping him become the artists he is today and has great respect for them all.

DM: So Mike, my personal knowledge of you as a tattooist goes way back to when I first started collecting, but when did you officially start into the industry, I believe you were the young art guy in a typical shop and got an apprenticeship in your hometown?
 
MA: My career in tattooing started at the Blue Dragon,in London, back in 1987.That shop no longer exists,but at the time it was one of only two or three shops in town. I originally drew flash for them. I made $2.50 per drawing.if I made $20 in a day, I was happy. I was given an apprenticeship, under Frank Malin that lasted about three years, not three months like nowadays. I was with the dragon till 1992,and in that time I had the great honor of meeting and working with Kevin Shercliff, who was my first true mentor.he really opened my eyes to the art-form's potential. He also gave me a hell of a lot of constructive criticism, which is really the best thing you can offer any 'up-and-comer'. Ian of Reading, Darren Stares, Micky Sharpz and Bernie Luther also helped me along and filled me with inspiration.
 
DM: I don't remember exactly the year you struck out on your own, but you did a lot of work with artists in Canada that were old school like Sailor Jerry, and with tattoo families in the UK and Japan right?

MA: I opened 'Custom tattoo' on August 4th,1992. It was the first studio of its kind in London no flash, no walk-ins, just custom-designed tattoos done after a consultation with the client. I wasn't too busy back then, but i was content. Not to long after that, I met Sailor Jerry Swallow. Man, I love that old bugger, I could go on and on about him. He's got a giant heart, generosity that's unequalled,an exceptional memory which makes him, in my eyes, one of the greatest story tellers tattooings ever produced. He learned the craft from Charlie Snow, who worked under professor Fred Baldwin, who was the first Canadian tattooist to ever use electric tattoo machines. I have,in my collection, one of those first six machines, aptly named 'Freddy' after the old man.
Jerry introduced me to Kazuo Oguri / Hori-hide, another great artist who has had a strong influence on me. Kazuo honored me by 'adopting' me into his tattoo family,one of the oldest in Japan,and by bestowing upon me a 'Hori' name, Hori-ryu IV. I had 'Hori-hide' tattoo the back of my hands at the first NIX. It means 'dedicated to tattoo'.
 
DM: I see you show up at the Toronto convention not to work but to do contest judging, (although I think you are just trying to scam a free staff t-shirt) and I see you rubbin elbows with Sailor Jerry and Lanny Glover and none of you guys are tattooing but just spending time visiting. It's funny how guys like you and Lanny do this mind blowing artwork, but have little interest in "tootin your horns" so to speak. Do you think it's a Canadian type introvertedness or do you all secretly covet beer time together?

MA: Ha! Being the vice-president of the 'Jerry Swallow fan club', our motto is 'get lots of good stuff free'  the Sailor's a master at scamming free t-shirts. I just follow him around a convention and come home with a weeks worth of clean shirts....
'Tootin ones horn' is no good. It says you are insecure about your abilities and crave constant praise. Many years ago, at Dunstable, I was bragging to Dave Shore (another respected and admired old timer) about a tattoo I had done. He looked me in the eye and said 'the tattoo is not bad, but its not great,either. You've got lots of room for improvement, and a long road ahead'  he also said something about it's better to keep ones mouth shut and ones eyes open, or something like that. Good advice, I still heed it and I am still trying to move forward and improve my abilities. Tattooing is a lifetime commitment, no quick results.
 
DM: I've seen your large scale work for years (ironically at tattoo conventions for judging) and I can't help but notice you fuse this fantasy/western skull/fairies/tibetan death style with the composition and flow of large japanese work that you still make uniquely your own. Is this this a result of all the different influences you've had naturally occurring or a plan you devised?

MA: In regards to my 'style', I really try to be versatile. One needs to be, to appease all the different client's tastes. Getting pigeon-holed into one way of doing things is good over the short-haul, but can lead to frustration and bitterness eventually, because trends are constantly, slowly changing, and we need to be in sync with that.
I believe my 'asian-style' of visual cohesion and flow is the result of working with John van't Hullenaar, the legendary 'Dutchman', my favorite and most influential artist. He is an excellent teacher/mentor, he has a real gift for communicating ideas. One cannot help but be deeply affected by his guidance.                        
 
DM: You have run Mike's Custom Tattoos now for over fifteen years, but now made it a family affair apprenticing your kid brother, what was that like? Did John approach you or vice versa?
 
MA: Custom Tattoo' became 'Austin Custom Tattoo' about 11 years ago, when my younger brother John came on board. He is the ONLY artist I have ever apprenticed. Having an apprentice is no fun for either teacher or pupil. I would venture to say that I am a poor teacher, more one of those ' watch me and figure it out'  types. John would agree. Our styles are so remote from each other, which i believe is good. John has also worked with other artists, like the Sailor, so that he had exposure to other influences. He's a very creative and gifted artist with loads of loyal clients. The young ladies love him. I attract all the cougars (which is alright with me).

DM: You are spending a lot of time up north with the canadian inuit in the last few years, and bringing back native tattoo rituals up there. What brought that about and what is going on with it right now?

MA: I have been traveling to the arctic for three years now, doing illustrations for a forth-coming book about the denziens of the inuit spirit world. Some might say 'mythology', but I can assure you that many of these creatures do exist in some parallel dimension. It's the first and only book of it's kind, and it represents stories from all the tribes across the arctic. Yes, through all this, I met some inuit women who wanted traditional-style inuit tattoos. In fact,they wanted the identical tattoos of their great-grandmothers. Tattoos to the Inuit were essential, they enhanced beauty, recorded important events/deeds, and told anyone who gazed upon them that the wearer was strong, healthy and had great endurance. In fact, an inuit woman without tattoos,or with poor tattoos would have a hard time finding a husband. Tattoos carried you over into the afterlife, in that if you weren't tattooed, you went to a place that was dark, dismal, with no game, no happiness. I might add that it was the women who were primarily tattooed and did the tattooing. The tools used were sacred.
It was like this for thousands of years, more or less. Then, around WWI, the practice just died out, thanks to missionaries and other factors. There are no living people with traditional tattoos in the arctic, the last woman died around the time of my first visit, she was 104.
 
DM:  I know that inuit women originally did the tattooing as they were the seamstresses when it came to shelter/clothing. Do you see a resurgence in inuit tattooing like we've seen in other ethnographic forms like Polynesia, Borneo, and Japan?

MA: Yes, we are going to change that. Recently I did a traditional half sleeve on a young woman, the same tattoo that graced her great-grandmothers arm so long ago. Previous to that, I reproduced another woman's wrist tattoos on her great-granddaughter. To our knowledge, these are the first tattoos of their kind to grace living skin in almost 100 years. This is beginning of something big and powerful in the arctic. It needs to be resurrected.

DM: I was channel surfing one day and caught you on the antiques roadshow. You are a bit of collector and historian yourself. What was the story behind the centuries old musket you had?

MA: I come from a long line of collectors. I'm kind of the history keeper of my family, and have inherited all sorts of artifacts which i will in turn pass along.my dad and I collect war of 1812,  Boer war, WWI & WWII militaria, indian artifacts, antique weapons, and then I've been picking up a lot of post-mortem stuff, victorian coffins, human hair wreaths, casket plates, the occasional human skeleton.....what i really want is a Tsantsa,an authentic shrunken head.

That musket was found in an old dilapidated habitant barn in quebec.ross, the road-show appraiser told me it was circa 1717, the oldest canadian firearm they'd seen yet on the roadshow. It belonged to the compagnies  franches de la marines, the first colonial soldiers in Canada.  It's likely it saw action on the plains of Abraham during the fall of quebec, and quite likely was in service right through to Chateaugay in the war of 1812. Why was it in a barn? Probably hidden there, after the lower canada rebellion, when the govt started to confiscate weapons from the populace to prevent future uprisings. Did you know quebec turns 400 this year?

DM: Yeah Canada has such a rich history that is relatively unknown. Even writing these articles I'm discovering a rich Canadian tattoo history. We've come so far like the art shows I've done you've put pieces in and I know you will be involved ion the one at MOCCA this June in Toronto. That said, do you feel that tattooing is finally getting recognized as a fine art by the arts community?

MA: That's a good question, with no easy answer. I feel that the 'art-establishment', in some areas on its fringes, is starting to embrace tattooing as a sort of long-lost distant relative. It will take time to be accepted into the fold, but do we really want to go there? I mean, I failed art in high school and college, because I couldn't / wouldn't speak the 'language', you know that art-talk that enables a mediocre artist to sell a plate of steaming shit to a client for an insane amount of money?
The wonderful and powerful thing about tattooing is that if done properly, it can positively empower the wearer for life. It can help to transform something from the inside to the outside. The 'canvas' ' role in the process is an integral part. I know of no other art form that does this. Tattooing stands apart from fine art, as far as I am concerned.

DM: Recently some guy tried  to open a tattoo school Toronto, and it made for an understandable back lash from the tattoo community. What do you think of the traditional ideas of apprenticeships versus selling someone equipment and a six week course?

MA: Man,you're really digging, aren't you?
I guess I'm a traditionalist and I believe our paths are laid out before us. If one's meant to tattoo,  it will be so. I think a traditional apprenticeship is the way. The trade can only handle so many artists. If art-schools started pumping them out, there'd be way too many and they'd be of an inferior quality. We all know that a good artist doesn't necessarily make a good tattoo artist. There's so many hats a tattooist must wear, people forget that. I find that a lot of the newer artists,(but certainly not all) have little patience. They want to dive headfirst into doing back pieces, after only a few months. Be like an oak tree, slow steady growth. With that comes strength and a long life. Don't be like the poplar, which grows quickly, and snaps in half with the first big gust of wind.

DM: Wow pretty insightful way of looking at things, Mike. So how do people get in touch with you for work?

MA: My clientele is closed. I cant accommodate any new clients. I work three days a week on mostly larger pieces and I am booked up for a year at least. I don't book beyond that. I'm already starting to tattoo the children of my original clientele from twenty years ago. I'd like to think I'll last for at least another twenty years.

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